In the Eye of the Storm Volunteers and Australia’s Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis

The people who volunteered to help during the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s provided compassion and support to heavily stigmatised people. These volunteers provided in-home care for the sick and dying, staffed needle exchanges and telephone help-lines, produced educational resources, served on boards of management, and provided friendship and practical support, among many other roles. They helped people affected by the virus to navigate a medical system that in preceding decades had been openly hostile towards the marginalised communities of homosexuals, drug users, and sex workers. In the process, volunteering left an indelible mark on the lives and outlooks of these volunteers. For the first time, by focusing on individual life stories, this book explores the crucial role of the men and women who volunteered at time of disaster. Despite their critical role, they have not been sufficiently recognised. Through their stories, drawn from oral histories conducted by the authors, we see how those on the front-line navigated and survived a devastating epidemic, and the long-term impact of those grim years of illness, death, and loss.

Shirleene Robinson is Senior Curator of Oral History and Indigenous Programs at the National Library of Australia and Honorary Associate Professor of Modern History at Macquarie University. She has published extensively on LGBTIQ history and HIV and AIDS history. Recent work includes the co-authored book Pride in Defence: The Australian Military and Australian LGBTI Service Since 1945 (2020). Robert Reynolds is a Professor of Modern History at Macquarie University. He has written widely on the history of gay life in Australia, including books and essays in the print media. He has a particular interest in psychoanlaysis and has trained as a psychotherapist. Paul Sendziuk teaches Australian history at the University of Adelaide. He is an experienced oral historian, and has expertise in the histories of immigration, disease and public health. His first book about the history of HIV/AIDS in Australia, Learning to Trust, was short-listed for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Human Rights Award for non-fiction.