Blood Politics: Nurses and Australia's AIDS Crisis

Name: Blood Politics: Nurses and Australia's AIDS Crisis
Start: 2026-11-30T18:00:00+10:00
End: 2026-11-30T18:00:00+10:00
Location: St Kilda Library

About

Join Prime Minister's Literary Award-winning historian Geraldine Fela, author of Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis, for a special World AIDS Day event exploring the history of care work and community activism during Australia's HIV/AIDS epidemic. The event will be hosted by historian and ABC broadcaster Associate Professor Leigh Boucher, whose current research explores community responses to HIV/AIDS in Sydney during the 1980s and 1990s.

Leigh and Geraldine will be joined by Living Positive co-founder David Menadue, and respected HIV nurse Judy Frecker, whose career has spanned the entire history of Australia's response to HIV/AIDS. Together, the panel will reflect on the experiences of nurses, carers, activists and people living with HIV, examining how communities responded to the crisis and how those histories continue to shape conversations about health, stigma and social justice today.

Presented in partnership with the Australian Queer Archives, this event will also feature an exhibition of archival materials documenting Victorian's response to the AIDS crisis.

Please note: this event explores personal and historical experiences from Australia's HIV/AIDS epidemic, including themes of illness, loss, grief, discrimination and community trauma. Attendees are welcome to step out at any time if needed.

This event has been assisted by the Australian Government through Writing Australia, its principal Literature investment and advisory body.

Image credit: Australian Queer Archives - Kate Sommerville (right) and Marg (left) holding the banner for the Fairfield Hospital, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, 1996, unknown photographer.