Fondly known as The Quilt, the Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt remains an internationally recognised memorial celebrating the lives of thousands of people who died from AIDS in Australia in the years since 1982, symbolising a nation’s grief, with each panel as unique as the person memorialised, however originally omitting surnames and identifying information.
Founded in 1988 by Andrew Carter OAM and Richard Johnson, and launched by Ita Buttrose on World AIDS Day 1988, the Quilt originally featured 35 Australian memorial panels and some from the preceding American Names Project, but sadly by 2004 it included 2500 panels sewn into 135 blocks, still representing only 20% of those who died from AIDS in Australia.
Known as the Cairns block, panel
Founded in 1988 by Andrew Carter OAM and Richard Johnson, and launched by Ita Buttrose on World AIDS Day 1988, the Quilt originally featured 35 Australian memorial panels and some from the preceding American Names Project, but sadly by 2004 it included 2500 panels sewn into 135 blocks, still representing only 20% of those who died from AIDS in Australia.
Known as the Cairns block, panel