Ian McKnight
Daylesford will mark World AIDS Day on Monday December 1 with a twilight walk and candlelight vigil that invites the community to remember friends, lovers, family members and patients lost to HIV and to stand with those still living with the virus. The gathering begins at the Grove of Gratitude at 5.30pm before moving into the centre of town for a 7pm vigil, where participants will be encouraged to share stories and memories of people who shaped their lives and whose names continue to resonate within the Hepburn Shire.
The evening will conclude with a name reading ceremony. Anyone wishing to honour someone lost to HIV is invited to send the name to organiser Ian at iansm@live.com.au so it can be included.
Events like this have a long history in the global HIV response, but they carry particular meaning in communities where personal loss remains close. World AIDS Day was first observed in 1988 and has become a moment to recognise the progress made in HIV treatment and prevention, to acknowledge discrimination that still affects people living with HIV and to remember the many lives cut short since the beginning of the epidemic.
For Australia, the day marks both a public health success and an ongoing responsibility. Current estimates suggest that just over thirty thousand people are living with HIV nationally.
Australia leads the world in treatment and and suppression of the virus. Progress has been built on decades of cooperation between governments, medical researchers, health workers, and most importantly community organisations and people living with HIV who pushed for evidence based care, drug access and education campaigns that reduced transmission and changed attitudes.
Despite this, stigma continues to affect many Australians with HIV. Advocates argue that remembrance events help shift public understanding by making space for personal stories and shared grief. They remind us that the epidemic was never only about statistics but about people whose lives were intertwined with their communities.
The Daylesford vigil offers residents a chance to reflect on that history, to honour those who died before effective treatment was available and to support neighbours who carry these memories. As candles are lit in the early summer evening, the gathering will join thousands of similar events around the world, each one a reminder that remembrance and solidarity remain central to ending HIV as a public health threat.
