Blog 6: AA Australia’s Adolescent Period
By Andrew T.
One of the things I love about AA is that it’s not just acceptable to admit we’re human and sometimes make mistakes — it’s encouraged. Hearing other alcoholics acknowledge that they don’t always get it right gave me the courage to do the same, and it’s incredibly liberating. As difficult as it can be for our egos, admitting when we are wrong is essential for growth, both individually and as a fellowship. AA grants both groups and individuals the "right to be wrong," and Tradition 4 perfectly expresses this freedom.
In the essay on Tradition Four, published in “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions” in 1952, it states:
“Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and Traditions has been tried. That was sure to be, since we are so largely a band of ego-driven individualists. Children of chaos, we have defiantly played with every brand of fire, only to emerge unharmed, and we think, wiser. These very deviations created a vast process of trial and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we stand today”
The essay accompanying Tradition 4 in the 12 x 12, goes on to describe an AA experience remarkably similar to the early history of AA in Australia. In the 12 x 12 the story is about the fictional town of Middleton where “stargazing elders” dreamed up a “great big alcoholic centre”.
“…A kind of pilot plant AA groups could duplicate everywhere. Beginning on the ground floor there would be a club; on the second story they would sober up drunks and hand them currency for their back debts; the third deck would house an educational project…
….It was a beehive of activity, all right, but unlike a beehive, it was confusion compounded. An AA group, as such, simply couldn’t handle this sort of project.
...All too late that was discovered. Then came the inevitable explosion - something like that day the boiler burst in Wombley’s Clapboard Factor”
In Australia well meaning early AAs established an “Alcoholics Foundation,” funded by wealthy non-alcoholic benefactors as well as AA members through their contributions. The foundation had both AA members and non-alcoholic friends on the board.
There were ambitious plans to establish a hospital in the city, a convalescent home at Loftus (Xmas House), and a clubhouse in Surry Hills (Vianney House). However, this all caused significant friction within the fellowship. Eventually, much like in “Middleton” , all these projects either collapsed in an alcoholic mess or were abandoned. AA however survived and continued to grow.
The Old Hotel which became “Vianney House” – Cnr Foveaux and Riley Streets Surry Hills
On 5 January 1946, one of our founders, Dr. Sylvester Minogue, perhaps not yet at the point where he could apply “Rule 62,” wrote a deeply apologetic letter to AA’s New York secretary, Bobbie Berger, sharing their experiences. In reply, Bobbie B wrote:
“Bill Wilson, who anonymously wrote our book and was the first AA member, and I so enjoyed your recent letter of January 5th…. Bill and I were amazed at the similarity between your early experiences, the trials and errors, and our early ones ten years ago in America. Your story could easily have been ours – we all went through the same organisational difficulties, differences of opinion, over-conservatism, and over-promotionalism.
Our foundation thought of setting up hospitals, thought of going into business, thought of educational programs, ad infinitum, and it was only after several years that they realised the wisdom of not complicating AA with business affiliations. Hence our policy now of sticking simply to the basic AA principles of having but one aim: To help the sick alcoholic recover if he wishes.”
I am deeply grateful to be part of Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia today, benefiting from nearly 80 years of collective experience, strength, and hope. Our founders, along with the many men and women who came before us, made mistakes, as we all do. Yet, by applying AA principles, the course has always been corrected. Through their willingness to take inventory and admit it when they were wrong, along with their immense sacrifice and selfless service, they ensured that AA would become a better place for us and for alcoholics still to come. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for the fellowship we have today, and I am certain they would want us to pay that forward, just as they did.
