Blog 2: Fred E and the Manly Meeting
THE HISTORY OF AA IN AUSTRALIA
By Cheryn P.
My name is Cheryn P, and I am one of the committee members for the AA80 Host Planning Committee. We are getting ready to put on a fantastic convention for you in Sydney next Easter to celebrate AA’s 80 years here in Australia!
Recently I attended the 78th birthday celebrations for Australia’s oldest continuous meeting, held in the Presbyterian Church on Raglan Street in Manly (NSW). This meeting is an important part of the rich history of Alcoholics Anonymous here in Australia and I wanted to share some of the details with you.
Image: Manly Presbyterian Church, Raglan Street Manly, 2024.
This meeting was started by one of the first sober AA members in Australia, Fred E, with the enthusiastic support of his wife Eileen. Fred was a pharmacist who liked to party and also liked his liquor. They had 2 children and poor Eileen was trying to hold the family together. She went in search of support and ended up at the North Sydney meeting, meeting Dorothy and Russ. Eventually Fred reluctantly followed her there, coming to his first meeting.
About a year later, AA was expanding, and Eileen encouraged Fred to start a second group. They had a friendship with Rev Hanlon of the Manly Presbyterian church and the group started in the church hall on the 24 June 1946. It has changed location many times but still continues today.
Jim from Bunbury WA and Meredith from Adelaide were early members of this group. These men had come to Sydney, desperate to get help with their alcoholism. The prospect for alcoholics in Australia at that time was bleak. The new fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous which had commenced in Sydney had offered these men a glimmer of hope. Staying sober through the support of the early members they eventually went back to their home states and started meetings there, continuing to spread the message of recovery.
Image: Excerpt from the Manly Group Big Book, 1947.
Image: Excerpt from the Manly Group Big Book, 1947.
