Ian Rankin

Ian G. Rankin is an HIV activist, writer, and community leader whose work has been central to Canberra’s HIV response since the mid-1980s. He served as President of the AIDS Action Council of the ACT (1995–1997), Convenor of People Living with HIV/AIDS ACT, and later President of the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWHA) (1997–1998). Rankin documented the history of the ACT’s HIV sector in his book Aids Action!: A History of the AIDS Action Council of the ACT 1983–2005, preserving the stories of the people and organisations who shaped it. His oral history, recorded by the National Library of Australia, details his personal experience of living with HIV, his advocacy for peer-led approaches, and his role in strengthening partnerships between community, health services, and government in Australia’s national HIV response.