Rodger Wright 1949-1993

Rodger Wright was born in 1949 at the remote rural location of Broken Hill Australia. The isolation of the Australian outback meant flying ambulances were called to transport expecting mothers to the nearest hospital to give birth. Rodger’s part Aboriginal mother was no exception. However, when the newly born Rodger flew home to Broken Hill to start his life it was not in the arms of his mother, she had been left behind by Rodger’s father and denied the opportunity to raise her son.

Rodger never got to meet his birth mother until he was in his early teens. Rodger’s father was a prolific womaniser; throughout Rodger’s childhood and adolescence he had thirteen different partners for various lengths of time. Some of these stepmothers abused Rodger and some he loved but none were ever around for the duration of his upbringing meaning a mother-son bonding became virtually impossible. Furthermore, some of the stepmothers Rodger did grow fond of ended up leaving by flying ambulance and like his birth mother were never to return again. As a teenage Rodger began to express himself and discover his sexuality his relationship with his homophobic father became extremely strained. Rodger’s father had no time for a son who was gay.

At age eighteen Rodger packed up and headed for the city moving to Sydney where he worked in the sex industry for a short period of time. Rodger then became involved in a relationship with an older wealthy man who lavished expensive gifts on him. Soon Rodger was established in his own inner city flat and was driving a flash late model European car. However, the age difference soon spelled the end of the relationship. A youthful Rodger tired of being tied down and yearned for travel and adventure, he wanted to see the world. With the relationship over Rodger sold up everything and headed off to travel extensively. It was during his wanderings through Asia and Europe that he developed a taste for heroin. After many years of travelling, he ended up back in Australia in the early eighties and continued using heroin before emigrating to New Zealand with then partner Gary Mcgrath. Then came the day when his life changed forever with the arrival of a letter from a drug associate in Australia. Some of the people Rodger had shared injecting equipment within Aussie had tested positive with the HIV virus, they recommended Rodger get tested as it was highly likely he too had the virus. Rodger had several tests and they all came back negative, however, he wasn’t heartened by the results, he knew deep down that he had the virus and his gut instinct turned out to be right when eventually he got results back confirming his worst fears.

Around this time sexual infections educator Dianne Shannon began a position with the AIDS Foundation as coordinator of their volunteers. She first became aware of Rodger through a story she read in the paper,

“There was a photograph of Rodger standing outside the cathedral in the square. I think there had been some comment by the catholic bishop or someone from the church that was against People with HIV, but I don’t remember exactly what it was only that I was really impressed with Rodger speaking out for people with the virus. So, I had this impression of him being incredibly brave because at that time there wasn’t the understanding that exists today surrounding the virus and he was willing to be open about living HIV.”

Dianne’s position with the Aids Foundation involved training volunteers. Rodger attended one of the early training sessions to talk about living with HIV/AIDS and the two struck up a friendship.

“The first thing that struck me about him was the amount of passion he had for educating people about the virus, it was like he was on his own personal mission. He must have realised that he didn’t have that long to live; only a few years, the treatments were quite ineffective in those days, and he didn’t have the strongest constitution anyway, he hadn’t looked after his health for years. He would talk to anyone who would listen, he believed wholeheartedly that he could make a difference for people living with the virus and also prevent people from becoming infected with HIV and save lives, his desire to educate was extraordinary as was the work he did in setting up the national needle exchange programme; a world first, in New Zealand.

He was so determined. I know that there were other people involved but it seemed to me that he was the main driving force behind getting an exchange programme established. I think he did a great job, and I wonder how long it would have taken if he hadn’t thrown all his heart and soul into it. To manage to get such a radical thing as a needle exchange established in conservative eighties New Zealand really required a person with the passionate vision he had. I remember him saying that this was the first time he had done anything positive with his life. He’d spent a lot of years injecting drugs and drinking a lot of alcohol, he didn’t feel like he’d made any kind of positive contribution to society in his life. Rodger told me once,” “Dianne this is the best thing that has ever happened to me because at least now, I’m doing something useful and positive with my life.”

Rodger wrote,

“No matter how low it gets there is a positive side to it and loads of loving care given and received. I’m really fortunate because I get to speak in schools, to nursing students, in fact anyone who will listen and that gives me a buzz because maybe one day the message will sink in and I’ll have saved a life.”

Dianne and Rodger began working together presenting HIV/AIDS educational sessions to a variety of different groups such as high school students, university and polytechnic students, drug rehab clients, prison inmates, and even those with hearing impairments, (someone would be on hand to translate in sign language). Rodger was very particular about his personal appearance and would spend ages getting himself ready when he went out to do educational work. Dianne remembers he would always be immaculately groomed and dressed in his particular style. And what he had to deal with day to day as an HIV positive individual while facing the fact that he was going to die a lot sooner than he had ever expected. Dianne would talk about the medical side of the virus and statistics relating to HIV/AIDS in New Zealand.

She remembers the groups were always far more interested in Rodger and what he had to say. Rodger was very straight up and would answer any question put to him about himself and living with the virus. Kids could ask him how long he was going to live or whether he could still get it up and Rodger would be totally unfazed. Part of his presentation would be to blow up a condom and say to the audience, “if anyone ever tells you they can’t find a condom that is big enough they are lying, look how big this is!” People would start to laugh and Rodger would say, “now if someone can’t make this fit then they’ve got a real problem!” “Sometimes we would arrive and everyone would be sitting as far away from Rodger as possible; such was the ignorance surrounding the virus in those days, and he would have to assure them that it was perfectly safe to come closer.”

People weren’t sure back then how the virus was transmitted, some people even believed that it was an airborne virus and they were even at risk being in the same room as Rodger. This led to problems and discrimination which he would have to deal with on a regular basis. A laundry service Rodger took his washing to refused to handle any of his clothes once they found out he had AIDS. He was asked to do his laundry himself due to the staff fearing infection from touching his dirty washing. He was taken aside by the manager of a bank one day because of a small speck of blood on his cheek from shaving and told he really must be more careful if he wanted to bank at that branch.

As Rodger wrote,

“A big injustice is the discrimination that people with AIDS still receive, like people saying, ‘Oh it’s just like cancer.’ No it’s not like cancer, people aren’t frightened of those with cancer or have odd ideas like they can get it from that person’s cup or toilet seat etc. All ridiculously untrue. When I first decided to go public, loads of people would ring me up at all odd hours with threats to kill me in some of the most cruel and macabre ways. Once the glass in my front door was smashed at 2am and obscenities yelled at me. That was scary. One man in a Southern town where I was doing a radio talkback wanted me run out of town for being a ‘health hazard,’ the list goes on.”

Towards the end of his life Rodger was so weak that he could hardly manage to blow the condom up in his group presentations, but he was still determined to get out there and educate as many people as possible about HIV/AIDS. Dianne recalls picking Rodger up during the last year of his life and seeing him at the door looking so sick that she would think to herself he shouldn’t even be going out. “It was a real effort for him to get out there when he was suffering so badly, it showed me just how dedicated he was.”

A constant companion of Rodger’s towards the end of his life was a black cat that he simply called “Cat”. Rodger believed that Cat had been sent to him as a kind of guardian in his time of need. One day Rodger was sitting at home in his doorway feeling really lonely and depressed, the day mirrored his mood, overcast and gloomy. Rodger had been staring at the ground downheartedly thinking there was nothing in his life worth going on for, he looked up and sitting in a ray of sunlight that had broken through the clouds was a little black cat. Rodger called out to the cat and from that day until his death man and animal became inseparable. The last time Dianne saw Rodger was at the Joy Crompton House hospice, it was spring and she took him some daffodils, around a week later Rodger was dead.

Being diagnosed as HIV positive was extremely hard for Rodger to deal with. His bizarre childhood experiences had left him with a lifelong fear of getting sick and hospitals, he related becoming ill to the flying ambulances arriving to carry away someone he loved forever. During his fight with AIDS Rodger absolutely dreaded ending up in hospital. He believed once he was admitted it would spell the end of his life and he would be left to die rotting away in a hospital ward. His caregiver Anna Reid promised him she would do everything possible to keep him out of hospital. Anna believes Rodger never really came to terms with the fact that he was going to die, even when he was really sick towards the end, he thought a lifesaving cure was just around the corner and he would soon be on the mend.

As Rodger wrote, “I knew nothing about AIDS or, if anything, that it was this weird thing that only people in Africa got. Being HIV positive means that I am a person who is not dying of AIDS, but rather a person who is trying to live with being HIV positive. It also means that I am in no way a victim but rather someone who is being supported and encouraged to be self-empowered.”

Anna became friends with Rodger through her work as a volunteer with the AIDS Foundation. At the time local people with the virus were beginning to get sick and the volunteer staff were preparing with the expectation that they were all going to become very busy. Anna began work supporting people with the virus, she remembers visiting Rodger at home and noticing that he was getting behind with his housework. “His house was a real mess, there were puke splatters in the toilet he hadn’t been able to clean up properly, it was a real effort for him to look after himself.”

She suggested to Rodger that she visit every week to help him with the cleaning, but Rodger was reluctant to agree and was in a certain amount of denial that he even needed support, he wanted to maintain his independence as much as possible. Anna refused to take no for an answer, she remembers saying, “damn you I’m coming!! If you don’t need me well then it fulfils a need for me.” Once Rodger learnt to accept her help his attitude changed completely. Anna recalls him waiting eagerly at the gate every week for her to turn up and if she was late he would express concern that something might have happened to her.

Rodger was really sick by this stage and struggling to cope. He did need help, however part of the reason for Rodger’s stubbornness and reluctance to accept support was due to his childhood experiences. He once wrote concerning living with the virus, “I’m really lucky to have such a loving supporting group of friends, who are always there when I need them, be it physical (like doing my laundry) or emotional support or help.” While Rodger undoubtedly meant every word written, he did struggle with a deep distrust of letting people get close to him and reaching out for help because everyone he had ever loved had been taken away from him during his childhood.

As Rodger’s condition deteriorated, he started requiring full time care and moved in with Anna. She recalls the time Rodger spent with her warmly and believes she learnt many important lessons during this period of her life. Rodger, like any addict, loved his drugs and was often heavily medicated. Anna remembers being constantly concerned about a fire breaking out as Rodger would be constantly nodding off with burning cigarettes in his hand. “His clothes were covered in burn marks, his bedding and the carpet around his day bed were covered in burn marks, he would be talking to you and go on the nod, and his cigarette would just drop out. He loved TV and would sit chain smoking and watch a lot of TV in the evenings and I would watch him watching TV! That was the most challenging thing I had to deal with when he came to live at my place.”

She eventually told Rodger if she found another burn on his bed or on the carpet then he would be down the road because she couldn’t cope with the stress anymore. One morning Rodger handed his cigarettes to Anna and informed her that he was no longer going to smoke and that he was sorry he had burnt her carpet. Rodger was true to his word and stopped smoking completely. Anna remembers thinking he exercised an incredible amount of will power for someone in his situation.

Towards the end of his life things got really tough for Rodger, Anna used to hear him screaming out in pain in the middle of the night from severe muscle cramps. Anna had read somewhere about a wine cork bag being really good for muscle cramps, so she made him one and he used to sleep with it tucked under his knees. For some reason the bag worked miraculously, and Rodger would take the bag with him wherever he went. Rodger’s main concern in the final stages of his fight with AIDS was losing his mind. Rodger often asked his friends if he was making sense, he was so paranoid of losing his ability to think clearly and communicate.

Awareness was growing worldwide of the plight of those with HIV/AIDS, one celebrity that championed the cause was American movie star Elizabeth Taylor. She did a lot of charity work and raised a lot of money for AIDS sufferers. Rodger absolutely loved Elizabeth Taylor and wanted to write to her to acknowledge her work with HIV/AIDS infected people and say thank you. To find an address to send a letter to her Rodger wrote to Holly Wood gossip columnist David Hartnell. David Hartnell recalls receiving Rodger’s letter and being touched by his openness and honesty. Rodger was the first-person David had met, (albeit through correspondence), who was dying from the virus. He sent Rodger what he termed a “better than usual address” for Elizabeth Taylor. The following letter Rodger sent was said to have touched Elizabeth Taylor deeply. She received letters on a daily basis from people with the virus and they always were asking for something from her. Rodger’s letter was simply an expression of gratitude for the effort she was making to educate the world on the plight of HIV/AIDS infected people.

In replying to Rodger’s letter, she sent him an autographed photo of herself and a message wishing him all the best in his fight against the virus. Rodger was over the moon; he was so proud of the photo and the fact that she had taken the time to reply. David Hartnell thought it quite extraordinary that Rodger not only got a reply from Elizabeth Taylor but that she included a personally signed photo, (a proper black and white studio photo, not just a print), and he wrote about it in one of his columns. He and Rodger kept in touch and became good friends. When David moved into a new house up in Auckland, Rodger was invited to the party. Anna remembers taking Rodger to the airport and he flew up for the day. “He had the most wonderful day and for weeks after it was all he could talk about, I think he found it really flattering that David Hartnell was interested in getting to know him, I think Rodger might have been the first-person David had met who was dying from AIDS.” David has good memories of the day also, “Rodger arrived at the party, was introduced to everyone and we all had a really good time. At the end of the day, I thanked Rodger for coming and put him in a taxi back out to the airport.”

David says he found Rodger to be very positive about living with the virus. The next time David was down in Christchurch he visited Rodger and although they kept in touch regularly through letters, it was the last time he saw Rodger alive.

Rodger spends his last days in the Joy Crompton Hospice and Anna was at his bedside when he drew his last breath. It was dark in the room and she and another young man who was also dying of AIDS pulled in mattresses on the floor to be near Rodger. They both clearly saw Rodger’s spirit leaving his body, a soft light came out of his head and floated up into the corner of the room before disappearing. “It was a wonderful thing to see and be able to share the experience with someone else because you know if you had seen it on your own you wouldn’t be sure whether you’d really seen it or were just hallucinating.”

Rodger Wright died in 1993.

The New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt

The Quilt is a memorial to those who have died of HIV related illnesses. The Quilt consists of 3 feet by 6 feet panels which are joined together in groups of eight to form 12 feet by 12 feet blocks. Each fabric panel is lovingly created by family, friends, partners or co-workers and is as unique as the person it remembers and those who created it. Panels are created by an individual or a group and may be elaborate or simple, ornate or plain, often carrying the details of the person’s life.

Rodger’s Quilt panel features his photo framed by yellow roses, a piece of embroidery done by Rodger, the front lapels of one of his jackets and IV League work. The Quilt background is a denim patchwork made by Rodger from his old jeans.

Rodger Wright Harm Reduction Network - new name & coming full circle

For 37 years, we have been guided by an enduring kaupapa and commitment to harm reduction. In 2026, after extensive reflection, consultation, and engagement with our staff, community, and partners, DISC Trust transitioned to a new name: Rodger Wright Harm Reduction Network.

Rodger Wright was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s earliest and most influential harm reduction advocates, and his legacy remains central to who we are. The new name honours Rodger Wright’s legacy while better reflecting the integrated network of services, partnerships, and support systems we provide today.

His legacy reminds us that harm reduction has always been about people, their safety, wellbeing, and right to be treated with respect.

The stylised portrait of Rodger Wright acts as a reminder of the man behind the name.