Last Sunday nine of us came together to celebrate at the 5-hour Newcastle Australia Conference, while an average of another 20 members Zoomed and called in. Among us were two first nation Australians and one woman. We had guest speakers from all over our island—Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle. There was also a member from Alaska and Singapore, and two US fellows.

God stood up and showed us the way. We walked together through all 12 Steps to freedom. There was lots of laughter and some tears.

Two members talked about their experience with SA prison work. One of them shared the story of his US prisoner sponsee which filled the room with so much love, the other spoke about trying to get SA into Aussie prisons.

We also had speakers talk about the NSW Intergroup and Australian National Service Board (ANZSB). We welcomed our first newcomers from the central coast, which is our newest growth area.

So much great stuff happened. It’s really hard to write it down in a couple of sentences. The Aussie fellowship is alive and well and growing! “Fair dinkum!” (Keep it real.)