Professor Whiskers

Outside the Shoalhaven Indigenous cultural centre, in a small space alongside the kitchen, we hastily pulled four or five chairs together and listened intently as the indigenous man told us his story.

As a gun shearer the drink became a way of life. He went through a period where he had to drink to get up in the morning and to go to sleep at night. It was only when his life was ruined and his body was wracked with ill health that he began to do something about it.

Slowly he learned how to fight back against his addiction.  He told us of searching through a bewildering array of theories about alcoholism that offered no solutions. Then he met Dr. Sylvester Minogue the founder of alcoholics anonymous. He found a solution: abstinence.

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