After all the recent race to the bottom politics from the ‘professionals’, the life of Rob Hirst stands as an inspiring example of meaningful activism from outside the official tent. Sadly, that life has now been cut short, three years since his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Famed for his high energy performances with Midnight Oil and many other bands, Rob Hirst was undoubtedly Australia’s greatest rock drummer, but also a songwriter who helped shape our understanding of ourselves, and carried a truthful vision of this country to the world. He co-wrote ‘Power and the Passion’, ‘Beds are Burning’, ‘Forgotten Years’, and many other iconic songs.
Hirst started out at Camden, on the outskirts of Sydney, between the country and the suburbs, and remained a cultural bridge-builder throughout his 70 years; between black and white Australia, young and old, the city and the bush, science and music, history and the future.
A few years ago, he spoke about his musical awakening in the 1960s, when bands started writing about things beyond boy meets girl. He realised then that ‘if you had a great melody and you had great lyrics and you had a great beat, and then you were also talking about something really important to ordinary people’s lives, then that was a killer combination.’
Pay attention
Everything Hirst did from that point on, from beating the drums on Sydney’s North Head cliffs at the start of ABC’s Beatbox, to playing outside Exxon HQ in New York, to the Sorry T shirts at the 2000 Olympics, to his final recordings and performances – and the decision to auction his famous Ludwig kit for charity – said wake up, this is important. Pay attention.
Consider the issues he helped bring into energetic focus for an audience that in many cases would not otherwise have known or cared; big oil, land rights, militarism, cultural imperialism, land rights, the climate crisis, asbestos mining, refugees, farmer’s rights, human rights – not to mention the threats to the Barka/Darling, the Tarkine, and the Great Barrier Reef.
By combining intellectual, emotional, musical and physical strength, Hirst and his bandmates literally pushed the Overton window, bringing issues into mainstream political discourse that could otherwise be safely ignored.
Despite his fame, there was no arrogance in Rob Hirst. He always had time for fans, and was often the last to leave, despite his exhaustion from giving it all on stage. This kind of commitment extended way beyond music. He gave his time, energy and presence to everyone from Greenpeace to the Stop Adani movement to Green Music Australia.
When we were fighting Santos in the Pilliga, he gave an important endorsement to our film Sacrifice Zone.
Musical activism
While Peter Garrett chose to spend years pursuing conventional political power, via the Nuclear Disarmament Party and then the ALP, leading to compromise and disappointment, Rob Hirst always kept his musical flame burning, along with his political and environmental activism.
He leaves behind three daughters. As he once put it, ‘Our children have a right to be angry and afraid: recent generations of humans have trashed the planet – choking its once mighty rivers and oceans with plastic, bleaching its precious coral reefs, melting its frozen ice-caps, and destroying its extraordinary diversity of land and sea-life.
‘Through our words, melodies and beats we can collectively inspire the urgent turnaround we need to reverse climate change, species loss and habitat destruction. By providing the soundtrack for the rewilding of the earth, we’ll help save ourselves, our children, and all those who follow.’
Social media has been full of eulogies for Rob Hirst since the news of his death, and the many lives he touched, from the famous to the obscure, but there are very few obvious candidates with the musical skill and activist fire in the belly to pick up his mantle in 2026.
Two of them might be the singer-songwriters William and Julieanne Crighton. William Crighton said this a few days ago: ‘Rob will be remembered as one of the true greats. He left a massive mark on everyone he met.
‘To me, he was both a mentor and a mate and I’m so grateful to have known him and to have experienced his truth, power and positivity.’
Rob Hirst has just been posthumously awarded the Order of Australia for lifetime service to Australian music and culture.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
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