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Rob Hirst
Robert George Hirst (3 September 1955 – 20 January 2026) was an Australian musician from Camden, New South Wales. He was a founding member of the rock band Midnight Oil on drums, percussion and backing vocals (sometimes lead vocals) from the 1970s until the band took a hiatus in 2002. The band resumed performing and recording in 2017.
Hirst was also a member of the bands Ghostwriters, Backsliders, the Angry Tradesmen and the Break. He also wrote a book, Willie's Bar & Grill, recounting the experiences on the tour Midnight Oil embarked on shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
In the 2026 Australia Day Honours, Hirst was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) "for significant service to the performing arts through music".
In the early 1970s when schoolboys, Hirst and close friends Jim Moginie and Andrew "Bear" James played their first public performance at a school hall in Sydney's northern suburbs, under the name Schwampy Moose, playing mainly Beatles' covers. By 1976 the band had changed their name to Farm (Fucking All Right Mate). Hirst, now a student at the University of Sydney (BA/LLB), placed an advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald for a singer to join the trio. The new line up of Peter Garrett (lead vocals), Hirst (drums and vocals), Moginie (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) and James (bass guitar) were joined soon after by Martin Rotsey on guitar and their manager and sixth member, Gary Morris. The band changed their name to Midnight Oil.
With a blistering intensity to their live performances, the band's early music was a distinctive brand of surf punk. However, by the early 1980s the key songwriters in the band, Hirst, Moginie and Garrett, had become increasingly interested in the political issues of the day. This had a significant influence on their songwriting and soon spilled over into their live performances as the dynamic and outspoken Garrett used the stage as a platform for the band's views on issues including Aboriginal rights, nuclear disarmament and social justice.
In 1979, James left to be replaced by Peter Gifford. In 1987, after touring the outback and recording the band's best-known album, Diesel and Dust, Gifford suffered ill health and resigned. New bass player Bones Hillman (formerly of New Zealand band the Swingers) brought a new vocal dimension to the band. Midnight Oil continued to record and tour internationally for a further fifteen years, chalking up a final tally of fourteen albums and two extended plays before lead singer Garrett quit the group in December 2002 to take up a career in politics. The band resumed activity in 2017, including a world tour that year.
In the mid-1990s, while Midnight Oil were taking a break, Hirst joined with guitarist Andrew Dickson and Hoodoo Gurus bass guitarist Rick Grossman to form a side project, Ghostwriters. The band released four albums, Ghostwriters (Virgin Records, 1991), Second Skin (Mercury Records, 1996), Fibromoon (self-released, 2000) and Political Animal (Sony BMG Australia, 2007).
In 2000, Hirst joined Backsliders, an Australian blues group formed in 1986 whose members included founding member Dom Turner and harmonica players Brod Smith, Ian Collard and Joe Glover. The line-up with Hirst released six studio albums, one EP and a live DVD.
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Rob Hirst
Robert George Hirst (3 September 1955 – 20 January 2026) was an Australian musician from Camden, New South Wales. He was a founding member of the rock band Midnight Oil on drums, percussion and backing vocals (sometimes lead vocals) from the 1970s until the band took a hiatus in 2002. The band resumed performing and recording in 2017.
Hirst was also a member of the bands Ghostwriters, Backsliders, the Angry Tradesmen and the Break. He also wrote a book, Willie's Bar & Grill, recounting the experiences on the tour Midnight Oil embarked on shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
In the 2026 Australia Day Honours, Hirst was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) "for significant service to the performing arts through music".
In the early 1970s when schoolboys, Hirst and close friends Jim Moginie and Andrew "Bear" James played their first public performance at a school hall in Sydney's northern suburbs, under the name Schwampy Moose, playing mainly Beatles' covers. By 1976 the band had changed their name to Farm (Fucking All Right Mate). Hirst, now a student at the University of Sydney (BA/LLB), placed an advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald for a singer to join the trio. The new line up of Peter Garrett (lead vocals), Hirst (drums and vocals), Moginie (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) and James (bass guitar) were joined soon after by Martin Rotsey on guitar and their manager and sixth member, Gary Morris. The band changed their name to Midnight Oil.
With a blistering intensity to their live performances, the band's early music was a distinctive brand of surf punk. However, by the early 1980s the key songwriters in the band, Hirst, Moginie and Garrett, had become increasingly interested in the political issues of the day. This had a significant influence on their songwriting and soon spilled over into their live performances as the dynamic and outspoken Garrett used the stage as a platform for the band's views on issues including Aboriginal rights, nuclear disarmament and social justice.
In 1979, James left to be replaced by Peter Gifford. In 1987, after touring the outback and recording the band's best-known album, Diesel and Dust, Gifford suffered ill health and resigned. New bass player Bones Hillman (formerly of New Zealand band the Swingers) brought a new vocal dimension to the band. Midnight Oil continued to record and tour internationally for a further fifteen years, chalking up a final tally of fourteen albums and two extended plays before lead singer Garrett quit the group in December 2002 to take up a career in politics. The band resumed activity in 2017, including a world tour that year.
In the mid-1990s, while Midnight Oil were taking a break, Hirst joined with guitarist Andrew Dickson and Hoodoo Gurus bass guitarist Rick Grossman to form a side project, Ghostwriters. The band released four albums, Ghostwriters (Virgin Records, 1991), Second Skin (Mercury Records, 1996), Fibromoon (self-released, 2000) and Political Animal (Sony BMG Australia, 2007).
In 2000, Hirst joined Backsliders, an Australian blues group formed in 1986 whose members included founding member Dom Turner and harmonica players Brod Smith, Ian Collard and Joe Glover. The line-up with Hirst released six studio albums, one EP and a live DVD.
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