The global music world has been shaken by the death of legendary Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst, News.Az reports, citing Australian media.
Hirst is survived by his wife Lesley Holland and daughters Gabriella, Lex, and Jay.
“After fighting heroically for almost three years, Rob is now free of pain – ‘a glimmer of tiny light in the wilderness,’” his bandmates shared in a tribute posted on the Midnight Oil social media channels.
“He died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. The family asks that anyone wanting to honour Rob donate to @pankind_australia or @supportact.”
Hirst was one of Australia’s most revered musicians, with a legacy that resonated worldwide. Born on September 3, 1955, Hirst grew up in Camden, in Sydney's outer west, before his family relocated to the northern beaches.
After knocking around in high school bands, he co-founded the Oils, originally known as Farm, with his mate Jim Moginie in 1972.
They were soon joined by frontman Peter Garrett and Martin Rotsey who remained the core of the band for the next five decades.
Hirst and Moginie began as the band’s songwriting core before Garrett later joined them in the creative engine room.
Known for his formidable power behind the drum kit – and later on the steel water tank that he bashed during the Power and the Passion – the Oils forged their reputation as an incendiary live band in the brutal pub rock era of the 70s and 80s.
They quickly distinguished themselves from other Aussie pub rock bands of the era with their musical activism, taking on politicians and corporate giants and becoming passionate advocates for the rights of Indigenous Australians.
Hirst was diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer in April 2023, just six months after Midnight Oil played their final gig at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion in October 2022.
