Do we like them?

Do we like Rob Hirst?

Our score: 8 out of 10. A long record of backing First Nations rights and environmental causes, with nothing harmful found, but we couldn't open many full articles.

Rob Hirst was the drummer and co-founder of Midnight Oil, one of Australia's biggest live bands. He started the group with schoolmates in Sydney, and it became Midnight Oil once Peter Garrett joined as singer. He wasn't the front man, but he co-wrote some of the band's best-known songs, including “Beds Are Burning”.

The Oils were never just a band, and Hirst was part of that. Coverage of his life points to the group's campaigning on nuclear disarmament, Aboriginal rights and the environment, and a 1990 protest stunt aimed at Exxon. Hirst also served as a patron of Green Music Australia.

His most concrete activism was The Makarrata Project, a 2020 mini-album built around the 2017 Uluru Statement. It featured First Nations artists, and the band said proceeds went to groups pushing the Statement's goals. He also said there was “unfinished business” on recognition. Where that's from is a radio-station page we couldn't open in full, so treat the detail as a lead.

He kept making music late in life. In November 2025 he released the EP A Hundred Years or More with Jim Moginie and Hamish Stuart, which Noise11 covered. Tributes after his death came from across Australian music, and the Prime Minister's one-liner sums up the feeling.