Rob Hirst, songwriter and original drummer for Midnight Oil, dies at 70

Hirst's bandmembers announced he "died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones" after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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January 20, 2026 5:32 p.m. ET

Rob Hirst in 2007. Credit:

Gaye Gerard/Getty

Robert Hirst, co-founder and drummer for Australian rock band Midnight Oil, has died after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 70.

Hirst's band members announced the news to their fans on Tuesday in a statement shared on social media.

"After fighting heroically for almost three years, Rob is now free of pain — 'a glimmer of tiny light in the wilderness,'" the statement on Facebook reads. "He died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. The family asks that anyone wanting to honour Rob donate to Pankind, Pancreatic Cancer Australia, or Support Act."

(from Left) Rob Hirst, Peter Garrett, Martin Rotsey, Bones Hillman, and Jim Moginie of Midnight Oil.

Gie Knaeps/Getty

In another post featuring a photo of Hirst with his band, the remaining members wrote, "We are shattered and grieving the loss of our brother Rob. For now there are no words but there will always be songs. Love Always from Jim, Martin & Pete."

Born on Sept. 5, 1955, in Camden, New South Wales, Hirst formed a trio in 1972 with school chums Jim Moginie on guitar and keyboards and Andrew "Bear" James on bass. The trio went through a series of group names — including Schwampy Moose and later, Farm — before they were officially cemented as Midnight Oil, with the addition of frontman vocalist Peter Garrett in 1973, and guitarist Martin Rotsey, who joined in 1977.

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The band released its self-titled debut album in 1978 and a second record, *Head Injuries*, the following year. The group became a commercial success in the '80s thanks to the following hit albums that made a splash internationally, including *Red Sails in the Sunset* (November 1984), *Diesel and Dust* (August 1987), *Blue Sky Mining* (March 1990), and* 20,000 Watt RSL – The Midnight Oil Collection* (October 1997).

Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil in 1988.

Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Hirst co-wrote many of the band's hit songs, such as "Beds Are Burning," "The Dead Heart," "Blue Sky Mine," "Forgotten Years," and "King of the Mountain." The drummer has also played, sung, and written songs for other bands, like the Ghostwriters, Backsliders, Hirst & Greene, the Angry Tradesmen, and the Break.

Midnight Oil went on hiatus for nearly 15 years in 2001; they reunited in 2016 with Hirst, Garrett, Moginie, and bassist Bones Hillman, who had joined in 1987 and died in 2020. The group released two more studio albums, making their final tally 13 albums altogether, before calling it quits in 2022. As a group, they earned six ARIA No. 1 albums, including 2022's *Resist*, their first full-length studio album in two decades, and their last as a group.

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Hirst began releasing his solo albums in 2005, with his most recent, *Born Electric, *being released in October. In 2020, he and his daughter, Jay O'Shea, released a collaborative album six years after meeting for the first time.

In a post on Instagram at the time, O'Shea explained that Hirst and her birth mother were teens when she came into their lives, and they gave her up for adoption.

"The story of how we all came together sounds like bad fiction writing as it's quite unbelievable," she wrote. "We really made this music as a way of getting to know each other better and after much laughing, drinking some good wines and eating too much cheese, these songs were born."

She added, "There were no parameters, guidelines or pressures of what a reunited Father/Daughter collaboration should sound like. Each song is a snapshot. Each song has its own space and story."

Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil in 1988.

Bill McCay/Getty

O'Shea also shared a tribute to her father after his death made news, sharing a photo of them on embracing on a beach.

"There are no words right now to describe the feeling of losing this great friend and Father," she wrote. "We are all just…. heartbroken. Love you so much Dad, J"**

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