Midnight Oil Drummer Rob Hirst Dies at 70 After Pancreatic Cancer Battle

Drummer Rob Hirst, a founding member of Australian rock band Midnight Oil, died on Jan. 20 at age 70. He fought pancreatic cancer for three years.

"After fighting heroically for almost three years, Rob is now free of pain — 'a glimmer of tiny light in the wilderness,'" the band wrote on Facebook. "He died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones."

Doctors told Hirst he had cancer in 2023, six months after Midnight Oil's final concert at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion in October 2022. He decided to share his illness with the public in April 2025. 

Hirst started the band in 1976. He worked with guitarist Jim Moginie and bassist Andrew James. Singer Peter Garrett answered an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald and joined in 1975. Guitarist Martin Rotsey signed on a year later.

Many of the group's biggest hits came from Hirst. The band released 13 studio albums across nearly five decades.

"Beds Are Burning" topped charts in Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. The song drew attention to how Aboriginal Australians lost their land. It cracked the top 20 on Billboard charts in the United States.

The group went on hiatus in 2002. Then, they got back together in 2017 for The Great Circle World Tour. Their last album, Resist, dropped in 2022.

Hirst played drums in several other groups as well. He performed with Ghostwriters, Backsliders, the Angry Tradesmen, and the Break. He recorded an album with his daughter, Jay O'Shea, in 2020.

He leaves behind his wife, Leslie Holland, and three daughters: Gabriella, Alexandra, and Jay O'Shea. The family asks that people send donations to Pankind, Pancreatic Cancer Australia, or Support Act.