Celebrity Featured: Peter Garrett
Artist: Paul Harvey
Chair Donor: Adam Newnham
Fabric Donor: Warwick Fabrics
About Peter Garrett
Peter Garrett is probably best known for his time as the frontman of Midnight Oil the band with which he had great musical success. The band was formed in 1973, and had a long career. The band was known for its outspoken stance on environmental and left wing causes and its progressive, indie rock sound. Most of their best known songs feature powerful messages - for example Beds are burning, which centres around land rights for indigenous Australians.
The group caused controversy in 2000, when playing at the Sydney Olympics, they performed in shirts that read "SORRY" - a statement about the then Prime Minister's (John Howard) refusal to symbolically appologise to the Indigenous Australians affected by the "Stolen Generation". Garrett officially left the band in 2002, and the original members decided not to continue under the Midnight Oil name. The band re-grouped in 2005 for the Wave Aid concert following the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami.
Independant of The Oils, as their fan base refer to them, Garrett has a long involvement with politics. In the 1984 Federal election, he ran for the Nuclear Disarmament Party which he had helped found. This was to be the start of a long road for Garrett that would eventually result in him running for the Labor Party in the 2004 federal election and winning the seat of Kingsford Smith.
In addition to his political activities, Garrett has been involved with many other organisations. He served as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation from 1989 - 1993 and 1998 - 2004. He also joined the International Board of Greenpeace in 1993 for a two-year term. He has been an adviser and patron to various cultural & community organisations including Jubilee Debt Relief and the Surfrider Foundation, of which he was a founding member.
In 2000, Garrett was awarded the Australian Humanitarian Foundation Award fro the Environment category, and the next year was given an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New South Wales. In 2003 he was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia. 2006 saw his induction into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame with the Midnight Oils.