Earth and Sun and Moon by Midnight Oil
Earth and Sun and Moon is an album by Australian rock group, Midnight Oil, that was released on 20 April 1993 under the Columbia Records label. It peaked at No.2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The single "Truganini" referenced multiple issues, including the 'last' Tasmanian Aboriginal, the treatment of indigenous artist Albert Namatjira, the Australian flag debate, andrepublicanism. Liner notes for the single claimed "Truganini was the sole surviving Tasmanian Aborigine, the last of her race, when she died in 1876." The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, representing over 7000 contemporary Tasmanians, called for the single to be boycotted as it perpetuated a 'white' myth about the extinction ofTasmanian Aborigines. Their Native Title claims hinged upon establishing links with ancestral lands. Gary Morris, their manager, responded with, "My suggestion to these people is to stop shooting themselves in the foot and let a band like Midnight Oil voice its appeal to White Australia on behalf of Black Australia". Critics contended that Morris disparaged Indigenous Australians' ability to represent themselves and overestimated Midnight Oil's ambassadorial powers while diminishing their errors, while some indigenous activists saw benefit in Midnight Oil's highlighting of the issues.
Coming after the world-conquering double shot of <i>Diesel and Dust</i> (1987) and <i>Blue Sky Mining</i> (1990), <i>Earth and Sun and Moon</i> reaffirmed that global fame would not divert Midnight Oil from their longstanding mission of interrogating the myriad social, political and environmental injustices in their native Australia. With Jim Moginie’s piano and keyboards taking increasingly central roles in the mix, the album boasts a rootsier feel than its more tense predecessors. But that loose, relaxed vibe functions as a Trojan Horse for frontman Peter Garrett’s unsparing lyrics: the seemingly patriotic heartland rock of “My Country” proves to be a damning critique of blind nationalism, while the title track is an elating folk-funk anthem that couches a requiem for a dying planet. And even if the album’s harmonica-powered centrepiece, “Truganini”, initially earned this band some criticism at home for its well-intentioned but problematic invocation of the 19th-century Tasmanian Aboriginal figurehead, the song stands as a testament to Midnight Oil’s willingness to engage their audience in uncomfortable conversations around colonialism at a time when no other rock band of their stature would.
