Musician returns Order Of Australia medal over Voice referendum result

Shane Howard, the singer-songwriter of ‘Solid Rock, Sacred Ground’, has returned his Order of Australia medal in protest at the Voice referendum result.
Howard. image is head and shoulders shot of middle-aged man with grey hair, beard and moustache, with a grave expression.

Shane Howard, frontman of Australian rock group, Goanna, whose 1982 hit ‘Solid Rock, Sacred Ground’ decried the dispossession of First Peoples, has returned his Order of Australia medal, in protest over the Voice referendum result.

Howard was originally awarded the OAM in 2016 for significant service to the performing arts.

Writing to the Australian Governor-General, General David John Hurley, AC, DSC, FTSE this week, Howard spoke of his ‘deep sadness’ and noted that while he ‘respects the democratic result’ of the Referendum, he felt that ‘Australians had missed an important historical moment of destiny’.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts