Stop the Drop – Concert for Nuclear Disarmament

For the 40-year anniversary of Stop the Drop held at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, broadcaster and journalist Tracee Hutchison reflects on the momentous event that changed history.

“We’re painting a banner for the Stop the Drop concert!” It was my friend Dee, Melbourne fashion designer and creator of Peter Garrett’s signature outfits at the time. “Come down to the Seal Club and get on a brush!” Back then, the Seal Club in Bridport Street Albert Park was a hub of wild artistry and maverick happenings. And stretched out across the floor was a 50-ft piece of black canvas, big yellow letters spelling out STOP THE DROP with a white mushroom cloud exploding out of the middle. And a bunch of people holding paintbrushes. One of them was me.

It was February 1983. It was hot. Really hot. And way too dry. A huge dust storm had rolled in from the Mallee and smothered the city. It felt eerie and apocalyptic. We’d been bracing for fires that would prove catastrophic later that month across Victoria. A brutal, dark day now known as Ash Wednesday. But as we splashed paint on that banner on the cool concrete floor of the Seal Club, the heat focussed firmly on the looming threat of nuclear war. It was as palpable and ominous as that Victorian summer.

Stop the Drop. The benefit concert for the People for Nuclear Disarmament (PND) was the biggest show in town. Held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, posters and t-shirts cried out ‘Disarm Now!’ and the line-up, like the weather, was burning with the temper of the times.

Redgum, protest-folk royalty. John Schumann out front, thankful his number wasn’t chosen in the national conscription that sent so many of his contemporaries to fight in Vietnam. And a potent, break-heart rendition of the soon-to-be-released ‘I Was Only 19’.

Goanna was riding high on the success of the Spirit of Place album and the already iconic song ‘Solid Rock’ – unflinchingly introduced by Gary Foley: “If you wanna know what our struggle is all about, then the words of this next song tell it beautifully. Don’t ever be sucked in, by the lies that people tell ya. And the words of this song tell you – someone lied when they told you what happened to us.” They also performed their new song, ‘Let the Franklin Flow’ for the first time about the blockade everyone was travelling to Tasmania to be part of. To save the Franklin River, to let it flow. Heartfelt. Raw. Signature Shane Howard songwriting.

INXS. Michael. It was all Michael. Playful. Irresistible. And massive off the back of the hugely successful albums Underneath the Colours and Shabooh, Shoobah, already heading for the stratosphere. Singing ‘Black and White’ and songs about girls. Everyone breathless.

And lastly, the Oils. Searing. White hot. Blowing steam like the mushroom cloud on the banner fluttering above them. ‘Brave Faces’ and 10-1 ripping through the PA and the united cry of ‘I Don’t Wanna be the One’ echoing around the Bowl. Every one of us thinking we’re gonna change the world. We’re gonna stop those nukes raining down on us. We’re gonna sing our way to a better world.

For Oils’ frontman Peter Garrett, Stop the Drop was a pin-drop moment in the band’s career.

“We’d always tried to do benefit concerts for issues we felt strongly about. Stop the Drop was one of the stand outs. It was exhilarating and intense, even though it’s a bit of blur now. It was a definite highlight. It took place at a time when the Soviet Union and America had tens of thousands of nuclear weapons pointing at one another, and most likely at countries like Australia too. A worldwide peace movement had built up demanding an end to the suicidal idea that threatening nuclear annihilation was a sane military doctrine. Nukes were incredibly destructive, expensive and not meant to be used anyway, and more people were demanding an end to the madness – a fair few were at the Bowl that day.” – Peter Garrett

1983 was a heady time in Australian politics. We marched for nuclear disarmament, we locked on to the Save the Franklin campaign, and we voted. And Prime Minister Bob Hawke swept into power just a month after we sang our heads off at the Bowl, elected off the back of his visit to the Franklin River with Greens leader Dr. Bob Brown, on a promise to change Federal legislation to save it. And he did. The power of the people to effect political change felt real. And possible. And Shane Howard wrote the soundtrack.

“It did feel like we were part of a movement for change. Goanna emerged from Geelong and the Great Ocean Road coast, playing benefits to save the Otway Ranges from reckless clear-fell logging. When the Franklin River issue escalated in 1982, Bob Brown suggested I go to the Franklin to see for myself what was at stake and I did, in the week leading up to Stop the Drop. I was deeply moved by its wild beauty and the dedication of thousands of young people who were arrested and jailed, trying to protect that wild river. I had a week to write ‘Let the Franklin Flow’ and rehearse it with the band. We played it for the first time at Stop the Drop and Redgum joined us onstage. That performance was the recording we released. Bob Hawke came to power a month after the concert and kept his promise to protect the Franklin.” – Shane Howard

The politics surrounding Stop the Drop and the idea that grassroots campaigns could translate into Federal laws was a lightning rod for a generation of idealists. My generation of idealists. People who held firm to the adage that music could change the world.

“At the time, Goanna were riding high on the unlikely success of ‘Solid Rock’ that pulled no punches about the brutal injustice Aboriginal Australians endured since colonisation. We were on the bill with Midnight Oil, Redgum and others. We invited Gary Foley to join us onstage and he introduced ‘Solid Rock’. There was a palpable feeling of social change in the air and music was a powerful vehicle for that change. Fraser was PM of Australia, Thatcher was PM of UK and Reagan was President of US. They were conservatives and divisive figures who heralded the era of neo-liberalism. The US and the Soviets were belligerent, and it felt like the world was on a knife edge of nuclear catastrophe. In contrast, Australia was on the verge of Bob Hawke’s election as PM, on a platform of reform and a promise to save the Franklin River from being dammed.” – Shane Howard

Stop the Drop also marked a turning point in Garrett’s career. In 1984, he made his first tilt at Federal Parliament running for the Senate for the Nuclear Disarmament Party. He missed out by 800 votes. But it lit a fire that simmered for 20 years, eventually securing the Labor seat of Kingsford-Smith in 2004 and serving as a Federal MP and Minister throughout his three terms in Federal Parliament. It proved a tantalising conundrum. Music and politics. Music or politics. Particularly as Garrett went back on the road post-Federal politics with a re-formed Oils for a bone-crunching few years of touring before the band called it quits in 2022.

“Both routes are worth pursuing and can be effective. In fact, any type of peaceful action; big or small, on land or sea, in the bush or the big smoke, is a plus. Music can arouse the emotions, shine a light and raise the alarm. Politics can apply the policy, change the laws and use the resources of government for good. Music can get us going in a positive direction, then governments are needed to finish the job.” – Peter Garrett

40 years on from one of the most pivotal concerts of my life calls for reflection. The band that wrote the book on music and politics, the Oils, finally done after almost five decades at the coalface for change and a long emotional goodbye. Goanna back briefly in 2022, dusting off the glorious 40-year-old Spirit of Place album, singing up country with First Nations artists and fellow travellers. Singing up the spirits of the past and the present, and the ghosts of lost opportunity. Michael Hutchence, long-gone. Australia’s shiny Icarus. Burned too bright, too close to the sun. So, so missed. And Schuey, his voice still carrying that powerful message from the past. When songs made a difference, or so it says on the Redgum-box. Back on the road with a series of shows in 2023, still raging against the machine.

And what did we learn? After all these songs and all these years later. When the world seems more fragile than it did when we felt doomed to go up in a nuclear dust-cloud. Did any of it make a difference? Did we sing our way to a better world or sing into a void?

“The role of art is to force truth into the foreground and critique society, and music is the most social of artforms. It is difficult for truth to cut through the static of commercial entertainment. Stop the Drop was one such moment in an era of change. Against all the odds, the artists keep on coming. Now we find ourselves in a time of powerful transformation again.” – Shane Howard

“Doing shows like this was part of our DNA, and whilst issues may have changed over time, the idea that we could speak out and bring people together in a common cause was central to our way of doing things for nearly 50 years. There are less nuclear weapons, held by the superpowers, than previously and many countries have signed a new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which will make a massive difference. The sticking point has always been the reluctance of the major nuclear powers - US, Russia, China, UK, France et al - to give up theirs. Yes, with the Ukraine war in particular, the world is more fragile. Yet we can see what a hollow, but dangerous tool of power nuclear weapons really are. Possessing nuclear arms does not confer strength, even though threats to use nukes are terrifying. Still, we are not far away from ridding the world of these monstrous things if enough people in nuke countries call for their abolition. Following Stop the Drop and subsequent efforts there were positive changes in Australia's position, and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won a Nobel prize for its efforts in 2017, actually began in Melbourne (I’m pretty sure some campaigners were actually at Stop the Drop), and is active in over a hundred countries. The Albanese Labor government has said it would ratify and sign the Treaty in its first term, so that must happen now. Bring on the change!” – Peter Garrett

And Stop the Drop? Sitting in the blurry memories of those lucky enough to be there? Memories of a 20-year-old me, and a life forever changed by some of the greatest bands Australia has ever known. At their blistering best. Just a kid from the suburbs with a backstage pass to the Oils. What a ringside ride it was. But if anyone knows where that banner is, I’d love to see it hanging in the Australian Music Vault.

With sincerest thanks to Peter Garrett and Shane Howard for generously making time to revisit 40-year-old memories. Thank you for the inspiration and the music.

Tracee Hutchison is an award-winning radio broadcaster, journalist, television producer, filmmaker and author of the Australian music anthology, Your Name’s on the Door.