Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst says there is "unfinished business" for meaningful recognition of First Nations people in Australia amid social and political upheaval.

In the midst of their final tour, The Oils are saying farewell to fans off the back of their number-one album Resist, released in February.

Over four decades the band has advocated for Indigenous causes with themes around the impact of colonisation in their music.

Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst performing in Melbourne. Credit: Kane Hibberd

Ahead of headlining Stompem Ground's resurgence, a cultural music festival in Western Australia's Kimberley which ran three times between 1992-2000, Mr Hirst reflected on the Uluru Statement and Voice to Parliament debate as a sign of where the nation stands.

The time has come to say fair's fair - from the band's 1987 track Beds Are Burning - is the festival's theme for 2022.

"It's only now with the Albanese Labour government that it (the Uluru Statement) is going to be resurrected and given the prominence that it deserves," Hirst said.

"We thought as a band that Australians can't really move on until these themes of justice and reconciliation are done and dusted and we're still so far away from that.

"There's a lot of healing to be done and a lot of truth telling to be done."

Collaboration with Indigenous artists has been a pillar the band's career.

In 2020 they released The Makarrata Project, calling for Treaty and exploring First Nations issues and wider-Australia's relationships with them.

Musicians Jess Mauboy, Dan Sultan, Troy Casser-Daley as well as figures like Stan Grant and Adam Goodes contributed to the record.

It re-established the platform they had tried to provide over their 11 albums to that point, something that continues in the twilight of their career.

"Our contribution has just been just to follow events and push the, the dialogue along a little bit with our songs," Hirst said.

"And also by assisting some of the great musicians that we've played alongside."

Stompem Ground will see the band perform alongside Kimberley music legends The Pigram Brothers and other artists such as Seaside Drifters.

Midnight Oil playing in Melbourne. Credit: Kane Hibberd

The Oils last played the festival in 1998.

Hirst said it felt like going "full circle" to return as part of their final run of shows.

Wrapping things up with shows in intimate settings feels like a fitting way to go out.

"We've made very firm friends up there in the Kimberley," Hirst said.

"There's nothing that completes with a gig in a beautiful night and Broome evenings are just beautiful this time of year.

"With that moon coming up over the bay and the sun setting over it's just magical.

"They're the ones we remember."

Running alongside local art, poetry and film festivals, Stompem Ground will forge a week-long celebration of traditional and contemporary culture in line with the Bringing Them Home Report and founding of Kimberley Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation's anniversaries.

Despite the music schedule being reduced to a single day, festival director and former NAIDOC person of the year Mark Bin Bakar, also known as his radio and television character Mary G, said it remained a poignant celebration of creativity with subtle political agenda, particularly for the Kimberley.

"Aboriginal people are here, they've always been here," he said.

"They've always celebrated law and culture and language and that's paramount to your identity as an Aboriginal person.

"All those people want to celebrate what they've got to offer and show off to the world."

Father McMahon Oval in Broome hosts Stompem Ground on September 17.