A piece of Australian music history is set to go on public display after fans snapped up a legendary rock band's drum kit from its ailing owner.

Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst auctioned his black Ludwig kit after his battle with pancreatic cancer ensured he could no longer play his beloved "war horse".

The band's Facebook fan club Powderworkers came together to make a winning bid, raising $77,500 for charity in the process.

They are now in negotiations with Arts Centre Melbourne's Australian Music Vault, with the kit set to become part of its permanent collection.

The kit was bought new by Hirst in 1979 and featured on every Midnight Oil album and tour until the band's retirement in 2022.

Hirst joked to AAP that he felt sorry for the kit "literally for the beating it's taken over the last 45 years".

"I don't have the breath power to play a big rock'n'roll kit any more," he said on Sunday.

There were some anxious moments during the auction.

"There was about 30 seconds left and then someone put in a bid for 72-and-a-half grand, and I thought, we've lost it," Powderworkers administrator Matthew Yau told AAP.

But Paul Bartlett - bidding on behalf of Powderworkers - refused to be beaten.

He played his last card as the final seconds ticked down, pulling more money out of his own pocket in the process.

Proceeds will go to music industry charity Support Act and MusicNT's Fix 'em Up Truck, which maintains and supplies musical equipment to remote First Nations communities.

"I'm over the moon ... I'm really big on what the Oils believe in, and to help MusicNT and Support Act, to be able to give them that amount of money, it'll save lives," Mr Yau said.

Sandra Bruce, Arts Centre Melbourne's director of collections and exhibitions, said the potential acquisition of the kit was an "extraordinary opportunity".

It will be subject to a formal approval process but Ms Bruce "can't see why it wouldn't happen".

"It's very exciting, and we couldn't be more astounded by the generosity of it, not only by Midnight Oil's fans, but that it's been offered to us," she said.

"We're just so blown away by the extraordinary efforts Powderworkers community has made to secure that drum kit for the public."

One piece not included in the auction is the corrugated iron water tank that Hirst salvaged from the sand dunes on the 1986 Blackfella/Whitefella tour of remote First Nations communities.

That tour spawned the internationally successful album Diesel and Dust, and one of the band's biggest hits, Beds are Burning.

Oils fans save ailing drummer's kit for public display