Shearston left school at age 16 to train as a press correspondent with
United Press, while his first show business job was as a
puppeteer with the Tintookies (named for their 1956 play
The Tintookies), an Australian travelling puppetry troupe. Melbourne,
Adelaide and Sydney from August to December 1958. Back in Sydney, he joined the
Hayes Gordon Ensemble Theatre working as an actor in
Orpheus Descending (January–July 1960) and
The Drunkard (July 1960–February 1961) and as a stage manager. Having taken up acoustic guitar, Shearston learned a repertoire of English, American and Australian folk songs and at 19 become a professional singer. CBS issued his debut album,
Folk Songs & Ballads of Australia, in April 1964. With political activist and poet
Oodgeroo Noonuccal ( Kath Walker) he co-wrote "We Want Freedom" (or "Aboriginal Charter of Rights") in 1964 to advocate for constitutional recognition of
Indigenous Australians and their charter of rights. In March 1965 Sydney radio stations started playing "Sydney Town", a single from his second album
Australian Broadside. It reached the top 10 in his home city and top 40 nationally. United States folk trio
Peter Paul and Mary toured Australia in mid-1964 and got a copy of a Shearston album – they later recorded a cover version of his track "Sometime Lovin'" (see
The Peter, Paul and Mary Album, 1966). The group also invited him to the US. In 1967 he spent a year in London, while his US visa application was investigated, due to
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) files regarding his
protesting against Australian involvement in the Vietnam war and support for
Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. He spent four years on the US east coast but was not allowed to perform due to visa restrictions. In 1972 Shearston returned to England and re-recorded tracks for an album,
Dingo. The single which attracted most attention was his deadpan interpretation of Cole Porter's "
I Get a Kick out of You" (1974), which reached No. 19 on the
Kent Music Report and No. 7 on the
UK Singles Chart. Shearston returned to Australia in 1989 and later became a cleric in the
Anglican Church of Australia in rural New South Wales. In 1990 he received the Tamworth Songwriters' Association's Bush Ballad of the Year award for his autobiographical song "Shopping on a Saturday". He was ordained a deacon in 1991 and a priest in 1992. Shearston served as an assistant in Narrandera (1991) and Deniliquin (1992-1993). He was priest-in-charge in Hay (1993-1998), rector of Bangalow (1998-2003) and a locum in Stanthorpe (2005-2006) and Coleambally-Darlington Point/Deniliquin (2006). == Private life ==