In August 1969, he left the Bee Gees and he was replaced by Pentangle drummer Terry Cox to record the songs for their 1970 album Cucumber Castle.

When he was still nine years old in late 1955, he starred in the film Smiley[2] (released in 1956), with Sir Ralph Richardson, but by the time he was 12 in 1958 he was forced to cease acting as his mother felt it was interfering with his education.

[5] Smiley, The Scamp and A Cry from the Streets were all successful and in 1957 Petersen was voted one of the biggest stars at the British box office.

[7][8] After leaving school he played with several bands including Steve and the Board and became acquainted with Maurice Gibb, who invited him to sit in on one of the Bee Gees' sessions in Sydney.

[11] He and fellow band member Vince Melouney, who played lead guitar and had also moved to the UK, had some trouble when, in the late summer of 1967, they were threatened with deportation because of an error in the way they had secured their visas.

That problem was solved only by the intervention of the group's manager, Robert Stigwood, who mounted a publicity campaign that embarrassed the government into permitting them to remain in the UK.

[12] While he was a Bee Gee, he and Maurice Gibb wrote "Everything That Came From Mother Goose" with lead vocals and guitar by Petersen, but it was not released.

He was fired, allegedly for having lost interest in the group and missing recording sessions, and for his refusal to do any acting in the film, despite his experience in front of the cameras.

He returned to Australia in 1974[3] where, having lost his rights to royalties after his court case against the Bee Gees, eventually became a painter residing in Sydney.

It would have been about the third song in, and I thought to myself, bloody hell, this band is really great, and the voices were so close, and it was well presented and they all seem really comfortable on stage and enjoying it, which is really important.

"[10][24] Petersen was required to register for National Service and was called up on 11 March 1966, but he was found medically unfit to serve in the army.

[26]On 1 June 1968, Petersen married Joanne Newfield in Nassau, Bahamas, with fellow Bee Gees member Vince Melouney as the best man.

After the couple's wedding Petersen and Newfield went on honeymoon in Majorca, which was spoiled somewhat when Joanne fell ill with German measles.

[2] The Bee Gees' manager Robert Stigwood said about Petersen: "Colin is a very level-headed person, despite being a racing car enthusiast.