Red Sails in the Sunset is the fifth studio album by Australian group Midnight Oil which was released in October 1984 under the Columbia Records label.

Some of its tracks were performed live in January 1985 at a Sydney Harbour Goat Island concert to celebrate radio station Triple J's 10th birthday, which was simulcast on ABC Television and subsequently re-broadcast on their then-Tuesday night music program Rock Arena.

Red Sails in the Sunset contains the only Midnight Oil tracks with lead vocals provided by their drummer Rob Hirst, "When the Generals Talk" and "Kosciusko".

[8] The album cover by Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimura featured a photomontage of Sydney – both city and harbour – cratered and devastated after a hypothetical nuclear attack.

[11] Rolling Stone's Don Shewey felt their music "combines the postpunk abrasiveness of the Clash and Gang of Four with the Kinks' music-hall variety and the pure pop of groups like Cheap Trick".

[13] Shewey wrote that their "references to local politics and history that stud the group's songs and account in large part for its huge appeal down under may seem exotic or puzzling to Americans".