Sharpies

Sharpies (also known as Sharps) were members of suburban youth gangs in Australia mainly from the 1960s to 1980s, particularly in Melbourne, but also in Sydney and Perth to a lesser extent.

The term comes from their focus on looking sharp. The dress and dance styles were strongly influenced by the British ska, mod and skinhead subcultures, and many of the Sharpies were British immigrants, recently arrived as "Ten Pound Poms". [ [http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/uploads/approved/adt-NWU20060206.143742/public/02Whole.pdf Microsoft Word - 02 Chapter 1.doc ] ] Common clothing items included Lee or Levi's jeans, sweaters and T-shirts (often designed by individual members). Sharpies would try to outdo fellow sharpies by creating the best patterns, colours and detail. Sharpies were known for being violent, although a strict moral code was also evident.

Sharpies were very much a social thing in Melbourne, where the main gangs — Westside, Southside and Northside — would meet up with the smaller groups such as Prahran Sharps and Melbourne Sharps, usually at Flinders Street Station in the mid 1970s. It wasn't unusual for there to be hundreds of Sharpies milling about. They often went to dances and early discos, and because of sheer numbers, they were almost untouchable by the police. This led to excessive violence on behalf of the Sharpies, who would basically fight who they wanted, and take beer and money from who they wanted. The Sharpies subculture faded out due to mistrust between gangs and excessive violence.

In south-east Sydney, a gang from the La Perouse area (called "La Pa" by the locals) were known as the "Lapa Sharpies". In Perth, youths in areas such as Medina, Rockingham, Armadale, Kelmscott, Lynwood and Thornlie joined skinhead/Sharpie gangs. Many of these young people were children of recently arrived British migrants who built and ran the BP Kwinana Oil Refinery.

Sharpies in popular media

*'Sharpies' a film by Greg MacIntosh (1974).
*Blackburn South Sharpie's member Greg Robertson curated a photographic exhibition also called 'Sharpies', shown in Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2001/02 and in Melbourne as part of the 2002 Melbourne International Fashion Festival. []
*The Australian Broadcasting Corporation featured Sharpies in an episode of "Dimensions In Time". [ [http://www.abc.net.au/arts/visual/stories/sharpies_index.htm The Space Visual Arts: Sharpies ] ] [ [http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_in_time/Transcripts/s508106.htm The Sharpies - Cult Gangs of the Sixties and Seventies ] ]
*Photographer Rennie Ellis has included portraits of Sharpies in his works. [ [http://www.rennieellis.com.au/gallery.html Rennie Ellis Photographer Gallery of Limited Edition black and white and colour photographs, official website Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive Melbourne Australia ] ]
*Magda Szubanski, in her early years as a comedian on "The D-Generation" and "Fast Forward", played a character who dressed in Sharpie style and performed a Sharpie dance, which bears a strong resemblance to skanking.
*Peter Garret from Midnight Oil, who gained popularity around the time of Sharpie's, has a jerking style dance reminiscent of Sharpie Dancing.
*Levi's released Levi's Black Sharp's, a denim range inspired by Sharpies. [ [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0608/S00072.htm Scoop: Look Sharp! - With Levi’s Black Sharps this summer ] ]

Notes

ee also

*Blackburn South Sharps - A renowned Sharpie gang.

External links

* [http://www.blackburnsouthsharps.com Blackburn Sth Sharps] - a website devoted to the history of the Blackburn South Sharps.
* http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_in_time/Transcripts/s508106.htm
* http://www.abc.net.au/arts/visual/stories/sharpies_index.htm
* http://www.rennieellis.com.au/sharpies.html
* http://www.swinburne.edu.au/sbs/media/staff/tofts/sharps/SkinsSharpies_1.pdf
* [http://skinsnsharps.com Skins 'n' Sharps] - The forgotten Subculture, Melbourne 1971 to 1979