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Sharpies, or Sharps, were members of suburban youth gangs in Australia, most significantly from the 1960s and 1970s.[1] They were particularly prominent in Melbourne, but were also found in Sydney and Perth to lesser extents. Sharpies were known for being violent, although a strict moral code[citation needed] was also evident, and many ex-Sharpies argue that claims of wrongdoing were exaggerated [2] The name comes from their focus on looking and dressing "sharp".[1]
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2007) |
Sharpies would often congregate in large numbers, regularly attending live bands at town hall and high school dances.[1]
Common clothing items included Lee or Levi jeans, cardigans, jumpers, and T-shirts—often individually designed by group members.[1]
Mods were an enemy of sharpies, and their gang brawls were reported in the newspapers during 1966.[3] In a 2002 interview, a former sharpie stated that despite the sharpie culture being quite violent – especially as they crossed other gangs' territories on the public transport network – the altercations were restricted to inter-gang rivalries.[1]
Sharpies were particularly fond of Australian pub rock and hard rock groups such as Rose Tattoo, Lobby Lloyde and the Coloured Balls and Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs.[4]
- Photographer Rennie Ellis has included portraits of sharpies in his works[5]
- Queeny (1994), Deep (1997), and Suburban Warriors (2003) are short films by Rebecca McLean related to sharpies[citation needed]
- Blackburn South Sharpies' member Peter Robertson curated Sharpies, a photographic exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in 2001–02, and also as part of the 2002 Melbourne International Fashion Festival[1]
- Blackburn South Sharpies' member Larry Jenkins also photographically documented this gang[6]
- The Australian Broadcasting Corporation featured sharpies in a 2002 episode of George Negus' New Dimensions in Time[1]
- Comedian Magda Szubanski was a sharpie in her youth and parodied the subculture on Fast Forward.[7]
- Levi released "Levi's Black Sharps", a denim range inspired by sharpies[8]
- Top Fellas: The Story of Melbourne's Sharpie Cult is a 2004 book by Tadhg Taylor on Melbourne's sharpies[9]
- Rage: A Sharpie's Journal Melbourne 1974–1980 is a 2010 book by Julie Mac on Melbourne's sharpies[10]
- Out with the Boys: The Sharpie Days is a 2011 book by the Seagull about the Sydney Sharpies of the 1960s[citation needed]
- Once Were Sharps: The colourful life and times of the Thomastown Sharps is a book by Nick Tolewski, written by Dean Crozier[citation needed]
- A resurgence of interest in the Sharpie sub-culture in recent times included Skins'n'Sharps Exhibitions in 2006 (Dante's Gallery, Fitzroy) and 2010 (Kustom Lane Gallery, Hawthorn) and a dedicated website Skins'n'Sharps[11]
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