Sharpies (1974)

Rare 1974 insight to Sharpies in Melbourne. By Greg Macainsh. Lobby Lloyd and Billy Thorpe concert at the Melbourne Showgrounds

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.[1] 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, Australia, where the main gangs — Westside, Southside and Northside — would meet up with the smaller groups such as Prahran Sharps, Melbourne Sharps and the A A Sharps, from the Broadmeadows region 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.