A Skins ‘n’ Sharps Exhibition will be held from Sunday 4th of July 2010 @ The Kustom Lane Gallery, 8 Luton Lane, Hawthorn.
Googled “Blackburn South Sharps” and found this grouse site!
Larry Jenkins, aka ESOTERIC, is the photographer responsible for the now infamous “Sharpie” photos recently [sic] exhibited at ACMI / Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia.
Larry was the leader of the notorious street gang the “BLACKBURN SOUTH SHARPS” from 1972-1977 when the Sharpie sub-culture was at its peak and the working class suburbs of Melbourne were a tough and violent place to grow up. These photographs represent a period from 1975-1976 in Australian sub-cultural history and are one of the few photographic records of that time. Larry began taking photos at the age of 16 using a pocket camera, when he started working as an apprentice motor mechanic and spent his weekly wage developing his shots…
See also :
::: Sharpies – A Unique Australian Subculture
“The recent fascination with Sharpies leaves you wondering – when did a spotted past in suburban Australia become an object of fascination rather than derision?”
::: The Sharpies – Cult Gangs of the Sixties and Seventies
In the 60’s and 70’s the streets of Melbourne were full of gangs but it was the Sharpies, enemies of the Hippies and Mods that held the power on the street. For a mean bunch of kids they were extremely fashion conscious with their crest-knit black shirts and personally designed cardigans. But as Saturday night fever exploded the Sharpies started to conform until the gang slowly faded away.
::: Blackburn South Sharps on Wikipedia :
The Blackburn South Sharps were the most prominent of the 1972-1977 Melbourne ‘sharpie’ gangs. The Sharpies were unique [?] to Melbourne and are an important element of Melbourne’s history in that their clothes were not a copy of US or UK fashion and they listened to Melbourne rock bands. Sharpies were an early precursor to the Australian phenomenon of bogans.
[On ‘bogans’, see also Michelle Griffin, ‘Bogansville: meet the new in-crowd’, The Age, July 16, 2002. NB. The lexicographers at the ANU claim that the earliest trace they can find for the term is 1985, but I can recall its use in 1983.]
hi, im back, with a new laptop. hi Noel yer im all good hows about u hope its all good 4 u. and Chris oh, all i can say is u were right, and thanks 4 the insight.
yep not bad buddy and C OH how are you doing mate
take care boys
A sad note to let the Sharpie family know that our old mate Chris O’Halloran passed away.
@ndy thanks for your help in getting old mates back together through your site.
Facebook seems to have taken over now
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sharpies/
Hi all i am chasing a xxl Connie cardigan for sale prefer blue and red but any colour will do, it’s for a cardigan party in a few weeks so if anyone has one that they can part with please email me at [email protected]
Wayne
Try http://skinsnsharps.com/?
just wondering if any of you people have photos of my uncle Shane Goodfellow?
trying to learn more about him and a Julie?
If I remember correctly the only shoes Melbourne and suburbs sharpies wore were called Venus. An Italian guy in Richmond had the market for these chisel toed Cuban heeled marvels. The upmarket ones were the suede versions. Looked great. They also had black with the dark burgundy v shaped overlays. Connie cardigans with the checkerboard pattern and Crestknits were also mandatory. The striped cardigans with the little belts on the back and the colour patterns of a dark background with deep red thinning lines was awesome fashion at the time. Then it all just stopped. It was over. I was from Doveton and we had an ongoing hatred for the Jordanville sharpies. Mainly due to the local football… which often ended in violence… strange days indeed… I miss the fashion of that era. There was style in that form.
hi to all, Julie so sorry, its been a sad day today, havent been online 4 a bit, the news of chris rest in peace my brother, a man amongst men, not too many of us old school boys left, so when I meet with u and the rest of us old school boys again, we’ll teach god how to party bros. as tears drop Julie I know its a bit late but did chris have a decent farewell? shaterd let me know if I can do anything, im shaterd, well that took the talk out of me, be safe be good bros and sisters. shaterd. yo noel how u been mate?
hi to all ive got to tell you all a bed time story, how the village idiots play there games here down town hillman w. a . the bush wackers club, haha, got a little bit of a problem with cash that belongs to me here, the code what code, im the only one here that lives by it, and im a sitting duck because of it, the cd sirens, tr 1 tr 3, right on bros, anyways the bed time story sitting duck no I played the players, so instead of doing the right thing and pay me, they tryed a run threw on the lone sharp, well im glad to say they fucked up, there was this big silverback and another bit of shit bam bam thank u mam, she come to the door like my best mate, I slammed the door shut that hard it was like a shotgun gone off, the silverback jumped about two feet off the ground, got them on security system, funny as, that far from pissing me self, so in the morning I put a sign up that my little girl gave me years ago as a gift, and these lowlifes live close they can see my house, it gos like this, no trespassing violators will be shot, survivors will be shot again, and because of recording off these two movie stars, I also put a scream mask up for sale in the big front window so they could see, hahahaha.
jp I haven’t been on for a long time and I am sorry I missed your post. Most of us have found each other on https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sharpies/.
Chris had a fitting farewell, but nothing can prepare anyone for the loss of a vibrant, passionate and beautiful man, especially Chris’s young daughter and all of their friends.
Chris thumped into me the importance of the 1960s sharpies (and the early 70s sharpies) and I will forever be grateful and I hope that I have honored his insight by acknowledging the decades.
Julie thanks, to hear that that Chris had a good farewell. I have peace about that, and its good to hear from old school girl and Julie I honor you for what you have done thank you Julie. To Chris daughter, love and friendship in our hearts forever. Julie can you text Noel know im on this site, off the radar, ow the silverback in the bed time story found bashed and stabbed a few times. im ok went to sharp school hahaha. This one for old school, take care
Ronnie mascara was the best fighter in the burwood hawthorn area and one of the staunchest blokes.
Not as tough as Peter Anderson.
Finally!
Larry Jenkins has released a photo album of his infamous “SHARPIE” photos that have been exhibited in all the major art galleries in Australia and internationally over the last 16 years!
Each limited edition copy will be autographed by Larry Jenkins and numbered in sequence so get your order in early as they will be numbered in the queue from when you pay your order.
This is an amazing historical vision of what it was like to be a SHARP on the streets of Melbourne in the mid 1970s. The album contains 42 of Larry’s famous photos in stunning colour and great quality.
A great coffee table addition to any history buff, pop culture enthusiast or as memoir to those who were either “in or out” of the SHARPIES and remember the times and the fashion.
Covered by blue denim with a window to the BLACKBURN SOUTH SHARPS logo. The real world of what it was like to be a SHARP awaits you inside … On sale now @ EBay.com.au
I don’t seem to be able to find the auction on EBay …
Found it!
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/172261121096
Blackburn sharps … Haahaahaaaaaa , you,ve got to be kidding me . These softcocks actually made a video ADMITTING they rode pushbikes , ADMITTING that they had to be home by a certain time , admitting how they RAN when the Western suburbs came looking for ,em ETC , ETC ,ETC . I knew these guys only because my x was from Blackburn South and there claims in the main are false and basically are OUTRIGHT LIES ! NOTORIOUS HAHAHAHA . Larry the toothpick LEADER ? How big is this blokes NOSE ? … TWO MEN stand out in this group of FAKERS … RODDY WHITE , you were a champion fella and I understand if your EMBARRASSED by the bullshit out there . Hoping your still with us mate ! Number 2 is again a geniune artical … and that is a bloke by the name of Glen Johnson aka Johnno . Again I say , great bloke RESPECT to you and Rod , Glen had the unfortunatcy of being with myself one night when shit went down and happy to say Glen went home whereas I unfortuneatly got locked up . Hope you guys are alive and well and respect is earned not tarnished by BULLSHIT from toothpick nobody,s like LARRY JENKINS . BTW our Larry is these days a Real Estate Agent I,ve heard … Cant see him selln many houses cos MOST people see through bullshit . Seriously Larry your bullshit just doesnt stack among those of us who were the geniune article ,,, you fuckn mincer !
Sharpies by themselves were not so tough in the early 70s in blackburn south I lived in aldinga street and they were only tough in a group of them me and my mates would handle them any day of the year
To think what these suburbs are now. The old boys were so much harder.
I was only 7 and remember being at the G at the Centenary Test Cricket match (1977) in the outer and these older blokes were covered in blood. My old man, a tough old footballer said what happened boys, they said the sharpies got us at Richmond Station.
I also remember the fight in the outer when Mulgrave FC played Bayswater FC in 1979 as a 9 year old. Been told one of the biggest brawls in suburban footy ever. There was a mad sharpie playing for Mulgrave.
The time the Glen Waverley boys destroyed our neighbourhood and my old man fronted at least 6 of them after a night on the piss at the footy club. They ran!
Sure you have all grown up haha (except for my old man).
Did sharpies ever really get into Aussie Rules football? Aside from beating people up at the train stations on the way there heh.
I wonder if footy was part of the regular schedule of things to do?
And did any sharpies actually play footy? Robbie McGhie sorta had the look, but not sure if he was actually a sharpie.
I remember the old man use to take me to sharp parties I was 11 hitting The Espy the old man use to say I was Jockey 🏇 Went to countless piss-ups a learned the ropes quickly anyone remember shane goodfellow.