Last edited by fxh (2011-02-20 09:59:17)

Did you drive hippies out and gone? Or somes still remain in Australia?

Last edited by Alexandre Orlov (2011-02-20 13:56:32)

Last edited by fxh (2011-02-20 19:57:10)

Those really were the days. Kids could run freely, ride their bikes, and streets were full of kids playing outside back then. Now we have a bunch of kids who aren't allowed to go outside by themselves because their parents tell them a bad man will take them away, we also get kids who aren't allowed to ride bikes because it's so dangerous, and kids who are all driven to school by car because public transport is too hard and inconvenient. Now we have a bunch of soft kids that sit inside and play computer games and do facebook, all because my silly generation that decided to get soft of kids.

Last edited by The_Shooman (2011-02-20 22:33:34)

When l would go on camp with the boy scouts, we didn't always use tents. We would get out our knives, cut ferns and trees and build bush huts and sleep in them...would even keep the rain out if done right. We also got pieces of mud from the ground and would cover our food in it like how the Aboriginals used to do, we even caught small snakes to eat on the open fire. And we had to dig a hole to go to the toilet and use bunches of leaves to wipe our bums. That's how l used to camp with my dad too; sleep in a bush hut and hunt all our food....puts hairs on ya chest, the best times.

The modern day scouts don't do this. They go to a local airconditioned hall full with overnight facilities, and they order pizza from down the road. Pthh. Weak buggers.

Last edited by The_Shooman (2011-02-20 22:48:54)

There was a time not all that long ago when a huge number of ordinary kids around 14 - 19 years old in Melbourne had shoes made for them in their own designs and cardigans made for them in their own designs.

I think there are quite a few mistakes around  about the era. . Another reason that it shouldn't be just middle class scribes who define history. Most history of these sorts of thing are oral and need to be documented.

I wasn't part of it, except as an onlooker/observer. I was from the country and a bit older so I didn't understand the identification with certain suburbs or what it meant.

My view was that it started in late 60s and the Melb Sharpies were more akin to Mods than Skinheads until the mid 70s or so.That is they had sharp clothes and haircuts- more like "college" cuts than No1 cuts, and many had tailored clothes. The pinstriped pants were from woollen suit material and made by old italian and greek tailors. Shoes were things like snazzy suede square toes with cuban heels - custom made and the cardigans were certainly custom ordered and many of them one off.

It was around 71 the younger kids got into it and started fighting more, although a bloke the other day was telling me he was a Mod in '66 and there was a big blue in Burke Street with Sharpies. Backed up by an article in The Age in 1966 - online.

So I suspect there are actually parallel narratives and it isn't zero sum where one cancels the other out.

The interesting thing here in terms of clothing is to note that there was a time in Melbourne when fashion/style was invented locally from street upwards not media or designer down. Not only was it ordinary apprentices from the suburbs but that it utilised, not mass market clothing, but "bespoke" if you like, clothing designed by the users and made by skilled artisans (tailors and shoe makers and cardigan makers)

Yes it was picked up by commercialisers such as Merryvale and then by mainstream menswear shops - but by then as any hipster knows - the game is over -no fun anymore.

Earlier on Staggers jeans by Staggers (I think Joseph Saba?) were a favourite and made in Melbourne, Cresknit always did mass market as well as custom and Conte made custom and distributed a standard range to a bunch of shops in southern and eastern suburbs. The shoemakers were around for a fair while.

One of the reasons there were only "real" Sharps in Melb was that the clothes were made here and only really available here, and then in limited outlets at first, so even country Victoria had difficulty getting access to the clothes.

Last edited by fxh (2011-02-21 00:39:58)

shamrock - I'm not that interested in the later sharpie / mullet/rat tail gangs because most of them were just yobbos and violent little skinny rodent like shits. By the early 70s they had lost all connection with the original thirst for clothes and a style and just became thugs and skinheads.

Evie, thanks for dropping in. Be good to see some pictures of Shepp  Sharpies. I suspect it was after the Sharpie / Mod clothes focussing and was more the Sharpies / Skins that reached Shepp. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

I'm sure I've seen videos of the Sharpie dance , possibly on YouTube.