JAWN's Curated

I feel like a lot of what we saw being worn by adlays in Penrith between 2015 and 2018 became the stereotypical image of an “eshay.”  Now hear me out, what I mean by this is that I remember anytime Penrith was mentioned during then, it was always referred to as “eshays”. In 2020, whenever major media was publishing something about eshays, the photos they used always seemed to be of lads who lived in Penrith. I don’t know if I’m the only one who sees it this way. What I found pretty cool was that lads in Penrith were rocking Trill, a brand you wouldn’t typically see on adlays from other LGAs. There was always a great volume of Trill and Stussy being worn around Penrith Westfield and the station. Yeah, there was Nautica, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, Nike, Canterbury and Sergio Tacchini – Myer, InSport, Rebel, Foot Locker, Glue and SP Penrith had all of that covered. But groups of lads in long sleeve Trill tees, high Stussy socks and a gold watch? Honestly, I can’t recall seeing that anywhe...

Having moved to Blacktown in 2014, you'd always occasionally see HS and 67 boys around Westpoint shopping centre.  Particularly going to the cinemas and buying shoes. The most active and recognisable youth g*ngs were HS and eventually 67. Well, a year or so after I moved to Blacktown, I was hearing the mention of 67 more than HS, though I never went to Doonie either and only am recalling from when I lived in Blacktown. If any of HS or 67 associates went any further west, the NF14 youth g*ng would be there, i.e., more recognised as ONEFOUR. You’d honestly hear dibble dabbles of their fallouts from being around the area. In my situation, it was from working at Mount Druitt Foot Locker. Postcode war was a huge identity for Doonside youth, hence the 67 name, representing their postcode 2767. There was, and still is, a lot of pride associated with that postcode. I remember often seeing 67 tatted. Now, lads, I know you're gonna say the fashion in Doonside was inspired by Inner Sydney...

Most of the g*ng talk stuff didn’t pop off until 2016-2018 because of OneFour, postcode wars and the media speaking on them.  It obviously existed prior, but no one really batted an eye at it. And if you didn’t mess with people, then no one messed with you. The postcode war and OneFour’s presence is talked about so much in the media that it’s just overplayed and unnecessary to be spoken on. Maybe it’s just what the youngins want to hear. I’ve been living in the area since the early 2010s, seeing struggle in many of the locals. Living paycheck to paycheck. What really stood out to me was the Indigenous people around the area, which was a small community.  My very first neighbour was Aboriginal, and you could often hear the male beating his partner without a care for who was around. They would also throw a lot of parties. It was a constant cycle. Honestly, you also never knew who lived in some of the houses because there would be a lot of people going in and out. You would also ...