History of Qld eshays: What it’s like inside a youth gang

Queensland’s battle against youth crime involves a scary subculture. This is the terrifying truth about the rise of eshays.

Drill rap, knives and graffiti tags – welcome to the world of eshays.

Queensland’s battle against youth crime involves a scary subculture, one of a brotherhood of troubled teens who possess a reckless approach to life.

In March 2024 footage showed after police cars being damaged and specialist officers called in when hundreds of people blocked streets in Logan during a visit by a notorious YouTube star Spanian Saturday.

The incident added to the state’s worries over the youth gangs – but where did it all start and what happens next?

This is the terrifying tale of the rise and rise of eshays in Queensland.

■ Qld eshays and our run-ins with them: History of events

FIRST USE OF THE TERM

The term eshays was first coined in the 1980s to describe lower class youths in public housing who intimidate, rob and boast about drug use.

The subculture was originally influenced by a similar cohort in the UK labelled ‘chavs’, a derogatory term for young, yobbish, white people from poor backgrounds who wore real or fake Burberry designer labels and relied on government handouts and crime to pay for their lifestyle.

Police arrest a youth troublemaker in 2002.

The term eshay has become well established in Australia in recent years, influenced heavily by Aussie hip hop in the early 2000s and given exposure via social media.

HOW HAS IT GROWN IN QLD?

Youth crime and gangs have been synonymous with the Gold Coast, in particular, for close to two decades.

The rise of youth gangs emerged in the early 2000s, with rivals the Palmy Army, Southside Soldiers and the Gold Coast Brotherhood terrorising the south of the city.

By 2006 the gangs were starting to show their presence through graffiti tags, but they shot to public attention following an incident on Australia Day in 2009.

Teens from the gangs were alleged to be involved in the brawl that saw nearly 1000 teenagers on a rampage, fighting police and damaging property.

What to look for with eshays.

At the time Gold Coast police district superintendent Jim Keogh strongly denied rumours that the incident had been sparked by high school gangs who had called in other members by SMS message.

By the turn of the decade members of these gangs had grown older and some had “graduated” to bikie gangs.

More feeder youth gangs were started across the Gold Coast, including the Mexican Soldiers and the Red Devils.

More youth gangs started to emerge, particularly in the southern end of the city and the Tweed Shire, including D-Lux, BHQ, Keebra Krew, Dark Neo Soldiers and Coomicubs.

The rivalry between the Southside Soldiers and the Gold Coast Brotherhood continued to grow and the members were ordered to “bash on sight” any rival gang members.

It led to a fight between the gangs at a Burleigh surf shop in 2014.

COVID’S IMPACT

In March 2022 youth leaders expressed fear Covid may have played a part in the surge of gangs across Australia as young people lacking connection turn to violence.

Veteran youth worker and founder of the Les Twentyman Foundation, Les Twentyman, said the Covid pandemic had meant there had been a growing rate of young people disassociated from society.

“The primary driver is vulnerability. When kids are left vulnerable and disconnected from family and society, they are most at risk of turning to anti-social behaviour,” he said.

“Gangs prey on vulnerable young people, offering them a sense of protection and, at times, what can seem like a sense of family.

“They have been cast out of society, so they have no respect for society’s rules.”

Safety forums, like the one in Wyndham, Victoria in August 2022, also helped raise awareness – though there remained concerns some youth felt “untouchable”.

One man, who said he represented centre management at a shopping centre in Wyndham Vale and another in Tarneit, spoke about an ongoing issue of youths bringing knives into the centres.

“A 16-year-old girl pulled out an eight inch kitchen knife and threatened one of my security guards,” he said.

“She was back at the centre the following day saying obscene things to my security guard, that she was untouchable, so that was a concern.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media remains the primary channel for communication among youth gangs, with Instagram and Snapchat used to organise street fights, post videos of the violence and recruit.

Gang members also use social media to brag about their weapons and post photos waving guns and knives.

Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said in July 2022 that chasing likes on social media was preventing young people across Australia from understanding the “consequences of their behaviour”.

“We talk about knife crime and how serious that is – it’s once centimetre between life and death really,” Det Supt Smith said.

“The mindset of ‘look at me we’re the best’ really has been driven by social media.”

Dr Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor of Criminology at Bond University, a former detective inspector for 28 years, said eshays have risen to prominence over the past decade years or so, most likely due to social media.

“Like any subculture there are influencers on social media,” he said.

“It’s monkey see, monkey do.

“A few years ago I’d never heard the term eshay, but I think social media has something to do with it.

“Eshays use it to highlight their robberies, assaults and drug use.”

RISE OF DRILL RAP

Drill rap has played a part in the ongoing youth crime plague.

Australia’s most notorious youth gang members are being influenced by overseas drill rap culture, with shocking footage showing teens brandishing weapons in music videos.

Rap group Sydney Serchaz’s track F***en Oath was in 2020 named as the most iconic eshay song of all time by Red Bull.

In August 2022 it was revealed youth gang members were filming drill rap music videos at busy train stations, in vacant carparks and even quiet suburban streets, with young teens singing gritty and violent lyrics while holding guns, knives and money.

Drill rap music originated in Chicago in the late 2000s, rising to popularity in the UK in 2014.

A screen shot from a rap video featuring the voice of Suspect, aka Tariq Monteiro.

Criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro said in October 2021 youth gangs filming drill rap music videos appeared to be a “new and emerging trend”.

“It’s certainly a developing trend and I understand why they do it. The thing about social media, it gives them a voice,” he said.

“They’re using the power of social media including TikTok and Instagram reels to gain notoriety, more followers and influence.”

In September 2022 it was revealed a bitter gang rivalry exploded after a senior Comanchero bikie was shot in the face during the filming of a rap video in Brisbane’s south.

Bond University associate professor of criminology and former Queensland police detective Terry Goldsworthy said rap music had always had a stigma of “gangster” culture attached to it.

“They’re doing this for a sense of belonging and excitement of that gang culture where they go out and do something unlawful and take a risk,” he said.

In March 2021 it was reported the romance of belonging to a rap subculture and filming acts of defiance for social media created a “perfect storm” for disengaged youths.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE

“I think it’s a fashion thing, it’s a part of the eshay culture.”

Gold Coast youth worker Leisa J Logan in 2021 explained the new “fashion thing” – knives.

The city had previously fought youth crime and youth gangs, linked with bikie clubs, by cracking down on gangs across the city through strict regulation by the Queensland Government.

A rise in youth criminals and Brisbane’s Southside Gang bragging about carrying knives, stealing cars and hooning in areas – including the Gold Coast – led to the state government once again harshening laws in a bid to curb the criminal activity.

Safety concerns on the Gold Coast have grown.

In February 2021, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk unveiled a reform to crack down on youth crime, which would give courts greater powers, allowing for recidivist high-risk offenders aged 16 and 17 to be fit with GPS trackers; create a presumption against bail; and seek assurance from parents and guardians that bail conditions would be met.

Also a part of the Palaszczuk Government’s new laws was for police to target knife crime in Gold Coast nightclubs by using metal detectors on the public.

“Families have been shattered and lives have been lost. And that is why today we are taking very strong action,” she said.

Gold Coast youth worker Logan said she has seen an increase in youth having knives through her work.

Until the Covid pandemic, she worked at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre as a youth worker for five years and ran programs in schools previously to that.

A march was held in Brisbane in 2023 in response to rising youth crime. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

“Carrying knives is such a huge thing now. For the kids I worked with in juvey and outside it’s the standard for a lot of them now,” she said.

“My opinion is that this is the current trend. If they had the chance to get their hands of other weapons, they probably would.

“I think it’s a fashion thing, it’s a part of the eshay culture.

“Kids see others carrying knives and think I want to do that and if they find themselves in an altercation that’s all they’ve got.”

In August 2023 a march was held by the family and friends of victims of youth crimes.

POLICE AND EXPERT RESPONSE

Gold Coast Police Superintendent Rhys Wildman in 2021 had a message for crooks thinking about carrying knives – just don’t do it.

“The messaging from us (the police) is anytime that a knife is being concealed in public, unlawfully, there is a high risk of either yourself or somebody else being injured,” he said.

Dr Goldsworthy said in 2021 the reasons why children may get involved in criminal behaviour is most likely due to their home life, whether they have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, or drug or alcohol abuse, or they could be suffering from a lack of self-esteem.

He said sometimes it’s just a matter of wanting to belong to something and to be able to identify as being part of a group.

In February 2023 locals of Brisbane suburb Wynnum were calling for solutions after an “explosion of eshays” in their quiet community.

The rise of eshays is a concern across Queensland.

The community Facebook group was dominated by rants about eshays.

“The Wynnum eshays seem to be nothing more than a pimped-out designer clad flock of bin chickens in human form,” one person wrote.

“They are hanging out at our train stations and supermarkets, and pack hunting the vulnerable. Wynnum, we have a problem, eshays.

“What are they doing here? Are they a threat to polite society? Possibly. What are we doing about it? Nothing it seems.’

The locals insisted police were helpless to stop them.

In January 2021 a string of Queensland lawyers pleaded for change to address the eshay knife culture.

“It’s not just kids getting around with knives,” said Dave Garratt, of Howden Saggers Lawyers.

“And it’s not just kids from lower socio-economic upbringings. People from all walks of life – including adult professionals – have been caught with a knife in their possession with no reasonable excuse.”

Gold Coast’s Potts Lawyers director Bill Potts said young people were brought up on video games and movies featuring “cartoon violence” and “glorified” violent acts.

“We have to realise that knives can kill and harm,” he said. “These are not weapons of self-defence.”