Duck's Nuts on Play: The Mystery Above Us

It's a little mystery that's been playing at the back of my mind since I came here. Shoes. Up there. Why?

You see, there's this odd phenomenon that's happening in Sydney's neighbourhoods. OK, calling it a phenomenon is a bit much. But the question remains - why are these shoes hanging off those power lines?


I took this photo at an inner-Sydney suburb.

But first, before the why - what and how ...

Q: Whose shoes are those? Are they old, new, of a certain brand? Why are they almost all sport shoes?
A: Eh, I don't know. I'm so short that usually the shoes are the size of barbie doll sneakers when I look at them.

Q: Where are these shoes being hung?
A: As far as I tell, in every neighbourhood in Sydney. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you get to see two pairs of shoes hanging off one power line. Most intriguing though, is that when I did a quick google search to see if this happens elsewhere in the world, I stumbled upon photos in Europe, the US and South America.


Photo: Adam Fowler, Edinburgh, Scotland via Flickr, Creative Commons

Q: How did someone successfully get a pair of shoes up there?
A: Again, a good question that I don't have an answer for. I am good at speculating though - one option could be they kept throwing the shoes up into the air from the road below until they finally slung onto the power line. Another option is someone took a very very long stick with a hook at the end and hoisted the shoes up on the lines. Another is that someone leaned out of a high building window and chucked it onto the line below.

Q: When are these shoes being thrown up there?
A: In the dead of the night when no one is watching? Or is it in broad daylight when everyone's walking past but doesn't care (more likely scenario - Aussies are a pretty chilled bunch).


Photo: Ed Kohler, Minneapolis, US via Flickr, Creative Commons

OK, now that we're done with the whats and hows, the question is - why bother. I used to be relatively satisfied with the answer that the hanging shoes mark a drug house, ie. where you can go and buy drugs. But if that's the case, isn't that just an invitation for the police to come knocking on your door? And why is there a pair of shoes just dangling on the street around the corner of my house?

With all these questions floating about at the back of my head for many a year (yes, I suppose I could have done better things with my time), I was delighted to find out that an Australian director has decided to make a documentary on this very topic. He's called it The Mystery of Flying Kicks and it was released this year.



The phenomenon, director Matthew Bate says, is called "shoefiti" and it's something that's been happening since 1890 (though I don't think as many countries had power lines back then.) Interestingly, in Sydney it was apparently a rite of passage for boys who lost their virginity. (So did my neighbour just lose his virginity? Eh actually, I don't want to know.)

Bate does confirm though that the most common explanations for this shoe-throwing/hanging phenomenon is territory-marking for gangs and for drug-dealing spots. Which makes me wonder - do different gangs throw different brands of shoes? What if the pair of shoes thrown up there by another gang are the ones you like? Do you have to resign yourself to throwing up a less-cool shoe?

But I hear you saying - enough questions for one blog post. At least I haven't gone as far as tattooing this on my arm:


Photo: Nick J Webb via Flickr, Creative Commons

Now, that's one territory-marking too far for me.