{{short description|Australian boxer}} {{about|the Australian boxer and entertainer|the Australian theatre director, Jim Sharman (born 12 March 1945)|Jim Sharman}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2013}} {{infobox person | image = JimmySharmanRefereeBoxing1910s.jpg | caption = Jimmy Sharman Sr refereeing a boxing match between Prest and Lewis in the 1910s | name = Jimmy Sharman | birth_place = Narellan, New South Wales, Australian | birth_date = 20 June 1887 | death_place = Camden, New South Wales, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1965|11|18|1887|6|20}} | occupation = {{hlist|Boxing troupe founder|entertainment impresario}} }}
'''James Sharman''' (20 June 1887 – 18 November 1965) was an Australian boxing troupe and entertainment impresario. His son also worked with him and took over for his father in 1955 after playing as a professional rugby league footballer. ==Biography== Sharman was born in Narellan, New South Wales, the fifth of thirteen children to James Sharman and Caroline Brailsfield, he established a boxing tent in 1911 at Ardlethan near Temora.<ref>{{cite web|year=2004|url=http://www.temora.nsw.gov.au/about/1006/1081.html|title=The Sharman Boxing Troupe|work=Our History|publisher=Temora Shire Council|accessdate=2006-06-11|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820152344/http://www.temora.nsw.gov.au/about/1006/1081.html|archivedate=20 August 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> The tent visited 45 to 50 shows each year.<ref name="ADBSnr">{{cite book| last = Corris| first = Peter|author2=Diane Langmore| year = 1988| url = https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sharman-james-jimmy-8398| title = Sharman, James (1887 - 1965)| chapter = James (Jimmy) Sharman (1887–1965)| publisher = Australian Dictionary of Biography| access-date = 2006-06-10}}</ref> His son, Jimmy Sharman Jr, took over the business in 1955. The tent formed part of the Australian Show landscape until 1971, when regulations barred boxers fighting more than once a week. A member of the "Showmans Guild of Australasia", he then turned to dodgem cars in partnership with Garry oneill Reg Grundy.<ref name="SMHApr03">{{cite news| first=Daniel| last=Lewis| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/a-life-at-the-show/2006/04/25/1145861349918.html| title = Sharman the showman is an official bloody legend| work= The Sydney Morning Herald| date= 15 April 2003| accessdate= 2006-06-10}}</ref>
==Jimmy Sharman Jr.== {{infobox rugby league biography | name = Jimmy Sharman Jr. | image = JimmySharmanWests.jpg | caption = Jimmy Sharman playing for Wests | birth_name = James Michael Sharman | birth_place = Narrandera, New South Wales, Australia | birth_date = 28 October 1912 | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2006|4|24|1912|10|28}} | height = | weight = | position = {{rlp|FB}} | club1 = Western Suburbs | year1start = 1934 | year1end = 39 | appearances1 = 59 | tries1 = 4 | goals1 = 19 | fieldgoals1 = 0 | points1 = 50 | module = {{infobox person | embed = yes | occupation = {{bulleted|Rugby League footballer|Football coach|Journalist|Entertainment impresario}} }} }}
Sharman junior was born, as '''James Michael Sharman''' in 1912 at Narrandera, New South Wales. He attended his first Sydney Royal Easter Show in 1926 working in his father's tent.<ref name="RANSW03">{{cite web| year = 2005| url = http://www.rasnsw.com.au/memories.htm| title = Show Memories: The 2003 Easter Show| publisher = Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales| accessdate = 2006-06-10| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060819090824/http://rasnsw.com.au/memories.htm| archivedate = 19 August 2006}}</ref> Sharman junior played rugby league for Western Suburbs Magpies.<ref>{{cite book | last = Toby Creswell and Samantha Trenoweth | title = 1001 Australians You Should Know | publisher = Pluto Press | year = 2006 | location = Australia | pages = 710 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QqtinbjO0oEC&q=rugby | isbn = 978-1-86403-361-8 }} </ref> He was {{rlp|fb}} in Western Suburbs' 1934 premiership win against the Eastern Suburbs. In 1938 he became First Grade captain. He retired after 7 seasons in 1939 to become a journalist, taking over the boxing tent from his father in 1955.<ref>{{cite web|year=2005|url=http://www.westsmagpies.net/2005/index.php?option=com_weblinks&catid=73&Itemid=4|title=magpie history|format=Google cached version - not available on the Internet Archive|publisher=Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd|accessdate=2006-06-10|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821054258/http://www.westsmagpies.net/2005/index.php?option=com_weblinks&catid=73&Itemid=4|archivedate=21 August 2006 }}</ref> Sharman played 45 games between 1935 and 1939, scored 12 tries and kicked 11 goals. He died on 26 April 2006, aged 94.<ref name="rl1908hyde">{{cite web| last = Masters| first = Roy| year = 2001| url = http://rl1908.com/Rugby-League-News/frank-hyde.htm| archive-url = https://archive.today/20070929102738/http://rl1908.com/Rugby-League-News/frank-hyde.htm| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2007-09-29| title = It's long enough, it's high enough ... but the game's just not the same| work = RL1908 Document archive| publisher = RL1908.com reproducing article originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald| accessdate = 2006-06-10}}</ref> He was awarded life membership in 1998.<ref name="AustApr06">{{cite news| first=Leech| last=Graeme| url= http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,18939216-28737,00.html| title=Master of the troupe| work= Features| publisher=The Australian| date= 27 April 2006| accessdate=2006-06-10}}{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} </ref>
== Jimmy Sharman's Boxing Tent ==
Many famous boxers worked in the Sharman tent, including:
*Ronald O'Callaghan The Black Irish Man (champion) Aboriginal *Frank Burns (middleweight champion)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Graham Burns, Jeff Burns, Ted Burns, Charlie Burns<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Teddy Green (bantamweight)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Harry Mack (featherweight)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Mickey Miller (bantam and featherweight)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *George Cook (heavyweight)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Jack Hassen (lightweight)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Billy Grime (triple titleholder)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Jackie Green (triple titleholder)<ref name="ADBSnr"/> *Dave Sands Aboriginal boxer<ref>{{cite news| last = Sloane| first = Garry| url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/02/1064988351353.html?from=storyrhs| title = Journal of a Journey| work = November 2003 archives| publisher = ochre-shores.net| accessdate = 2006-06-11| date=2003-10-03}}</ref> *Greg McNamara (light-heavyweight) Famous Indigenous Australians to work in the tent include: *George Bracken, Aboriginal lawyer<ref name="AustApr06"/> *Geoff Clark, former ATSIC chairperson<ref name="AustApr06"/> *Douglas Nicholls, later Pastor with the Churches of Christ in Australia and then Governor of South Australia<ref name="AustApr06"/> *Max Stuart, convicted murderer and Arrente elder<ref>{{cite web| last = Thornton| first = Henry| year = 2002| url = http://henrythornton.com/article.asp?article_id=1980| title = Black and White:The story of a famous legal case| publisher = henrythornton.com| accessdate = 2006-06-11| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060911072538/http://henrythornton.com/article.asp?article_id=1980| archivedate = 11 September 2006}}</ref>
Some boxers came from the Cherbourg Aboriginal mission, near Nanango, Queensland.<ref name="SMHApr03"/>
==Legacy== In 2003 the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales honoured Sharman Jr. with the title of "Show Legend".<ref name="RANSW03"/>
==In popular culture==
*The Australian rock band Midnight Oil's 1984 album ''Red Sails in the Sunset'' includes the song "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers" whose lyrics assert that Sharman exploited the Aboriginal boxers he employed in his show.<ref name="AgeApr06">{{cite news| url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/final-bell-for-boxing-showman/2006/04/26/1145861376146.html| title= Final bell for showman Jimmy Sharman| publisher=The Age| date= 26 April 2006 |accessdate=2006-06-10| location=Melbourne}}</ref> *The Australian rock band Cold Chisel's song "Yesterdays" has lyrics which refer to Jimmy Sharman's boxers [https://web.archive.org/web/20060819110334/http://www.coldchisel.com.au/l1_yesterdays.html]. *The 2007 Peter Carstairs film ''September'' features its main characters - 15-year-old boys Ed and Paddy - setting up a boxing ring on Ed's family's wheatbelt property in anticipation of a visit by Sharman's boxing troupe. Paddy later joins the troupe. *Jimmy Sharman Jr's son Jim Sharman became a theatre and film director known especially for the musicals ''Hair'', ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', ''The Rocky Horror Show'', and the movie version, ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show''. *One Paul Kelly track, "Rally Around the Drum", written with Archie Roach, was about an Indigenous tent boxing man. *Colleen McCullough's novel, The Thorn Birds, features a character joining Jimmy Sharman's troupe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCullough |first1=Colleen |title=The Thorn Birds |date=1977 |publisher=Head of Zeus |isbn=9781781852514 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Uw-AAAAQBAJ&q=Jimmy+Sharman+The+Thorn+Birds&pg=PT112 |accessdate=22 June 2018}}</ref> Stephen McGraths historical fiction novel Jimmy Sharmans Boxers published 1 September 2023 describes Sharman’s touring during World War One when Sharman who was 27 and fit did not enlist and continued to tour his troupe throughout the war.
==References== <!--<nowiki> See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below </nowiki>--> {{reflist}} Cherbourg is near Murgon Qld not Nanango
== External links == *Pictures: **{{cite web| last = Carter| first = Jeff| year = 1959| url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3104828| title = Jimmy Sharman's travelling stadium, New South Wales, 1959| format = picture| work = PictureAustralia| publisher = National Library of Australia| accessdate = 2006-06-11}} *[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sharman-james-jimmy-8398 ADB biography] <!--**{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | url = | title = | format = |publisher=| accessdate = }}-->
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharman, Jimmy}} Category:1887 births Category:1965 deaths Category:Australian boxing promoters Category:Australian male boxers Category:Australian rugby league players Category:Boxers from Sydney Category:Business duos Category:People educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill Category:Rugby league players from Sydney Category:Western Suburbs Magpies players Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen