Later came the Prestons drive-in, which had closed by the early 1990s. The site is now occupied by Mary McKillop College Wakely (the name change from Fairfield West occurred in the early 1980s as the area was urbanised). In the southwestern suburbs of Sydney, El Rancho drive-in opened in March 1957 on Hamilton Road in the then rural locality of Fairfield West, and closed as the Skyline drive-in in 1984. It is now occupied by a retail development. Ĭaringbah Skyline drive-in on Taren Point Rd opened in 1956 and closed in 1988. The site was redeveloped for industrial uses. It was operated by Consolidated Drive-In Theatres Property Ltd. North Ryde drive-in, on the corner of Lane Cove and Waterloo Roads, opened in December 1956, accommodated 620 cars and operated for 30 years from December 1956. It was Australia's first twin-screen drive-in. It was taken over by Greater Union in 1971 but closed in 1979. Ltd in October 1956 with Chips Rafferty in 'Walk Into Hell'. The Chullora Metro Twin drive-in was opened by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pty. The Skyline on Johnston Rd in Bass Hill opened in November 1956, with a 724 car capacity and until its closure in September 2007 was Australia's oldest continually operating drive-in theatre. They opened simultaneously on Wednesday 24 October 1956, with Frenchs Forest screening 3 Ring Circus and Dundas screening The Racers. The Skyline drive-ins at Frenchs Forest and Dundas were Sydney's first. However, on 3 March a severe storm saw the screen damaged and it did not reopen. On 2 February 2018, the Southern Cross Drive-In theatre opened just over the ACT border in Queanbeyan. The ACT had two drive-in theatres, the Starlight in Watson (opened in January 1957 and closed in 1993), which has now been redeveloped for medium-density housing, and the Sundown at Narrabundah (opened in 1968 and closed in 1984), which is now a motel and private housing village. It includes portable operations in which patrons can either drive or sit down to see a movie outdoors.Īustralian Capital Territory Former Starlight drive-in sign, first neon sign in Canberra and the only drive-in sign in Australia that is still in its original location. The following is a listing of Australia's remaining open drive-in theatres. The remaining drive-ins provide a glimpse of what was a very popular pastime in the 1950s and 1960s. This opened in 1967 and still operates every summer, the projector has been upgraded to digital to show the latest movies.Īlong with a few metropolitan operations, there are a number of drive-in theatres serving remote communities such as Jericho in Queensland. The longest running Drive In Theatres in Western Australia that is still open today is located in Dongara. It was opened in 1961 and has never closed. In 2002 the Rodeo Drive-in at Mareeba, near Cairns, re-opened, with the Tivoli Drive-in near Ipswich re-opening in 2008.ĭromana Drive In is the longest continually running in Australia. In more recent times the former Dandenong Panoramic Drive-in, in Victoria, has been reopened as the Lunar Drive-in Theatre and now has four screens making it Australia's largest drive-in theatre with the most screen choice. In the 1990s, the Coburg Drive-in Theatre in Melbourne was expanded to three screens, as was the Dromana Drive-in Theatre. Many have since closed with the large amounts of land taken up by drive-ins being sold off to build houses or shopping centres, although in recent years a number of drive-in theatres have reopened or expanded the number of screens available. It was the first of 330 drive-in theatres that would open across Australia. The first American-style drive-in theatre to open in Australia was the Skyline in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood on 18 February 1954. Although considered an American invention, there is evidence of outdoor cinemas in Western Australia where some patrons attended in their cars as far back as 1938, and it is possible that these facilities may even predate the first American-style drive-in theatre. Mainline Drive-in Theatre Gepps Cross, South Australia in April 2006ĭrive-in theatres (also known as drive-in cinemas or just drive-ins) were once very popular in Australia.
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