Sunday History Photo. Au
Submitted: Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 01:42
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Member - Doug T (NT)
On February 18 1954, an advertisement appeared in the
Melbourne Sun; "Opening tonight at 6:30 Australia's first drive-in theater". The Skyline in Burwood, a
Melbourne suburb, became the first of more than 330 drive-ins that were built across Australia and changed the way Australians saw movies forever.
Most older people have gone to a drive-in at some stage in their lives and unfortunately there's a good chance that they will disappear altogether at some stage in the future. Going to the drive in became a national pastime in Australia at one stage when people would go out in a group and on entry would have 4 in the car and 2 in the boot. A sagging back end of the car was a dead give away but it doesn't stop people trying even today. Others would go out with partners as it was a bit more private than actually sitting in an indoor movie theatre but still had all the amenities as a indoor movie theatre such as
toilets and snack bar.
Image Could Not Be Found
Fortunately there are still some left scattered throughout Australia but nowhere near the amount of 330. There are now only 21 drive-in theatres throughout Australia which are still running with 3 in Victoria, 4 in New South Wales, 6 in Queensland, 5 in Western Australia, 3 in South Australia, 0 in Tasmania and 0 in the Northern Territory. The reason so many drive-ins closed come down to 2 major factors. The first is that the land that the drive-ins occupied became so expensive that the owners cashed in. The other reason was the VCR with many people now choosing to stay
home and watch movies in the comfort of their own lounge room. It became much cheaper to rent a movie from the video store and watch it at
home rather than taking the whole family to the drive-in. This is still the case today for a lot of people when it comes to taking the family out to a movie theatre.
I also thank David Kilderry Summer for permission to use a couple of Photo's from his website . to
check your town go to
Drive-Ins
Reply By: Best Off Road - Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 08:32
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 08:32
Thanks Doug,
That sure brings back some memories.
In the early nineties we were living in
Townsville and "The Range" Drive In had a special every Sunday Night $5 per car.
With the lovely balmy tropical evenings we would regulalry go. Reverse the GQ in, make up a bed for the boys (about 4 and 8 yo) in the back with the rear doors open. The GLW and myself would sit outside on folding chairs. Esky with a cold chook, salad, bread rolls and assorted refreshments.
It was just a great family night out. But even then at a ridiculously cheap price the place rarely had more than 20 cars there.
Cheers,
Jim.
AnswerID:
346984
Reply By: Member - DAZA (QLD) - Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 09:18
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 09:18
Hi Doug
Again you have activated the Memory Bank, we used to go to all
the Drive Ins up in
Brisbane and also on the
Gold Coast, the Aspley
and Boondall were our favourites, and on the
Gold Coast was the
Burleigh, currently they still have the Beenleigh/Yatala one still open
on the Coast, we used to take the kids on a regular basis, we would
reverse the wagon towards the screen and sit out side on fold up
chairs and the kids would lay in the back of the wagon,
I remember one night at the Boondall Drive In, I took a
young lady
there and at interval we got out to stretch our legs ect ect, and
I went and got some food from the Canteen, on the way back the
lights went out, and I got into the Wrong Car, in the back
seat,
here I am thinking my lady friend must be still in the
toilet, any way
the owners of the vehicle come back and found me, I had some
explaining to do, Never Drink at the Drive In.
Cheers
Daza
AnswerID:
346995
Reply By: Member - Ruth D (QLD) - Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 10:55
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 10:55
Like Daza I grew up in
Brisbane and on Friday nights when my Dad got
home from Queen Street to the western suburbs (out in the bush then) we would all get in the car and drive to the Skyline at Capalaba or the Starlight at Aspley. We'd have tea at the Steakhouse and then kids would sleep on the back
seat of the Holden (various models) and sometimes I'd wake up and Mum would be bawling at some sickening love scene - I can remember seeing
Blue Lagoon (the original) and being scared to death (peering over the front
seat) when the octopus grabbed the bloke!
Ian and I used to go to the Starlight (in his Daytona Bronze Monaro - with the lay back seats!) and Ian always reckons lots of kids should be grateful their parents went to Drive-Ins - not us though, I was a good girl. Ask him, he'll tell you!!!
I still love going to the movies - best entertainment out - but I only like nice ones. I go to be entertained not scared to death.
As a kid - we hardly missed a Friday night - and if you didn't whinge too much (and were still awake) you got a good treat from the cafe (I always wanted to wear one of the uniforms the ladies wore who worked there - where did that memory come from).
Friday night was Drive-In night, Saturday night was parents party night and early Sunday morning (before the olds got up - you kids keep quiet and don't make any noise until after nine o'clock) was when the kids ran around where the party was drinking all the left overs out of the glasses and bottles and then pretended we were drunk!! Didn't kill us either.
Good memories, thanks Doug.
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Reply By: On Patrol & TONI - Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 11:29
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 11:29
Good one Doug,
My favourite memory was one COLD August night in North
Canberra Drive-In.
As you could imagine August in
Canberra is colder than a Mother-in-laws stare, so to attract customers they had small fan heaters that hung on the post next to the speaker, how good was that??? Pull up grab the heater and hang it from the window alongside the speaker.
That was around 1972, 4 of us lying side by side in the bed of a VW Dormobile parked "back in" with the back door open, it got so hot there in that bed that the heater was not needed after very long. My wife & I still laugh about that night, and we are still very close friends with the other couple with us that night, I cannot for the life of me remember the film we didn't see.
Cheers Colin.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - DAZA (QLD) - Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 21:06
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009 at 21:06
Yes it was amazing how all the Windows used to Fog up on the inside lol lol.
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