List of drive-in theatres in Australia

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.

[1] The first American-style drive-in theatre to open in Australia was the Skyline in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood on 18 February 1954.

[7] The longest running Drive In Theatres in Western Australia that is still open today is located in Dongara.

Along with a few metropolitan operations, there are a number of drive-in theatres serving remote communities such as Jericho in Queensland.

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.

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 Lambton in Newcastle the Skyline drive-in opened in December 1956 at a cost of $200,000, with a capacity for 722 cars and a holding area for a further 420.

[16] In Wollongong, the Southline drive-in, on the corner of the Princes Hwy and Balgownie Rd in Fairy Meadow opened in October 1957 with 'Picnic'.

[19] In 2020, the Mov'in Car drive-in theatre opened on the rooftop carpark at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park.

Kids were well catered for with a Merry-Go-Round, miniature Cobb & Co coach and Shetland Ponies to ride (Brisbane Telegraph, 6 Feb 1956).

Fourth to open, in April 1957, was Hoyts Skyline Drive-in located at Coopers Plains at a cost of £200,000.

These included the Keperra, the Western at Oxley, the Galaxy at Cannon Hill and the Redcliffe Drive-In on the city's northern outskirts.

In 2002 a small boutique drive-in was opened in Wonga (north of Gympie), with a second screen added in 2004, increasing it to a 250 car capacity.

[33] It was followed by the Shandon in Seaton in early July 1956, the Hi-Line in Panorama in March 1957, and the MGM Metro at Marion in June 1957.

[33] In November 2021, Wallis announced the closure of Mainline at the end of February 2022, leaving Adelaide with no more drive-in theatres.

Its reasons for closure were cited as "the changing nature of the cinema industry, the introduction of daylight saving, film piracy and now the lengthy COVID-19 epidemic".

[36] The closure of the Mainline at Gepps Cross in February 2022 left the community-run facility at Coober Pedy as the state's last drive-in theatre.

[37] The Coober Pedy drive-in opened in 1965, but became less popular after 1980 with the arrival of television in the town, and ceased regular operation in 1984.

Construction proceeded through the latter half of 1953 from plans drawn up by AC Leith Bartlett & Partners in conjunction with RCA Australia.

[50] In Wodonga, the Skyline Drive-in, located on the southwest corner of the Hume Highway and Melrose Drive, opened in November 1956.

The drive-in closed on 18 April 1984 and was subsequently purchased by Trash and Treasure Australia Pty Ltd, who operated a Sunday market on the site in the 1970s.

[53] The first conventional drive-in located in Western Australia was the Highway, opened in the Perth suburb of Bentley on 24 October 1955,[1][54][55] with the screening of Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth.

[56][57] The resultant success of the Highway started a boom in suburban drive-ins which saw a further eight operating by the end of the decade (the Skyline in Floreat in November 1955, Mott's in Gosnells in January 1956, the Panorama in Roleystone in March 1956, the Metro in Innaloo, the Lakeway in Swanbourne in April 1957, the Melway in Melville, the Wirrina in Morley in March 1959 and the Eastway in Belmont in July 1959), with another nine sites opening in the 1960s (including the Starline in Hilton).

[1][58] In the country areas, the first to open was the Oasis in Geraldton in 1957, and there were only three more built in the 1950s; the Mayfair in Bunbury, the Avonway in Northam and the Morcady in Wongan Hills.

The boom years in the country were the sixties, which saw 61 drive-ins opened, with growth then slowing to only six more built in the seventies and one in the eighties.

[1][59] By the 1990s there were only three suburban drive-ins that remained, but then the Metro (a twin screen site as of 1984) in Innaloo closed in 1993 followed by the Highway (a twin screen site as of 1986) in Bentley which closed on 19 June 1994; only the Galaxy (established 1 November 1973) in Kingsley remains open within the Perth surrounds.

[1] There are however a few drive-in theatres and car-friendly outdoor cinemas still operating in rural Western Australia.

The state capital Hobart previously had two drive-in theatres, one on each side of the Derwent River.

The Eastside Drive-In at Warrane was reportedly the largest screen in Australia upon opening in 1966, measuring 330 square metres (3,600 sq ft) in size and hosting 418 cars.

The last of Tasmania's drive-in theatres at Elwick and Mowbray were closed by Village Cinemas in March 1985.