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A seventh Sydney Drive-in opened
in late 1957, the independent Star
Matraville. This eventually joined the
Hoyts Skyline chain in 1970.
All the Skylines were built to the
same basic design and configuration on
10-hectare (25-acre) sites, holding
around 700 cars facing a single,
massive 36 metre x 24 metre (120 x 80
ft) screen - about the size of an average
suburban house block.
The amenities/projection blocks
were generally similar, although
playground layouts were varied. For
instance, both Bass Hill and Caringbah
had a scale model train ride, whereas
North Ryde featured pony rides in
addition to the mandatory swings,
slippery dips and see-saws. Some
Drive-ins also featured powered merry-
go-rounds.
The Metro Twin Chullora had a
central amenities block, with the
screens at the far north and south ends
of the site. The playground was not
under the screens, like at a Skyline, but
in the centre, beside the restaurant.
These seven Drive-ins were
enormously popular with the Sydney
public. Chullora took more money than
any other Drive-in the world; it was
also the only one that allowed bikie
gangs in. On Friday and Saturdays
nights two policemen controlled traffic
outside on Waterloo Road.
Chullora could get in six sessions on
its two screens a night by staggering the
start times, and on such nights could
If being a small child at the Drive-in Australia was lucky that the climate
have 3,900 cars through the gate. Food
stands out as memorable, so too does a was so right for Drive-ins. Britain never
profits were enormous; a weekend would
young adult armed with a provisional got one, and they were rare on the
see sales of over 1,630 kg of hot chips.
licence, ink barely dry, a box of beer and Continent.
As Sydney expanded the single
a car full of mates. Good times, fostered After seeing the success in
by the combination of a balmy weekday Melbourne, Greater Union and Hoyts screen Skyline Blacktown opened in
evening (you took a girl on weekends), a formed Consolidated Drive-ins in 1955 1964, followed by the independent
first-run film, good friends for company, to bring this entertainment sensation to Fairfield El Rancho in 1965. Fairfield
the snack bar’s best beetroot hamburger Sydney under the banner of Skyline had been slated for opening in 1957,
and some of the finest KB Lager in the Drive-ins. but the licence changed hands several
dimpled gold cans. Sydney’s first opened at Frenchs times, delaying construction. It
On warm nights out came the fold- Forest on 23 October 1956, followed by eventually joined the Hoyts Skyline
up chairs next to, or even on the bonnet Dundas the very next night. Australia’s chain in 1969.
of some cars. We certainly weren’t the first twin - the Metro Twin at Chullora Skylines opened at Liverpool and
first bunch of blokes to spend an - also opened that night. Built and run Penrith in 1967, and Warriewood in
evening that way, just carrying on a by MGM, Chullora held 1,320 cars, 1971. A small independent Drive-in
long-established and unwritten 660 in each field. It was the largest opened at Campbelltown (Narellan) in
suburban tradition, one as old as the Drive-in in the Southern Hemisphere 1973. The last Drive-in opened at
Drive-in theatre itself, which dates back until MGM topped it with the 1,470-car Parklea in 1977 - a total of 14 in the
to New Jersey on the east coast of the Clayton Twin in Melbourne a few years Sydney area.
USA in the 1930s. later.
Drive-in theatres have been popular By the end of 1956 Skyline Bass
in Australia since February 1954, when Hill was open, joined within 12 months
the first one opened in the Melbourne by Skylines at Caringbah and North
suburb of Burwood. Ryde.

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