Page 9 - CinemaRecord #83

Rockhampton’s

Two Twins

Gerry Kennedy

ockhampton, situated some 600km north The local cinema owners supported the Captain Kidd. The opening night proceeds
Rof Brisbane, is known as the beef capital Hennessy proposal, which was eventually (£600) were donated to the War Memorial
of Australia and today boasts a population of successful. Olympic Pool fund.
61,000. The city lies on the Tropic of
Capricorn some 40km inland from the coastal The Starline, also known as the Kawana, The theatre was situated on Richardson Rd.,
town of Yeppoon, and is on the Fitzroy River. was built by a company including Managing with the exit lanes on Alexander Rd., and was
Director Joe Mantle and Directors James and constructed in 9 weeks. The cafeteria and
The climate of the area suits the patrons of Mary Hennessy, Marshall Palmer and Harry projection room were located in the same
drive in theatres and a string of them were Starr. The theatre was opened by R.J. building in the middle of the field. The theatre
built along the Queensland coast. The inland Pilbeam, the Mayor of Rockhampton, on was equipped with RCA projectors and was
th
towns, both large and small, were often 17 December 1958. The opening program was described as the 34 drive in theatre
equipped with a drive-in theatre. Lucky Me and Abbott & Costello Meet installation in Australia. “Erected at a cost of
£60,000 the Starline accommodates 300 cars
and employs a new type of unbreakable
plastic speaker and especially designed
projector arc lamps, being used in Australia
for the first time”. The car capacity had
increased to 400 by about 1969. The Starline
operated with three program changes per
week.

The theatre prospered even after the advent
of television in the area in September, 1963.
Around 1970 the major Queensland theatre
chain of Birch Carol and Coyle (BCC)
purchased the theatre and ran it in association
with their major city theatres, the
Wintergarden (2028 seats) and the Earls
Court (2114 seats).
Left:
The Starline twin drive-in with back-to-back fields
Below:
The original Earls Court theatre before conversion.

Two proposals for the construction
of a drive-in theatre in Rockhampton
were received by the local Council.
In June 1955 J&M Hennessy of
Brisbane proposed to build a 500 car
theatre, to a cost about £60,000 in
Richardson Rd. near the intersection
of Alexandra St. in the north western
suburb of Kawana.
In February 1956 another proposal
was received from Greater Union
Theatres, who were the operators of
the Liberty and Tivoli theatres in
Rockhampton. This proposal, also
for Richardson Rd., was for the
corner of Haynes Street; it was also
approved by the Council. Various
appeals and hearings were heard to
decide the matter.

CINEMARECORD # 83 9