Skyline Drive-in, Melbourne

An excerpt from a silent colour home movie by Ron Newman showing the Skyline Drive-in on Burwood Highway in Burwood, Victoria. 

The Newman family shot the home movie while on holiday in Victoria in 1964.

The clip shows the drive-in entrance and a sign announcing that evening's program, including features The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo (Claude Autant-Lara, France, 1962) and Onionhead (Norman Taurog, USA, 1958), as well as newsreels and cartoons.

The Skyline Drive-in opened on 18 February 1954 and closed on 22 June 1983. It was the first drive-in to be built in Australia and, within a couple of years of opening, had expanded to accommodate 700 cars.

The site eventually included a diner, Western-themed BBQ area with a lake and steakhouse, a children's playground and a 'walk-in' area for patrons without cars.

The location is now home to the council's electricity supply yard. The brick ticket box is a BBQ shelter; other structures that remain intact include the lake (now drained), steakhouse and walk-in area.

Notes by Stephen Groenewegen