Dromana 3 Drive-In (also known as Dromana Drive-In) is a heritage-listed and independently owned

drive-in theatre A drive-in theater/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, c ...

in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of

Dromana Dromana ( ) is a seaside suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Dromana recorded a populati ...

on the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located in the south of Greater Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to ...

. It is the oldest continuously operating drive-in in Australia.

History

The theatre first opened under the name Peninsula Drive-In in 1962, with original owner Frank Whitaker having been involved in the cinema industry since the 1930s. Drive-in culture in Australia peaked in the following decades, up until the

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

era which saw many theatres close in the 1980s. Paul Whitaker, son of Frank, took over management in 1989. In 1984, the Peninsula Drive-in became the first in the world to offer true stereo sound via an FM radio signal. Though a similar service was being offered in some drive-ins through CINE-FI, it was either on the AM band with lower sound quality and only in mono, or in FM but in an artificially mixed "stereo." A second screen was added in 1992 after being disassembled and transported over from the former

Hoyts The HOYTS Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes HOYTS Cinemas, a cinema chain, and Val Morgan, which sells advertising on cinema screens and digital billboards. The company was established by dentist Arthur Russell in Melbo ...

Altona drive-in after it closed. A third screen followed in 2001. A fourth screen was later added, but it is a more traditional outdoor cinema setup with deck chairs and not a drive-in like the others. Several concerts were held at the Dromana Drive-In during the 1980s and 1990s, most notably a festival on New Year's Eve 1994 featuring

Silverchair Silverchair was an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, Ben Gillies on drums, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

TISM TISM ( ; an acronym of This Is Serious Mum) are a seven-piece anonymous alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia on 30 December 1982 by vocalist/drummer Humphrey B. Flaubert, bassist/vocalist Jock Cheese and keyboardist/vocalist ...

The Meanies The Meanies are an Australian punk rock band formed in 1988 by D.D. Meanie (a.k.a. Dennis DePianto) on lead guitar, Link Meanie (a.k.a. Lindsay McLennan) on vocals and guitar, Ringo Meanie (a.k.a. Mark Hobbs) on drums, and VB Meanie (a.k.a. Dav ...

and an early-morning screening of '' Pink Floyd The Wall''. The aftermath on the morning of New Year's Day 1995 was described by police as "resembling a war zone", as roughly 200 people had decided to sleep off their hangovers on the premises. The theatre was heritage listed by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

in 2010. The Trust noted that the site was significant as one of three (now two) Melbourne drive-ins that had survived out of roughly sixty at the height of their popularity. They also stated: In 2013, a large model of an

X-wing fighter The X-wing starfighter is a name applied to a family of fictional spacecraft manufactured by the Incom Corporation and later the Incom-FreiTek Corporation from the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Named for the distinctive shape made when its s-foils (w ...

from the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' films was added to the roof of the entrance ticket booths. This has since become the theatre's signature landmark. In 2020 and 2021, the Dromana Drive-In was one of the few cinemas allowed to remain open during various stages of Melbourne's

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

in which all regular cinemas were closed. The owners have since expanded the business model beyond just screening films, and now allow community bookings including school graduation ceremonies, local plays and church group sessions. After a period of mandated closure during 2021, they reopened with a live screening of a St. Kilda Saints vs

Hawthorn Hawks The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

football match. Dromana Drive-In is the longest continuously operating drive-in in Australia, having never closed since opening in 1962. It remains one of two surviving theatres of its kind in Melbourne, along with the Coburg Drive-In.

Layout

The theatre features a 1950s-style

diner A diner is a type of restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe and Australia. Diners offer a wide range of cuisine, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a comb ...

named Shel's Diner after its operator Shelly Whitaker, and as a homage to

Mel's Drive-In Mel's Drive-In refers to two American restaurant chains, the successors of a chain founded in 1947 by Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs in San Francisco, California. The original chain operated until the 1970s. A new generation of Mel's Drive-In restau ...

in the United States.Cresswell-Myatt, 2013.

References

{{reflist Cinemas in Melbourne Culture of Melbourne Organisations based in Melbourne Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne

Drive-in theaters in Australia A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or Drive-in theater, movie theater) where one can driving, drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by ...