Stage Number: MBSH.02.08.05
Group: Southern
Local Study Area: Coopers Plains-Robertson
Epoch: Late 20th Century
Street Address: Corner of Troughton and Musgrave Roads
Latitude & Longitude: -27.56472222,153.04969444
Time Link: 1957
Map Link: 1960
Image Time Point: 1960
In April 1957 the Hoyts Skyline Drive-In became the fourth such cinema to open in Brisbane, taking advantage of new projection technologies and increased car ownership. The 17 acres of land it was built on, bordered by Musgrave and Troughton roads, was formerly scrubland and was transformed into what was described in a Courier-Mail article as a ‘lavish playground’. At a cost of £200,000, it contained space for 650 cars and also had a children’s railway line, mini-golf, badminton facilities and a dance floor. The first film screened there was ‘Broken Lance’ along with ‘special cinemascope shorts and newsreels’. The Skyline Drive-In closed in 1985 as the suburban Cineplex theatres began to dominate the industry. The site was later used for a housing development.
Courier-Mail, 9 April 1957; Australian Drive-Ins, ‘Hoyts Skyline Drive-In, Coopers Plains’ (http://www.drive-insdownunder.com.au/australian/qld_coopersplains.htm), sighted 22 July 2017.
Hoyts Skyline Drive-In, circa 1957. ‘Australian Drive-ins’ (http://www.drive-insdownunder.com.au/australian/qld_coopersplains.htm)
Qimagery. Greater Brisbane 1960. Scale: 1:16,000.
