The Leongatha Drive-In Theatre

BE TRUE TO YOURSELF

A short-lived entertainment venue with a host of long-term memories.

From the 1950s, drive-in theatres were extremely popular. In Leongatha, movies had been shown in the Memorial Hall from 1926. By the early 1970s it had become unprofitable to run the cinema there. Competition came in the form of a Drive-In theatre which opened in mid- October 1973 with 300 attending. This Drive-In was constructed by Stan Stubbs on the site of a former slaughter-yard off Koonwarra Road.

The Leongatha Drive-in was owned by a consortium of Reg Cashin (farmer), George Hines (pharmacist), Peter Jones (Shell Oil Company Depot) and the Whittaker brothers, owners of the DriveIns at Rosebud and Dromana.

Like all theatres, they were at the mercy of film distribution companies such as Village Roadshow who only gave first release films to profitable theatres. Others had to wait for the crumbs of second release or general release films. The percentage rake-off was much higher on first release and there was a sliding scale for later release films. The connection to the Rosebud and Dromana theatres enabled the Leongatha Drive-In to get better and newer films to screen.

During the early part of the 1980s, home video hit the market and public attendance at Drive-Ins dropped significantly and the profitability declined. Reg Cashin sold his shares to the other partners at that time. Don Cashin, son of Reg, was working as a projectionist at the Drive-In and when the consortium decided to sell, he bought the business in around 1985/86. The purchase price was $60,000 and it was for three reasons that he bought the business: to give himself employment; to give the youth of the area something to do in the evenings; and as an investment.

Unfortunately, the business continued to decline as he no longer had the ability to get premium films without paying exorbitant rates and so a lot of the films available were older and the public had little to no interest in paying to see them. With Don showing the films, his wife Marianne working the cafeteria and with friends working the ticket box, it soon became obvious that he could not continue. The Drive-In closed in around 1988/89.

The land lay idle for some time then the SEC leased it for a year as a storage location for electricity poles while they worked on pole replacement in the local area. The site was eventually auctioned off in the early 1990s.

In its heyday, the Drive-In was very popular with all members of the local community. Families enjoyed a Saturday night together complete with Drive-In food. Young people in particular enjoyed attending, some sneaking into the venue in car boots and getting through the perimeter fence.

To know what was showing leaflets were also distributed and advertisements were in the local papers. A large billboard advertising the films was located in Bair Street at the entrance to the foot bridge leading to the railway station.

Drive-In theatres were an institution. At their peak there were 60 in Victoria. Gradually they closed with only a few remaining today and those opening only in summer.