Cloudland Drive-In
28 Drive-In Road,
Gladstone,
SA
5473
28 Drive-In Road,
Gladstone,
SA
5473
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 8 comments
Exhibited by Cloudland Drive in Theatres Ltd(1960 to 1969).
I managed to successfully upload pictures of my nostalgic return to the site of the Gladstone Cloudline Drive Inn in Jan 2020 – some 40 years after I first went there…
kennerado – I took lots of pictures of the site in Jan 2020 and still have them on file. I obtained permission from the new owner to use them here. I tried to upload them, but can’t seem to find out how to do it- any ideas?
davidcoppock – Of course the new owner knows it use to be a drive inn. He is a local who lived in the town, like I did and attended screenings (as I mentioned above). He also tore the screen down and renovated the cafeteria into his home sometime between 1995-1998. He was nice enough to show me inside, it is huge! Brought back memories. My mum and Dad use to run the cafeteria, which is now his home.
Does the owner of the house know it used to be a drive-in theatre?
Could you upload the photos here?
The Gladstone Drive-Inn opened in 1958. I was there between 1981-1983. I saw Raiders of the Lost Arc in 1981 & Ghostbusters screened in 82'. My parents ran the caferteria at that time. Drive-Inn closed sometime between 1984-1992 (I estimate based on other country Drive-Inns in South Australia that it was closed in 1990-1992), and the fact a gentleman re-opened it privately in 1993, but I do not know how long it stayed open for, maybe 2-3 years before he went broke due to overheads. It was then purchased with all remaining cinema machinery, ticket box, grounds & screen intact by a private resident in 1998, who remains at the site at time of writing and attended the Drive-Inn when he was 15 in the early 80’s by smuggling in. He tore the screen down a few years after by cutting one row of bolts and allowing the wind to blow it over. The screen remains on the ground. Address is 28 Drive-Inn Road, Gladstone,not Huddleston Road. The site could accommodate 680 cars. I re-visited it in Jan 2020 and took photos. The original caferteria counter, gates, parts of the fence, lamp post, ticket box (foundations), cold room door, exit sign, humps for car bays, wires, child slippery dip, slippery dip foundations and the entire ruins of the screen all remain, as does the caferteria and cinema building itself (now renovated into a private home) but still standing. Projector holes can still be seen. God Bless and thanks to the new owner of the site for offering the above information and for the tour of the site, now his home.
This site actually still exists, its at the intersection of Huddlestone Rd and Drive-In Rd. It looks like a private residence now, the concession building is definitely still there – probably turned into a house. The screen was also still there in 2008 on Google Street View but gone in 2015. Gates may also still exist?
Address is Huddlestone Road.