Opened: 1971?
Location: Puckapunyal Road, Seymour
Capacity: 500 Cars?
Screens: One
Operator: Village, Kenrick, Richard Hill
Closed: 1991
The Seymour Sunset was one of the last drive-ins built in Victoria. As such it was built and equipped to modern standards compared to most other country drive-ins. The large snack bar was extremely neat and clean, as was every other aspect of this drive-in.
While it had the advantage of a large army camp in addition to the town of Seymour from which to draw patrons, the army camp also ran a theatre. The Puckapunyal area theatre was run by the army and offered discount prices to all army personnel and friends. The Sunset however had first right of refusal on all film product. Both operations co-existed for many years although the rivalry was often fierce.
The last operator of the site ran an efficient operation and was a jack of all trades when the cars entered the paddock each evening. The projection room ran carbon arc lamphouses right till the end. This may have seemed antiquated by 1991, but the light on screen put paid to any critics. Not an easy job managing a theatre, running the snack bar and doing changeovers while on carbons!
On one occasion in the 1980’s, a severe wind storm blew several panels from the screen frame, many towns folk from Seymour assisted in rebuilding the screen so the show would go on. Today the posts and speakers have been removed, some were utilised at Village Coburg drive-in and the remainder discarded. The site is used to graze cattle, but the ticket box, snack bar and screen remain.
