Opened: March 1978
Location: Yongala Rd, Peterborough
Capacity: 200 Cars
Screens: One
Operator: Independent
Closed: ?
Not too many drive-ins opened in Australia as late as the Peterborough drive-in. Outside of Wonga and Cobram I can’t think of any. The year 1978 was a good year for drive-ins with hits such as Grease and Close Encounters plus the hangovers of Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever, all drive-in classics. Peterborough is 250 kms north of Adelaide and has a population of 2,100. Not a lot of people to keep a drive-in running but I imagine other entertainment at night would have been hard to find. The drive-in sits on the highway into town and is now a residence, albeit with a drive-in screen in the backyard. The old Capitol theatre sits locked up in the main street so a keen cinema entrepreneur can open a chain and corner the indoor and outdoor cinema market in Peterborough!
