Opened: late 1960’s
Location: Northumberland Road, off Ballarat Road, Sunshine.
Capacity: ?
Screens: One
Operator: Village Drive-in Pty Ltd
Closed: 1982
Sunshine was one of the last drive-ins constructed by Village. It joined Brooklyn as Villages second drive-in in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Sunshine as a suburb has a strong Village tradition, with one of the original Kirby theatres located in that suburb. Village Drive-ins was founded by Roc Kirby who took over the operation of the Kirby Theatre circuit from his father George. Today Sunshine is the location of the Village 20 screen Megaplex that contains a plaque on the foyer wall commemorating Roc Kirby’s long association with the areas cinema going public.
The actual street address of the Village Sunshine drive-in was Somers St. which was a good block from the end of Northumberland Rd. Village, like other drive-in operators at the time, used the nearest main road as the drive-in address, later the newspaper ads said simply “Off Ballarat Rd” (now Western Hwy). Today the Melbourne Croatia Soccer club uses the site. The snack bar buildings can still be seen incorporated into the facilities at the ground.
