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My only other open-air shows, of
more recent years, were a string of
silent film screenings we used to put on
at the Botanic Gardens, near the
Observatory, and at the Northcote
Ampitheatre in Fairfield. One
particularly windy night in the Botanic
Gardens the whole tubular steel seating
structure with the projection platform
on top seemed to do a dance with the
picture wavering uncertainly around on
the screen. Screenings at Fairfield were
like showing films from a gun
emplacement of the type I used to
explore as a child in Point Lonsdale.
The tiny stone ‘blockhouse’ had a
heavy steel shutter over the projection
‘port’ which had a disconcerting habit
of occasionally wanting to crash shut
on the projectionist.
Northcote Ampitheatre with bluestone projection box.
Drive-ins may once again be undergoing
a revival with their hi-fi sound and your
own comfortable bring-your-own
seating. But there's still nothing quite
like the pioneer walk-in cinemas. At
least the Sun Picture Gardens in
Broome is still flourishing, reputedly
now the oldest operating open-air
cinema in the world. The tradition of the
outback show lives on. ★

All images were provided by the author.

Open air cinema at Cloncurry in the late 1920s.

At the Sun open-air theatre
Broome in the 1920s.

CINEMARECORD 2005 19