‘We are heartbroken’: Coober Pedy loses its famous drive-in – but the opal town has plans for take two
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It was South Australia’s last drive-in cinema – a scene in Priscilla was even filmed there. The historic screen lasted 50 years but couldn’t survive furious winds
The closure of a drive-in rarely makes the news, but Coober Pedy’s is no ordinary drive-in. Since it was constructed by volunteers in 1965, it has served as a meeting point for the remote opal mining community, itself immortalised on film in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. For decades, miners turned up in their utes, still filled with mining equipment and gelignite; as beer was sold at the drive-in, the operators had to ban patrons from bringing along explosives.
But curtains have now closed on South Australia’s last drive-in after furious winds reaching almost 120 km an hour ripped through the town on 15 November, leaving the screen in tatters. More than half the panels and the underlying structure were ripped away by the wind.
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