Hello Ina

Just reading your webpage on the history of Drive-ins in WA.

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/19/drive-ins-WA.html

Excellent work, I must say. Just one thing though. In the second last paragraph under the heading “Issues of management and ownership…”, you mention that “The commercial operators, whether suburban or rural, sold the land when they could. Suburban operators sometimes made large profits, when the land could be sold for housing (like the Highway, Bentley), public use (like the Skyline at Floreat Park, which was bought by the Shire of Cambridge for its new Shire Offices), or other commercial developments (like the Aceway, Morley, which provided the site for a shopping complex).”

The reference to the Aceway drive-in in Morley not quite accurate. The shopping centre that you have made reference to was actually built next to the drive-in site (on the northern side), not on it as such. The shopping centre opened just before drive-in closed. Basically, the drive-in comprised of all the land from the north side of Incanna Place to the filtration station (opposite Devonshire Street) and from Beechboro Road to Redgum Way.

Just for interest, the Aceway Drive-in site is one of the few, that I have seen, where evidence of the drive-in still exists. There are three landmarks that identify its location.

Firstly, directly behind the screen of the Aceway Drive-in was a row of yellow/green leafed trees. I think there were about 10 in all planted around a metre from the back of the screen and along its length. Today, if you head South along Beechboro road away from the shopping centre (towards Morley Drive), there is a house about four or five along (after the turnoff to the shopping centre on Beechboro Road) that has three evenly placed identical trees about 2 to 2.5 metres in height (recently pruned) in its front yard. These trees are all that remain of the original line of trees and mark the exact location where the screen at the drive-in once stood.

Secondly, Incana Place. Incana Place, which runs along the north side of the shopping centre, was originally constructed to link the drive-in’s alternative exit gates (these gates were opened at the end of the night so that traffic had an alternative exit point to the main entrance) to Beechboro Road. The gates to the drive-in were located roughly where Incana Place intersects with Marks Place.

Finally, in Redgum Way (at the Eastern end of the site) there is a small building just south of the retirement village; I think it is a small community centre of some sort. This building previously housed the facilities (candy bar, projection rooms ticket box, etc) for the drive in. The exterior of the building is largely unchanged since its days as a drive-in.

Finally, as I recall, there is a direct connection between the Ace-Way Drive-in and the Wirrina Drive-in. The Wirrina Drive-in once stood where the Car park (Eastern Side of Myer), Collier Road and Shops along the Eastern side of Collier Road now stand. The connection is that Ace-Way Drive-in was commissioned as a replacement for the Wirrina Drive-in, hence the closure of the Wirrina Drive-in and the opening of the Aceway Drive-in in the same year, 1980. I seem to recall that the Aceway Drive-in was built by the people who owned the Wirrina Drive-in.

The Wirrina Drive-in was on land that was earmarked for the site of a new large scale shopping centre in the area. The planning for this began in the mid to late seventies and involved linking the three existing shopping hubs to form one shopping centre. The hubs were Morley City shopping Centre (Target end of the Galleria), Kmart/Coles Building (only the K-mart part remains) and Boans Shopping Centre (roughly where Myer is now, although it was within a few metres of Walter Road).

The shopping centre was due to be constructed in the early 1980s, but disagreements between the key players over location, design and the need to divert and close major roads and move a reasonably large amount of infrastructure (i.e. several service stations; Woolworths – which stood where the main entrance to the Galleria shopping centre building is now; Bus Depot; Morley Square Shopping Centre and Specialist Centre etc) delayed construction until mid 1993. The Galleria Shopping centre is the result.

The acquisition of the Wirrina Drive-In site was the first step of many that lead to the eventual construction of the Galleria Shopping Centre. The site was earmarked as the location for a diverted Collier Road (Collier Road originally ran in a straight line and changed name at the intersection of Walter Road. The remaining stretch of the original road to the east of Walter Road is now called Old Collier Road), a commercial development and parking for the shopping centre. The result is what we see at the corner of Collier Road and Walter Road today.

Just though I would share this with you.

Regards
Mat

Created on: Sunday, 26 April 2009