Wallis drive-in at Gepps Cross plays its last movie

Adelaide’s last drive-in cinema has rolled the credits for the last time. What are you favourite memories of the once great pastime?

When Lorna Wallis left the Mainline Drive-In last night she closed the gate on a piece of Adelaide history and left a little piece of her heart at Gepps Cross.

The cinematic institution, which opened in 1955 with the Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck classic Roman holiday, was the last drive-in cinema in Adelaide. The final film was, perhaps fittingly, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

For the Wallis family matriarch – lovingly referred to as “The Queen” – it was the end of an era which began in the early 1950s when she began working as a bookkeeper for Hugh Wallis, the man who began the Wallis drive-in empire.

It was while working for Hugh that Lorna met, fell in love with and married Hugh’s son Bob and together they rolled out a drive-in empire across Adelaide and regional South Australia.

The Blueline, at West Beach, was first, with the Oceanline at West Beach, Mainline at Gepps Cross, Parkline at Mitchell Park, Valley Line at St Agnes, Harbourline at Outer Harbor, Hi-Line at Panorama and the Hollywood at Salisbury Downs following. The family also ran drive-ins at Barmera, Berri, Clare, Loxton, Renmark and Tanunda. Coober Pedy now holds the honour of South Australia’s last town with a drive-in.

The three generations of Wallis women together at the drive-in for the very last time; Lorna, Michelle and Deanna Wallis. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Lorna, who still works as the Wallis’s director and owner despite being in her 80s, said the early days of the drive-in were an exciting time to be a young person in Adelaide.

“It was new, it was different and it was wonderful,” Lorna said.

“People could talk in their cars, eat in their cars, do whatever they wanted in their cars … which they did.”

Lorna said she recalled one particular incident at the Hi-Line Drive-In that left a young couple quite red-faced.

“At the end of a show a young lady came in quite embarrassed,” she said. “Whatever they were doing in their small car ended up with the boyfriend upside down and his foot stuck in the glovebox. He couldn’t get it out!”

Lorna said the Mainline survived the threat of VHS, DVD and even home streaming, but a serious fire in 2017 followed by a pandemic that severely curtailed the number of films available to screen were the final straws.

For Lorna’s daughter Michelle, Wallis’s managing director, the end of the Mainline is an emotional time, having grown up among the playgrounds and snack bars of the family empire.

“The cost of maintaining the drive-in was very high and we kept it going for as long as we could,” Michelle said.

“It affects jobs, of course, and as a family we have always strived to maintain our staff.

“Many of our staff have been with us for years. One staff member has worked for us since 1966.

“We carry every emotion and feel everything, and this hurts us, but we have to think about the long-term future of the Wallis group.”

The movie business continues for Wallis, with the company still running several cinemas including Mt Barker and the Piccadilly in North Adelaide.

“We thank all South Australians for coming along and giving the Mainline its last hurrah, and we’re very proud of the fact that with my daughter Deanna we are three generations of women continuing the legacy of my grandfather,” Michelle said.