General News
25 February, 2026
Cinemas were places to be
ENTERTAINMENT has long flourished in Cairns, from the open-air Lyric Theatre in the 1910s to grand cinemas like the Palace and Royal.
Silent films were accompanied by live pianists and local drama groups regularly staged performances.
The Cairns Civic Theatre opened in 1974 and became the city’s performing arts heart until replaced by CPAC in 2018.
Meanwhile, the Tanks Arts Centre – converted WWII fuel tanks – hosts live music, theatre and art exhibitions, becoming a symbol of cultural innovation in tropical design.
Hot nights at the Coral Twin Drive-In
Everyone over the age of 50 across rural and regional Australia remembers a hot night at the movies at their local drive-in.
The Cairns Coral Drive-In theatre was opened in 1961. The Woree venue had a huge screen, car parking spaces for up to 440 cars and detachable speakers on a pole.
As movie-goers drove their cars in, they parked in allocated spaces and wound down their front windows, leaving just enough room for the speakers to be attached. This provided the audio for the movie.
Who can forget the entrance kiosk with its variety of ice-creams, cool drinks, chips, twisties and lollies galore?
Did you go out for a special night with mum, dad and one or two mates to the Coral Twin to see ‘Bedknobs’ and ‘Broomsticks’, ‘E.T’, ‘Grease’, ‘Flash Gordon’ or ‘Star Wars’?
Or was it a favourite place for a date where you pretended to watch a horror movie such as ‘Carrie’, ‘Halloween’ or ‘Alien’ while you capitalised on fright time for a bit of snuggle time?
It was renamed the Coral Twin Drive-In in 1982 and closed in 2000.
A grand lady:
Palace Picture Theatre
What a spectacle. In 1914, Palace Pictures Limited of Cairns erected an attractive art deco picture theatre, for a grand sum of 5000 pounds, complete with palatial fixtures, fittings and furniture.
In Lake Street, this little treasure can still be viewed and is now a backpacker hostel.
In 1914, the new theatre took a prominent position in the heart of town opposite Hides Hotel and the School of Arts.
Architect Harvey G. Draper, introduced many new features, including six-foot wide, internal passages, preassembled roof trusses, a domed ceiling, state-of-the-art electricity and machinery which were all housed in reinforced cement building with walls 25 feet high. It was impressive.
Inside the building, a grand six-foot stairway rose up three levels to the galleries above.
Underneath was a ticket box and cloakroom with the manager’s office to the left and refreshment room on the right.
Over the staircase the operating box for film operators had clear view to the picture screen which was reputed to be the largest at the time in the Commonwealth.
Seating was provided for 1200 people who were kept cool in the tropical heat via four powerful electric fans which were cleverly installed above the ceiling to create updraft, ensuring a constant flow of air throughout the building at all times.
Imaging getting dressed up and going to the flicks at the Palace Picture Theatre when it first opened.
It would have been marvellous.
