1980s

This decade increases the district’s credentials as a tourist destination and place of leisure while the links to its earliest reasons for existence – strategic, navigational, military and maritime are weakened.

1982

• The Marine Parade premises of Doyle’s on the Beach are re-built in a style to reflect the restaurant building’s turn-of-the-century origins as the Ozone Cafe.

• Portions of the former defence reserve are dedicated as part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, creating a new area for public enjoyment along the coastal strip between Camp Cove and the Hornby Lighthouse, and on Gap Bluff. This acquisition led to the demolition of most of the School of Gunnery and World War II radar building.

• Closure of the Catholic School due to declining enrolments leaves the site available for reuse as an aged care facility.

1983

• Signal Hill Reserve, the site of the Look Out Post and subsequent Signal Station, is gazetted for public recreation in September.

1986

• After some years of planning and construction the aged care facility, named Vaughan Village for Archbishop Vaughan who administered to the parish in 1880, is ready for occupation by October. The replacement of the former school with accommodation for older people is clear indication of the changing demographics in the area.

1988

• The Bicentenary of European settlement is celebrated throughout the year and includes events reflecting the historical significance of the South Head district in the context of this milestone. Woollahra History and Heritage Society marks the 200th anniversary of the first landing in the harbour at Camp Cove on January 21, and local community events co-coordinated by the Woollahra Bicentennial Community Committee include festivities in Robertson Park, a children’s treasure hunt on the Watsons Bay beachfront and a regatta. Woollahra Council, assisted by funds from the Australian Bicentenary Authority, creates a Bicentennial Cliff Walk between the Signal Station and Christison Park.

• Despite two years of resident action the Watsons Bay post office is closed and the premises sold by October.

1989

• The Macquarie Lighthouse is de-staffed, ending a tradition dating back to the appointment of Robert Watson in 1818.

1990s

The character of the Watsons Bay area continues to evolve. Operational changes to long-standing government facilities, such as the Lighthouses and Signal Station, are part of the shifting focus. A community struggle to preserve within the public domain the open space associated with the now unmanned Macquarie Lighthouse is ignited by government ‘sell-off’ plans. The protest is carried across a number of years of this decade, with sale plans resurfacing at intervals. The former head lighthouse keeper's cottage and the assistant lighthouse keepers’ quarters on the site are offered on long-term (125 year) leases.

Gentrification of the housing stock sees the replacement of some 19th century timber cottages with larger residences. The Watsons Bay Heritage Conservation area is established in response to official recognition of the need to preserve the heritage of the area.

1990

• The Gap Bluff walking track is opened, traversing land previously held for defence purposes.

• A commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the first use of the signal flag at the Look Out Post is held at the Signal Station and attended by His Excellency Rear Admiral Sir David Martin, Governor of New South Wales.

1991

• The decision is made to close Vaucluse Police Station and to sell the site, initially with a lease-back arrangement allowing a police presence until 1995.

1992

• The Maritime Services Board removes their remaining operations from the South Head Signal Station and the facility is taken over in March by the Australian Volunteer Coastguard, operating the station for the benefit of small boats and leisure craft.

• In 1992 a plaque is installed by the Woollahra History and Heritage Society to correct two common misunderstandings about the 1857 wreck of the Dunbar : that she was subject to a North East gale (rather than a South East gale, as was the case) and that she foundered at the Gap, rather than at a point some 500 metres further south. The location of the 1992 plaque fixes the position of the wreck, highlighting a hand-cut marker in the rock-face above the point of impact, believed to have been originally carved soon after the disaster.

1993

• On 15 January the Woollahra History and Heritage Society commemorates the 200th arrival of the arrival of the Bellona and the first use in New South Wales of a lighted navigational aid, replicating the effect with a bonfire in a disused gun-pit near the Signal Station. The event is attended by descendents of those who arrived in the Bellona[1]. This is one of an ongoing series of commemorations hosted by the Society to mark the 200th anniversaries of the arrivals of significant vessels to the port of Sydney.

'A large fire for the information of the stranger was made at the South Head' (Captain David Collins). Youthful descendents of those who arrived aboard 'the stranger' - the transport Bellona - attend a bicentennial re-enactment on January 15, 1993. 

• A bronze plaque is unveiled at Signal Hill Reserve to commemorate the historical significance of the Look Out Post and Signal Station.

1996

• Continuing public access to land associated with the Macquarie Lighthouse is finally secured in July, with a ministerial undertaking, following some years of community protest.

2000s

2001

• The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust Act 2001 is passed by Federal Parliament in March, its role to consider and manage the future use of various defence and other Commonwealth lands. Two important properties in the South Head district fall within this category: the Macquarie Lighthouse and the former Marine Biological Station at Camp Cove. In the process a new park is provided creating additional access to Camp Cove Beach.

Camp Cove Beach looking towards the former Marine Biological Station, 1996.

2006

• Woollahra Council undertakes considerable remedial drainage work to correct the long-standing problem of flooding in the Camp Cove vicinity. A section of Cliff Street is lowered approximately 900mm at the beach end, allowing overland storm-water to escape. A previous road base is unearthed in the process of the works. Part of the original sandstone block base is re-laid in the new road.

2008

• After renovations, the former Marine Biological Station is made available to the public by an ‘open day’ arrangement.

• A commemorative plaque featuring a timeline is installed by Woollahra Council at Cliff Street to record the history of the Camp Cove area.

Camp Cove Time Line Plaque 2008