GA in Oz has always been a disaster. Remember when I first visited Archerfield in 1970, fresh out of the UK, I commented to the manager of the AWA avionics facility about the number of light aircraft around and how busy it must be. He replied "non of them ever fly, it's just a large parking lot". A common comment back then was that Australia's superb aviation safety record came about by DCA banning all flying. If no one flies no one dies.
There must be two Archerfields!
The one you describe bears no resemblance to the Archerfield at which I learned to fly in 1973.
Dr 