Yep.
Things started to change mid-late 80s or even earlier. 84/85 we could still get slugs (pellets) for my mate's air rifles (slug guns) at the local Kmart in rural Vic. We were allowed to get about with the sluggies but not powder burners (parant's rules). My folks didn't allow us guns but didn't object to us shooting with mates. My brother even had a regular clay shoot with the shotgun team at his school. Still, people didn't just wander around willy nilly with guns, although I don't recall anyone really being anti-gun. A lot if my mates had their own guns under a bed or in a draw when we were young teenagers and most kids parant's had firearms.
My sister was going out with a cop in 96 and I recall have a heated debate about the laws coming in with me pointing out that I could randomly do quite a bit of damage with things other than a gun.
All in all I think the storage imposed and the restricting of gun sales to vetted individuals is probably for the best but much of the rest of the laws are pretty ill thought out and pointless.