Compulsory Military Training and after

In May of 1950 the New Zealand government adopted CMT (Compulsory Military Training) for all eighteen year-old males. This gave Godley Head a new and active role.

Godley Head was reopened as a training facility with ten to twelve regular soldiers overseeing one hundred and fifty trainees. Each year there were two intakes of draftees. Under the CMT scheme each man completed his basic training, and then a further fourteen weeks of corps training. He was then obliged to go on territorial service for three years. This consisted of twenty days training each year after which he passed onto the reserve for a further six.

Live shoots

The army endeavoured to provide a live shoot for every intake. The target for the shoot was of the Hong Kong variety. This consisted of a pair of large metal floats on which was erected a series of vertical screens to resemble the outline of a ship. The structure was towed along by a vessel using approximately 915 metres of cable. It was not intended for shells to actually hit the target. On those occasions when one did, a virtual paper-war blitz ensued.

Other users
The Godley Head camp was also used by the 151st Composite Anti-aircraft Battery RNZA. They trained and fired their 3.7 inch and 40mm Bofor anti aircraft guns at Godley, however the guns were stored at King Edward Barracks at Christchurch.

End of use
On July the 15th 1957, the New Zealand Army Board deleted coast artillery from the army order of battle, as part of an exercise to reduce and reallocate manpower. Australia, Britain and Canada conducted the same exercise at the same time and for the same reasons. The following year CMT itself was abandoned. All three six-inch guns were scrapped and the portable, or at least movable, buildings were either transferred to other Government sites or sold off.  From 1958 the remaining buildings were used by regular and territorial forces.

Toc H

After the army formally vacated the area in 1966, the camp area was leased by Toc H, an international Christian charity organisation, that emerged from a soldier's retreat at Poperinge, Belgium, in World War I. Toc H used the camp area for retreats, but the army resumed control in 1977, as Toc H found the maintenance costs too high, and continued to use the sight for exercises from time to time. In 1983 the Department of Lands & Survey took over the complete management of the reserve (Department of Conservation since 1987) but  sporadic army use has continued.