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I was at ANU in the 70's and 80's... Mt Stromlo had three roles. It is fair to say that even 30 years ago little in the way of serious professional observations were made at Stromlo, but it was important nevertheless.
Firstly, it's primary role was as a teaching facility (the Astronomy department) within the postgraduate school (the Institute of Advanced Studies, as it was then called) for those aiming to to do a PhD in astronomy. This means a facility which is reasonably representative of a modern facility to give them exposure to the practical aspects of astronomy - bear in mind that while many of the PhD students are obviously bright, many had NEVER actually used a telescope before arriving at Stromlo. Even fewer had the foggiest idea about how to use a plate camera, a photometer or a CCD and teaching these basics was par for the course.
Secondly, from an observational perspective it was basically a test bed for telescopes and equipment built/developed by the RSPhys laboratory workshops. Once the equipment was sorted out at Stromlo it would subsequently be sent to Siding Spring for serious use. FWIW the 50" at Stromlo was equipped with a backend identical to the AAO 150" to facilitate this testing.
Thirdly, it was the home of the Research School of Astronomy. Since the fire this has been relocated within the campus, regrettably.
And yes, even in 1975 Canberra's expansion was obvious and implied the end of Stromlo was imminent even as a teaching facility. Everything has a use-by date. Stromlo served its purpose admirably, but it was high time to move on even before the fire, which effectively forced that decision.
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