Following closure of school on Mount Lofty, the property was leased to the Australian Army and used by the Australian Women's Army Service then in 1943 sold by Patience Howard and Mabel Hardy to Basil Harford. The National Broadcasting Service purchased a substantial section for the ABC-TV transmitter building and mast. Nancy Harford still owned the place on 16 February 1983 when it was destroyed in the Ash Wednesday bushfires. "Arthur's Seat" and "St Michael's House", the Anglican theological college and priory, were the only two significant buildings which were never rebuilt. The property is now part of Cleland National Park, owned by the South Australian Government.
