Another tour of European shows was undertaken by Australian Judges seeking FIFe qualifications, with current ACF panel judge Margaret Bush (WA) gaining her FIFe national longhair accreditation.

1981
1981 and this year the National weekend was hosted in Melbourne.  The inaugural meeting of the ACF Judges' Guild and this newly-formed sub-committee appointed visiting UK judge Jean Crockart as its patron.  At the Conference it was resolved to confirm the formation, constitution and committee of the judges association under the name of The ACF Judges Guild.  Along with Mrs. Crockart, Mr. Will Thompson of the CFA USA was also a guest international judge at this show.

1982
In 1982, Adelaide was home to the National and the recognition of a couple of new breeds; the Somali and the chocolate and lilac Persians.  Mr. Vaughan Barber, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, was a guest speaker (CFA USA) and gave an interesting talk on the cat fancy in the United States.  The subject of the Balinese was also broached.

1983
The 1983 National weekend was held in Queensland and was attended by various overseas observers; three members of the Malaysian Cat Club as well as Lucy Koh from Singapore.  There were around 500 exhibits at this show.  The first ACF Judges' Guild Seminar was held featuring longhair breeds.  The retirement of Mr Howson as President necessitated a change of face at the helm.  For a period of time, Vice President Mrs Nita Russack (SA) acted in his stead.

1984
Bjorn Christie Johnstone (director of Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania) was Mr Howson's successor.  He chaired his only AGM when Whyalla, SA, was host to the National weekend.  Unfortunately, his was a short tenure; his presidency was conditional on moving towards an amalgamated cat fancy in Australia, with the now five year old CCCA and ACF "getting together".  For various reasons, this did not occur, and as he foreshadowed at the AGM, he later withdrew from office.

One conference matter covered was which judges should adjudicate on Balinese and Somali (at this stage, the FIFe-style Semi-longhair group still existed) and the concensus was that they should be handled by appropriate Shorthair judges, given their type.  FIFe standards were to be adopted by ACF, and for the first time, it was suggested that we might do away with breed numbers because confusion was arising from differing systems within Australia and overseas.  The guest judge this year was Swiss, Alfred Wittich.

1985
With the Perth meeting came recognition of Balinese (providing they were from siamese and balinese breeding only) and Judith Russack (SA) was by now Secretary.  Mrs Nita Russack (SA) was once more acting President for the meeting, but was succeeded by Mrs Eileen Eckblom (Mayor of Whyalla) who was elected at this AGM.  The Guild seminar was on Abyssinians and Somalis and five International Champion titles were granted.  Mrs Molly Oliver (Vic) (International Liaison Officer since 1973) was succeeded in that position by Mrs Julie Schuller (NT).  (Mrs Oliver was in Europe at the time, and had become Vice President of FIFe).

1986
Back to Adelaide and guest judge this year was Will Thompson of CFA.  The assessment of Russian Whites (with view to their recognition) took place and there were two dozen available for inspection.  The Hon. Mr. Lance Barnard AO (Tas) took over the Presidency, having been assured that all that would be required of him was his presence at ACF National weekends, apart from keeping in touch with the secretary.  How wrong that would prove to be!

Due to the distance and ACF not being able to conform to some of FIFe's rules, ACF was no longer a part of FIFe.

1987
Hobart hosted this year's National for the second time with the guest international judge being Joy Foster from England.  Judith Russack (SA) handed over the secretariat to Lorna Thomas (WA) and another first was scored when at the Guild AGM it was suggested that open judging (in front of the exhibitors) should be compulsory.  Judges were to decide whether they spoke to exhibitors or not.

1988
From the Deep South in 1987 to the Top End in 1988; Darwin was the scene for the Bi-Centennial National.  The guest international judge this year was Alison Ashford from the UK.  Various changes to policy were implemented; supplementary register cats were declared eligible for competition against full register (so long as the certificate endorsed the cat as SR).  Exotic Shorthairs were recognised in all Persian colours; longhairs from Exotic breeding were allowed to be registered as longhair, so long as registration indicated its background; Exotic was to be judged by All Breeds or Longhair judges only.  From this flowed the first suggestion to type group, as is now common practice all over Australia (i.e. the now common place Groups 1, 2, 3 & 4).  At this meeting, delegates determined to pursue an association with FIFe.  Liaison with CCCA was endorsed by the meeting in order to gain a truly unified cat fancy in Australia.  Two observers were to attend the next CCCA meeting.

1989
The Gold Coast proved a popular venue for the 1989 ACF weekend.  This show was the first open style National, and "talk show" format was off to a roaring start. The guest international judge was Kim Everett from CFA.   Among decisions at the AGM were; facility for cadet judges undertaking an interstate assignment (as required by the ACF training scheme) to have financial assistance; Scottish Fold were accepted, as were "new" Birman colours (red/tortie series).  Russian Whites and Smokepoint Siamese and Smoke Orientals, along with Golden and Colourpoint British, were accepted.  There was a successful motion that the ACF/CCCA should formulate a common policy on acceptance of new affiliates.  It was accepted that from 24th July 1989, ACF accepts only registrations from its own, CCCA or overseas bodies, and that there be ongoing dialogue between ACF/CCCA, with unity the aim.  Julie Schuller (NT) took over as secretary of ACF, and Lesley Morgan (Tas) replaced her as the International Liaison Officer.