A year on Macquarie Island will change a person forever, according to natural history filmmaker David Parer.

It is the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the research station on the sub-Antarctic island.

The station was slated to be shut down by the Australian Antarctic Division in 2016 but after intense public pressure the decision was reversed and plans are underway to rebuilt the station.

"Macquarie now is being returned to its former glory, it's a rebirth," Mr Parer said.

Amid celebrations for the station's anniversary, those who have spent time on "Macca" credit it as a life-changing experience.

A stint on Macquarie Island has been a life-changer for many visitors. ( Supplied: Evan Jones )

Island's rawness inspires desire to preserve nature

Mr Parer, who spent more than a year on Macquarie Island in 1975 to make four half-hour films about the island's history and wildlife, said the place was remarkable.

"The rock that forms it is the only island on Earth which has actually been pushed up almost 10,000 feet — 3000 metres — from the ocean floor up to the surface," he said.

"So it represents very much core material that's come out of the centre of the Earth."

Mr Parer spent his time mostly in field huts filming the island's penguins, seals, sea lions and bird life.

"It's a very inhospitable environment," he said.

"The average wind speed is almost 30 kilometres an hour all year round, temperatures about 4 degrees Celsius and there's about 320 days of precipitation, snow or rain, every year, so it's not an easy place to live or get around.

"It gives you an appreciation of the natural world, and a great desire to try and preserve it," he said.

Strange naked locals, huge feral cats

Horst Munstermann took a job as a weather observer on Macquarie Island in 1958, three years after arriving in Australia from Germany.

He was in his 20s and did not know what to expect.

Horst Munstermann helped brand seals on the island in 1958. ( Supplied: David Parer )

"When we got off the ship … there was this big birdcage there and there was a naked bloke in there with a long beard," he said.

"I found out afterwards he was the weather OIC [officer in charge].

"I walked a bit further down the shore towards the main base, a bloke walked towards me, he had hair down to his hips and I thought to myself, 'My God, what am I letting myself in for?'"

Mr Munstermann said he was considered returning to the ship until he realised his colleagues were playing a prank on him.

"They wanted to give the new arrivals a shock," he said.

Mr Munstermann was one of three people doing round-the-clock weather observations.

He remembers staying in a field hut and encountering one of the feral cats on the island.

"When I opened the door in the morning there was this ginger wild cat. I thought for a moment I was seeing a young lion — my God, they were big," he said.

The dogs employed to hunt rats and rabbits prevailed in extreme conditions. ( Supplied: Keith Springer )

Eradication of ferals inspires island's rebirth

Keith Springer has spent three-and-a-half years on Macquarie Island in total, during which he headed up the project to eradicate feral pests from the island.

Rabbits, rodents and cats introduced by sealers in the 1800s had decimated the island's vegetation and bird populations.

Keith Springer looking for rabbits on Macquarie Island. ( Supplied: David Parer )

Mr Springer said the future of the island was looking grim.

"It was actually quite distressing looking at how bad the condition was," he said.

"I spent a year there as a ranger in 2005, and rabbits had sort of been increasing in number by then and it just looked like a heavily grazed paddock."

Feral cats were eliminated from Macquarie Island by 2002. ( Supplied: Evan Jones )

The federal and state governments provided $25 million to eradicate rabbits and rodents from the island (cats were eliminated by 2002).

The project took nine years.

"We see far more insects around because they're not being predated by the rodents, so when you walk around the island now you're seeing moths and spiders and things like that to a far greater extent than you ever did previously," Mr Springer said.

Mr Springer said the island was green again.

"I think it's one of the most remarkable stories of conservation in Australia, if not the world, and its praises should be shouted from the rafters," Mr Parer said.

Beaches littered with wildlife

Summer is an exciting time for researchers as various species return to the island. ( Supplied: Evan Jones )

Mel Wells recently spent time working as a volunteer on Macquarie Island monitoring albatross and giant petrels for Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment.

She said she could see the island recovering during the year she lived there.

"The vegetation is just going nuts," she said.

Everything about living on the island is a challenge, says Mel Wells (R), from the weather to the terrain. ( Supplied )

Ms Wells said most bird species are recovering too with giant petrel numbers on the rise along with grey-headed albatross but the wandering albatross was still in decline.

Gathering information about Macquarie Island's birds can be challenging, Ms Wells said.

"Particularly when you wake up and all of your clothes are wet because they haven't dried from the night before, and the actual terrain of the island — we're walking around everywhere to get where we need to go and always got quite a heavy pack on," she said.

But Ms Wells said the island was a beautiful spot to live and was teeming with wildlife.

"In summer time, the beaches are just littered — elephant seals have their harems throughout October covering all the beaches and all the penguins are nesting," she said.

"Summer is a very exciting time, it's very, very busy."