Welcome Shaun.
There is a lot of fun to be had with a humble 50mm lens. At this time we have the southern cross earlier in the evening. As the night rolls on pointing towards Sagittarius is a good idea as you'll be looking into the centre of our galaxy where there is so much going on
If you're just on a standard tripod you'll probably be wanting to use closer to 18mm for a nice wide angle shot. At 18mm you could probably look at using 20-30s shots with a wider aperture and you'll be able to pick up quite a bit of detail.