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Hi Lisa.
I am not familiar with your mount or level of experience, but here are a few thoughts from a manual perspective.
Start by looking for the cluster using your lowest magnification eyepiece. The cluster is relatively narrow at 10 arcminutes across and may initially appear very small. Look for a very small ‘A’ shaped cluster of stars using low magnification and then zoom in (or attach the camera) from there.
It should not be too far away. It is around two degrees, or one to two fields of view from beta Crucis at low magnification. Attached is a photo with one-degree increments marked from beta Crucis.
As you say, the cluster is southeast of beta Crucis. However, depending on what star diagonal you have, the image may be inverted and the direction you need to move across the view may be different to expected. The movement you want is for the front end of the telescope to move down and left from beta Crucis (when viewing in the evening). For an SCT, this may be through moving down and right (rather then left) along the image.
Generally, a mount should be aligned to true north/south rather than magnetic north/south. The compass app may have a setting for true north. For the Adelaide Hills, the difference between the two is around 8 degrees east, which is a bearing of 172 degrees when using a compass set to magnetic north.
The compass on a mobile phone might not be very accurate. A proper magnetic compass may work better. Be sure to stand away from the metal in the telescope, mount and tripod which may interfere with the reading.
Keep at it. I am sure you will find it.
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