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Funny you should pick this time to post this story Chrissyo - have just had my brother down from NT last month staying for a fortnight, and he was telling me of an episode he had out bush one night that sounded almost exactly like you described!
The ONLY difference as far as I can tell is that he wasn't aware of a star in that location prior to the "brightness" but rather his attention was drawn by the rapid growth in size and brightness. Like you, he also mentioned that it grew big, fast - as big as the full moon or more, and then it finally disappeared to nothing almost instantly - all without having moved laterally at all relative to his position.
I suggested to him it may have been a meteor viewed head on, I think that's still my favourite theory, unless it could possibly be a visible flash from a gamma burst - does anyone know how fast or large these things can appear??
Apart from those 2 possibilities I'm fairly out of ideas I must admit!
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