I think I'm sold on the Canon Gary. I did a bit of a search on Astronomy.com and Cloudynights and the Canon seems to get almost unanamous acclaim.
For those interested Teds camera house have the Canon 300D at $1400 at the moment.
http://www.teds.com.au/www/6/1001102..._1005803_.html
I don't endorse Teds Camera House in any way. This link is only FYI.
Thanks again Gary
Clear Skies
Paul