Hi Tony,
to IIS.
Stay away from Ebay. cheap nasty scopes there.....simple.
I would start
here for references of suppliers.
Take a look at
Bintel,
Andrews Comms and
York Optical for the different ranges, prices and types of scopes that might interest you. As for Wollongong, I think there is a supplier called Survey and Instrument or something like that but I cant remember the actual name.
As for spending $1500 with computer control or GOTO, there are so many different options for that price bracket that I am sure the experts here at IIS can help you spend your hard earned cash faster than you can earn it.
My personal choice for that budget would be this:
8 inch Skywatcher reflector on a sturdy and strong Skywatcher mount from Andrews Comms where you get free freight and a SIX year warranty. Cant really go wrong for that money and the HEQ5 would be beefy enough to hold a 10 inch scope later on if the need arose.
200 x 1000P with HEQ5PRO Go-To mount (white) and V3.0 Go-To hand controller
$1399.00 AUD
(Why pay A$2795 elsewhere?)
Keep in mind that a 12 inch dob is a great "starter" as this is probably the best views per buck you can get. Andrews also has the new collapsible 12 inch Skywatcher Dob for only $899! with the remaining $600, you could get some very nice Eyepieces and Barlows etc to go along with it.
A 12 inch Dob is VERY heavy when assembled and hard to transport, so the extra $100 for the Skywatcher solves this and in my opinion has better tension adjustment (handles over BT302 's springs) and better optics. You do however get more fruit and a 10:1 crayford focuser with the BT302, so that could sway you. The BT302 is essentially a GSO dob, so the Andrews GS-980 Super Deluxe for $749 is a better deal and has the same if not better extras thrown in.
My two cents to start things off.
Cheers
Chris