Hi Matt, welcome to IIS!
As a beginner as well I would suggest buying some star maps and simply looking up at the sky and trying to pin point the constellations and some of the main stars. I started by taking out my Dad's binoculars and looking around the constellations I knew then referring back to Stellarium (
http://www.stellarium.org/) and it's free!
I see you also live quite close to me so you could always check out the South East Queensland Astronomical Society as they have an "Urban Observers" night at Indooroopilly High School on the first Sunday of every month (the next one will be the 7th of November, pending weather) and one at Bracken Ridge on the 17th of October
http://www.seqas.org/.
There is also the Brisbane Astronomical Society who have public viewing nights at Mt. Coot-tha Lookout where you can have a look through other people's scopes at the moon and planets. The next one is next Saturday night at 7pm
http://www.bas.asn.au/.
Other than that, just read everything you can find and enjoy! Hope this has helped, even though I'm just a beginner myself
Shelley