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Ditto what others have said. An 8" dobsonion is the beginners scope of choice for many people. Several reasons for this;
1. Enough aperture to see '000s of deep space objects
2. reasonable planetary views. Not as good as a high end refractor but those are expensive beasts
3. Not so bulky that majority of people can handle it
4. Eyepiece is always in a convenient position (unlike a newt on an EQ mount)
5. No need to polar align
6. Minimal setup and cooling time.
That said, it is always a good idea to see a few scopes before you buy. As to your other comments, yes galaxies only ever appear as smudges. With practice it is possible to tease detail in galaxies. But there are hundreds of beautiful clusters, globulars and nebulae to explore easily within reach of an 8" in your part of the world.
I was in Canberra at the weekend and stopped not far from Yass for a pitstop about 11pm and the sky was simply spectacular, you are very lucky. One of Australia's most prominent p[lanetary imagers Anthony Wesley lives in Murrumbateman also.
Malcolm
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