My advice to you.
You're not going to get your own house. Practically no real estate will lend to an unemployed, or part time employed student. They just don't. Nor do they rent to share houses usually.
I moved to Sydney when I was 17 and the only way I got accommodation was by moving into share houses that usually were not through real estates and pretending I was 19.
The best thing for you to do would be to move into an already established group house. Theoretically there will be furnishings and appliances, as well as gas and electricity set up, and generally you don't have to sign a long term lease.
Actually try never to sign a lease in a share house. The people, when you meet them, seem nice and all la-la great and two weeks later you find out the house has a cockroach infestation and one of the girls in an obsessive note leaver. It can take a while to find a good place to live, and its not about being friends with your flatmates, but its about having lifestyles and habits that work together. I am just presuming this is your first time out of home because of your HSC year being 2009.
Also don't move to Sutherland, and keep to the north of south Sydney. Even though you may save rent living somewhere you spend more on transport. Its also really boring down there. No fun at all. No cool houses or people. Smells strange.
Go Bondi, Surrey Hills, Darlinghurst, Newtown, Glebe, just that whole nice inner area. The people are better.