There seem to be a few around if you hunt for them. Here's what I've found so far:
The Co-op bookshops (at Unis around Australia) stock the BeBook 6" and the 5" BeBook Mini. UWA had stock when I just rang. The BeBook is one of several variations of the Hanlin reader now on the market.
BeBook at Co-op
You don't need to be a student to buy, and you can join up to get Membership discount (one off fee).
Harvey Norman's have the iRiver Story for $399 but when I asked "How much for cash?" they offered me 8.5% discount, so I got it for $367. I'm enjoying reading on it and I like the ease of dropping books on and off via USB. Epub and PDF.
I believe that Dymocks were selling the Kindle, but apparently only through the Sydney store. They also seemed to be asking a price that made ordering from the US more or less a no-brainer. The Kindle they ship to Australia has no charger but comes with a USB cable for charging. As far as I can see the Kindle isn't listed at Dymocks any more, but I could be wrong.
The Eco Reader (another Hanlin variant) are apparently also available here.
Eco Reader Stockists
Read Without Paper is a local site selling books priced and sold in AUS$. I've bought books from them and they seemed reasonably priced compared to the other online stores I crossed checked with.
Read Without Paper
I don't mind paying a reasonable premium to buy the hardware locally, as it's easier for warranty and I like to have a 'test drive' first.
Anybody got any more information about other local stockists where you can try before you buy, and not over-pay?
Cheers,
Chris