I didn't make it to DrupalSouth this year sadly, but it sounds from some attendee reports like it was a tight conference and the industry is going great over the water. An interesting challenge of this is that Australia is in a hiring frenzy for Drupal folk, and it'll be a challenge for us to compete with that.
I applied to attend when my talk proposal was accepted, but was disappointed to find that there was no remaining budget for this.
Some good talks coming out on video now anyway! I get the impression that the Drupal industry is really moving ahead in Australia.
How to lead talented technical teams
Keynote by Sarah Jane Peterschlingmann. Some good insights on team culture & development, particularly interesting to see her comments on how trying to improve team makeup using pay can have unintended consequences, and appreciated her articulation of the "expert leader" trap.
Drupal 9, Migrations, Decoupled APIs and Online Collections / Morgan Strong
QAGOMA is the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art. A really interesting look at a complex project which Drupal is one part of, and how Migrate is helping them.
Scaling Drupal Through a Pandemic
Kim Pepper (PNX, Skpr) talks about handling massive web traffic during the pandemic, sharing some of the lessons and wins they found along the way.
Beyond plain language: Techniques for communicating complex concepts and processes
Really valuable; not about technology but communication.
More
There's lots more - I'd love to hear what you found valuable!