There was an interview on the Science Show on ABC Radio National with someone who used to work in OTC in Sydney at the time.

NASA were using the radio telescopes at Parkes and Honeysuckle Creek (near Canberra) as part of their relay network. Parkes, being the larger dish, was to be the primary link, but on the day in question, there was a windstorm. However the dish was over at its limits and even though it was withstanding windgusts ten times the design limits, the operators refusd to stow it. Regardless, the wind made its signal too chancy so the world saw the descent and landing from Honeysuckle Creek. Once the Eagle had landed, though, the wind at Parkes had died down. The NASA people had an argument about cutting over to Parkes, as the picture from Parkes was much better. Obviously, the cutover was going to take some time.

Australia wasn't supposed to be the main link at the landing, but Armstrong overrode the schedule from Houston and took the lunar module down early.

Oh and he confirmed that the "conversion" process from the slow-scan pictures was to point a camera at the slow-scan screen. :-)

Wade.