Tangledwood: Google suggests that the following phrase appears in the Wiki article - but I can't find it: "A Kharkiv-style bandura made by Fedir Deriazhny in Australia ... "

The Wiki article would suggest that there are more bandura-makers in the West than in Ukraine, due to the suppression of the instrument and its players under Stalin (how do you like this one: "In recent years significant evidence has come to light that an ethnographic conference for bandurists, specifically for blind kobzars and lirnyks, was organised in Kharkiv in December 1933 which was attended by an estimated 300 blind musicians who were subsequently executed.")

Wiki lists a number Australian bandura ensembles, by name only. I would start with them if I were looking to buy a bandura in Australia:

Hnat Khotkevych Bandurist Ensemble
Lesia Ukrainka Bandurist Ensemble
Hryhory Kytasty Bandurist Ensemble
Vodohray Bandura Ensemble - Adelaide
S.o.V - Adelaide
Mykola Lysenko Bandurist Ensemble
Lastivka
Koloryt


oldhippie: I don't know where you are, but similarly, you might want to find the closest bandura ensemble and make a few inquiries ...

I've never played one, but it's a wonderful instrument.