For those based in NSW I’ve found joining the NSW Writers’ Centre to be a great way of starting to feel connected to a broader writing community. I don’t know anyone in the industry and have never had any formal training as a creative writer, so having this connection is important. For those not in NSW, I’m sure there is a local writer’s centre near you. If you’re in Australia, you could also check out Writing Australia which in a joint collaboration of many of the state based writing centres around the country.
As an example of the kind of courses the Centre runs, in September 2011 I went along to a 1 day workshop run by Richard Harland on writing speculative fiction.
A more commercial cousin to the NSW Writers’ Centre above, the Australian Writers’ Centre has some excellent resources if you have the stomach for a harder sell that comes with it. I especially found the podcasts featuring interviews with authors on writing valuable and good motivation. Formerly the Sydney Writers’ Centre.
The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) is a non-profit organisation that formed unofficially in 2003 as a way of providing a unified voice and a sense of community for Australian writers of dark fiction, while helping the development and evolution of this genre within Australia.
I wouldn’t consider myself a full horror writer, but I do dabble in the genre and the AHWA is a very active organisation. Well worth joining if you write in this space.