I'm currently in year 12 in Australia and unsure of which uni and course would be best for me if I intend to get into a research position with physics.

It's not my thing but as a general rule you do a bachelor of science and major in physics. Look at the kind of research that the different universities do and the subjects that are available. While most physics majors have alot of common ground, different unis have different strengths. These days unis are being encouraged (or more precisely, legally bound) to be more specialised and to make note of their specialisations, so it's usually pretty prominent on their webpages.