In reply to:

Supposedly, and I do have this from an excellent source (my Auzzie Uncle..

This probably belongs in the regional pronunciation thread, but Aussie seems very hard for non-anzacs to get right. If spelled properly, Aussie, the assumption seems to be to pronounce it as a double "s" as in toss. If pronounced properly, it seems that it will be spelled incorrectly, with a double "z."