Australia recovered from a nightmare start to beat South Africa 25-17 at Sydney's Olympic stadium in their Tri-Nations clash.
The victory handed the halfback combination of George Gregan and Stephen Larkham a dream send-off in their last appearances on home soil for the Wallabies.
The Australians followed up their surprise win over New Zealand last weekend with a hard-fought victory, coming from 17-0 down after 10 minutes against a Springbok team missing most of their top players after coach Jake White decided to save them for this year's World Cup in France.
Australia dominated the match for long periods after recovering from a terrible start.
The Springboks scored two tries in the first 10 minutes through flanker Wikus van Heerden and winger Breyton Paulse, who intercepted an attempted long pass from Wallaby lock Nathan Sharpe and sprinted over from 50 meters.
Wing Mark Gerrard, flanker Stephen Hoiles and centre Matt Giteau all scored for the Wallabies, who did not take the lead until 11 minutes into the second half.
The sin-binning of Springbok hooker Gary Botha three minutes later allowed Australia to turn the screw and Giteau squirmed through a tackle on the line for what proved the decisive try.
