Thanks for the advice. I tried booking from SYD but couldn't find anything that priced out at the "desired" fare. For some reason, the dates I was looking for were only pricing out from BNE or MEL.
I had a feeling that was going to be the answer to the baggage question but figured it couldn't hurt to ask!
I was thinking of allowing 2.5 hours in MEL to retrieve bags, transit terminals and recheck on ANZ. Seem reasonable?