Also being from Oz yet perhaps closer to the 'younger self' you described, I feel compelled to reply. Although it is fun to romanticise about alternate paths you are quite correct: had you not taken the path you did, you would not have come to the realisation you now have.
I graduated from my CS degree with strong results in 2007 and bucked the trend of my peers to live the entrepreneurial dream while freelancing on the side to sustain me. I was rather naive. While freelancing I had no idea how to quote, bill, manage scope, protect myself from being taken advantage of, etc. You pick these things up along the way, but the experience can be painful. My entrepreneurship endeavour fared even worse as I quickly fell into the trap of trying to produce perfection in a vacuum. The saving grace of this period results from my dabbling in the share market which has proven to be rather profitable.
I made the stark decision to give the 9 to 5 a shot and quickly landed a job in one of the large IT consulting firms. It has been the best decision I've made so far, if only to give me exposure to the significant problems that exist in enterprise software. If there's one industry that deserves to be innovated to the hilt, this is it. I feel invigorated and more motivated than I ever have been to break out on my own. I also am the most capable I've ever been, having stripped away some of my nativity (although hopefully some remains - I suspect it can be valuable).