If you go to the Mitre 10 site (you will have to register), they have a very good and detailed page, with illustrations, called "Grow Plants from Garden Cuttings". It covers plants in general (and potting medium, etc.) - but does tell you that camellias will strike from heel or tip cuttings.

Or go to the page below and go to the bottom of the page.

Now, neither of these sites say "when" is the best time. I've had some success with cuttings (and many more failures). I think that late summer/early autumn might be the right time - but I take cuttings whenever I get a chance and it's pot luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.greengold.com.au/greengold/CARENOTES/CARENOTES/camellia.htm

I think you take the cuttings in Dec & Jan just as the new growth is bendy but not snapping. You reduce the leaves. Take cuttings and seal in a plastic bag to reduce moisture loss. Try a hormone powder and then pot up. Cover with plastic. Recently there was a thread which gave some excellent advice on propogating mediums (was it Mt Ananan Botanical Gardens? Anyway good luck. I had to salvage a broken top to "Wirlinga Bride" camellia and mine has survived. I do give it some plant starter when I think of it. This would be another good tip as you occasionally check under the plastic so see if new growth is happening. Good luck.

Thank you, sebd, for the timing advice. I have an absolutely beautiful camellia - formal, with a little star in the centre, almost white in the middle and deepening to mid pinks towards the outside - that a friend wants. But the label blew away (the advantages of living in a windy area!!) and can't remember the name of it. I'll try around Christmas.

Wombat
The next time you are near a bookshop look for the book "What camellia is that?" I think it is by Stirling Macaboy. Could your camellia be "Sawada's Dream" or "Desire"? Both of these are described as formal doubles. Good luck.

I know it's not Sawada's Dream - that is on my wish list to buy if I'm still alive when the drought finally breaks.

I don't know if it's a good idea to look at a whole book of camellias (I'd probably need a wheelbarrow for the wish list) but I can try.

Wombat I'm sure you would survive. Just hold back from the wheelbarrow until you see the shape of the overall camellia bush. You just take a select wish list to your best nursery and check out the growth habit first. Take "Elegans Champayne" for instance. It is a lovely flower but the bush is so straggly it looks a sheer disaster. I have not explored the camellia internet sites for images but I guess they are there somewhere. (Last night I got trapped looking at the American Rhododendrum Society site.) I hope the drought breaks soon for you.