Bottom line is, employers won't even look at your resume unless they desperately need staff. Even Woolworths, Coles and McDonalds will stop looking at resumes if they don't need any more staff.
What I've noticed with these big employers is that they take advantage of younger persons being paid significantly lower wages, however due to law, cannot sack someone because they are older and hence are entitled to higher wages. This is why during PEAK periods of employment, anyone over the age of 16 is at a disadvantage.
Greekgun, you were employed by Coles when you were 16, which is a good age for them.
This is where a 'spiral of death' starts. The places that employ older people (like 17/18 year olds) such as Glue, G-star, Vodafone etc. won't employ you without a good prior reference. They WILL call them up and ask if they need staff. This system makes it almost impossible to get any job unless you had one earlier. On a personal note, this is why I am against lower wages at younger ages - it destroys the opportunities for older teenagers to get experience in the workplace, effectively creating an employment checkmate.
My recommendation is to volunteer. Volunteer dammit, for every charity you can think of. Get involved in university clubs and societies and milk references from them. It's never going to be as good as formal work experience, but its all you've really got.