I have Qantas Gold, and this the only program I have points accrued on.

I have Qantas Gold, and this the only program I have points accrued on. I am flying tomorrow with Air France long-haul.

Are there any FF Programs of a third airline with which I could early points with AF and spend them on QF?

I'm aware that Delta would allow me to redeem them on Virgin Blue, but they want a whopping 30,000 points for a short SYD-MEL run on points.

No, Air France / KLM frequent flyer program separate

But of course! Open an Alitalia MilleMiglia account and you could earn from Air France flights to redeem on Qantas!

Trouble is, redemption rates are pretty bad (also require 30k for a return domestic under 1000km).

Sorry, I meant 1000miles not km. Here's their redemption table:

AREA DESTINATIONS ECONOMY BUSINESS
QF1 Flights of 1,000 miles or less:: within Australia and New Zealand, Australia-New Zealand 30.000 45.000
QF2 Flights over 1,000 miles: within Australia, within New Zealand, Australia-New Zealand
Flights of 2,000 miles of less: Australia-the Far East. Within the Far East 45.000 70.000
QF3 Flights over 2,000 miles: Australia - Far East; Europe - Far East 75.000 115.000
QF4 From Australia to: Europe, South America, South Africa and the USA 120.000 180.000

 You could top up the account at 25EUR per 1000 miles (at the moment there's a promotion until end of Nov that gives up to 50% bonus, so 1000 Euros gets 60,000 miles). If you earn 10,000 miles from your trip with AF, you'll have enough miles for a transcon in business.

There's also Alaska Air Mileage Plan which represents a tremendous value for redeeeming Business between the AU and the US. You could earn miles from Air France flights and redeem them on Qantas. Highly recommended.

And to top it all off, you could also park AF miles with Japan Airlines or China Eastern and redeem them on Qantas. 
Between Alitalia, Alaska Air, Japan Airlines, and China Eastern, I'd say Alaska Air is the one to go with.

gevoysoy,

Which cabin will you be flying in on AF?

Are the points/mileage you will be earning on AF sufficiently large to warrant the hassle of finding a programme to park your miles and not loose out?

Critical mass is the key to any airline programme.