I've never been in the northern hemisphere so I don't know how bright the polaris is :(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_brightest_stars
Looks like similarly bright southern stars include some of the following:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Ceti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Pavonis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Trianguli_Australis
It's pretty bright, but not uniquely so. It'd be about the 20th brightest object in the sky (assuming even distribution).
Answer: very easy. You know the shape from the flags and logos, you can't miss it. Magellanic clouds are harder to see, and require a place with little or no light pollution, but they're there too.
Fun fact: in Chile they sell tours to look at the sky - in Atacama desert, where light pollution is very low. A bus brings you to the desert and you look up. They also provide a tour guide who knows the sky and has a laser pointer (yes, strong laser pointers can be used to point to objects in sky). Sounds ridiculous, but is 100% worth the money. The view of Milky Way in its full unpolluted southern glory is breathtaking.
A go-to joke of the tour guides. Question: "So, you are in Chile and there's no polar star. How do you tell where's north?". Answer, after some ideas from tourists: "See the mountains over there? That's east. Like I said, you're in Chile."