Can you view supernovae (supernovas) through amateur ground telescopes?

Certainly, supernovae in other galaxies are visible in amateur telescopes. I've observed one in my 11" Newtonian. They're usually around 12th magnitude when they first erupt. There's absolutely no reason why they should be more visible in the southern hemisphere except that the brightest supernova in recent years, 1987A, was in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The one I observed was in a galaxy in Ursa Major (can't remember which one now).