It was originally raised in Brisbane, Queensland, on 6 June 1965 and has since then served in a number of overseas deployments and conflicts including South Vietnam, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.

[1] Several VC camps were destroyed in these operations and numerous caches of weapons and supplies uncovered, while 36 enemy casualties were inflicted.

[3] The battle began on the evening of 16 August when Nui Dat was attacked by a VC force using mortars and recoilless rifles.

[3] As the battle continued, a relief force from 'A' Company arrived at a critical moment, on board seven M113 armoured personnel carriers from 3 Troop, 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron and launched an attack on a VC battalion that had been forming up to launch an attack aimed at 'D' Company's rear.

[1] The extent of the Australian victory was not known until the following day, however, when 245 bodies of dead enemy soldiers were counted in the plantation and the surrounding areas.

[4] Seventeen men from 6 RAR were killed, along with one from the 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron, during the fighting around Long Tan and later 'D' Company was awarded a US Presidential Unit Citation by the then President Lyndon B.

[5] Following this 6 RAR continued to conduct patrolling and security operations throughout Phuoc Tuy as 1 ATF took on a larger role in the province.

Within this formation, 6 RAR served as a rapid reaction force to meet Australia's Southeast Asia Treaty Organization obligations and was involved in defending ANZUK Brigade assets in Singapore.

During its deployment, it participated in a number of tri-national exercises in Johore;[12] it also rotated its rifle companies through Butterworth Air Base, situated in north-western Malaysia as a ready reaction force known as Rifle Company Butterworth, a commitment made by Australia under the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), to support Malaysia which was fighting against a communist insurgency.

[13] In April 1974, the battalion having returned to Enoggera from Singapore, received a new commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Tony Hammett who established an unofficial parachute role.

[16][15] That same year, the battalion also provided assistance to the civil community in response to Cyclone Tracy, undertaking clean up tasks in Darwin.

[19][15] As a result of shortcomings in the capability of the Australian Defence Force were highlighted in the wake of the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, the battalion was trained in the amphibious role.

In April 1989, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel David Mead, the battalion took part in the combined arms Exercise Caltrop Force in California, during which it undertook amphibious operations in US Marine AAVP7s.

[1] Heavy rain in March had resulted in widespread flooding throughout the border region which had continued into May, however, by June the rivers had subsided and reports of incursions across the border from West Timor by pro-Indonesian militias were received, prompting 6 RAR to conduct extensive patrol operations throughout their tactical area of operations.

[21] Through a program of intensive active patrolling and tracking, surveillance, blocking and other security operations the battalion came to dominate the western border regions.

[1][22] In one of these incidents, Sergeant David Hawkings was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal following an attack on 'B' Company's base at Aidabasalala on 21 June 2000.

[25] Further signs of infiltration were found by the lead section and as the scouts tracked the footprints of the militiamen through a dried creek bed they discovered some empty food packets and old cigarette butts, confirming the presence of militia in the area.

[25] As the platoon harboured up for a short halt, a sentry on one of the machine guns that had been sited for all round defence spotted a group of three militiamen patrolling along the creek bed and interpreting this as an act of aggression under the ROE governing the deployment he opened fire, hitting the lead militiaman with about twenty rounds from the LSW, killing him.

[1] Before they were relieved by 1 RAR in October 2000, the battalion also assisted in helping with the evacuation of UN and other personnel from Atambua in West Timor, as well as undertaking a host of CIMIC operations.

[33] A motorised combat team from 6 RAR was also deployed to Southern Iraq in support of Overwatch Battle Group West 4, OBG(W)4 from 4 November 2007 to June 2008.

[34] The battalion deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Slipper in 2010, with 6 RAR forming the basis of a 750-strong combined arms battle group consisting of infantry, engineers, cavalry, artillery and logistic elements drawn from the Brisbane-based 7th Brigade, known as the 1st Mentoring Task Force (MTF-1).

Returning to Australia in October and November 2010, it was later awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation (MUC) in 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours.

[39] On 20 November 2010, MTF-1 marched through Brisbane's central business district along with other deployed units from the 7th Brigade, as the returning soldiers were officially welcomed home in the biggest such parade since the end of the Vietnam War.

[40] On 1 November 2012 Corporal Daniel Keighran from 6 RAR was the Victoria Cross for Australia for his actions in Afghanistan during the Battle of Derapet on 24 August 2010.