The eleven surviving Chinooks were retired in 1989 as a cost-saving measure, but it was found that the Australian Defence Force's other helicopters could not replace their capabilities.

The helicopters have also frequently been assigned to assist recovery efforts following natural disasters and undertook a range of civilian construction tasks while being operated by the RAAF.

The Army wanted a simple and rugged aircraft that could be purchased immediately, and pressed for the acquisition of de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribous.

The RAAF regarded the Caribou as inadequate for the intended role and preferred a more sophisticated aircraft, leading to delays in the selection process.

As part of the expansion of the military in response to Indonesia's policy of "confrontation" with its neighbours, the RAAF was directed by the Australian Government to conduct an urgent evaluation of short takeoff and landing aircraft and heavy-lift helicopters that could be purchased to improve the Army's tactical mobility.

[3] A team of seven RAAF officers headed by Group Captain Charles Read, the director of operational requirements, was immediately dispatched to the United States and assessed the Sikorsky S-61, Boeing Vertol 107-II and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

[6] The Australian military continued to consider options to acquire heavy-lift helicopters throughout the 1960s, and a formal program to achieve this goal was initiated by the RAAF in 1969.

[10] A team of nine Air Force and Army officers travelled to the United States in October 1969 to evaluate the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion and Chinook.

[13] The contract for the Chinooks included an offset agreement with Boeing through which the firm gave Australian companies opportunities to manufacture components of both the RAAF's helicopters and those destined for other customers.

This was the first of several such agreements that were included in Australian military aircraft procurement contracts during the 1970s and 1980s, the goal being to assist the local defence industry to access international markets.

The offset contracts for the Chinook concluded in the early 1980s, but the improved equipment and manufacturing processes were employed in the project to build McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft in Australia between 1985 and 1990.

[7][18] The squadron typically had between four and six CH-47Cs operational at any time throughout the type's service, the fleet being rotated through long-term storage at RAAF Base Amberley as planned.

The helicopters frequently formed part of the Australian Defence Force's response to natural disasters, including by delivering food for people and livestock cut off by floods.

On two occasions Chinooks supported Queensland Police Service drug eradication efforts in remote parts of the state by transporting fuel for RAAF Iroquois helicopters and carrying seized narcotics.

[15] In August 1981, two CH-47s lifted containers from the cargo ship Waigani Express to enable the vessel to be refloated after it ran aground in the Torres Strait.

[29] Another unusual task was conducted in December 1981 when a Chinook transported two bulldozers onto a grounded iron ore carrier near Port Hedland, Western Australia, so that they could be used to reposition the ship's load.

[21][35] A court of inquiry found that A15-001's crew had been unaware of the presence of power lines in the area as they were not marked on the maps used to plan the flight, and were difficult to see from a moving helicopter.

[36] In November 1986 the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Minister for Defence Kim Beazley decided to transfer all of the RAAF's Iroquois and Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk battlefield helicopters to the Army.

[31] The reduction of the RAAF's helicopter fleet increased the cost of operating the Chinooks due to the loss of economies of scale, and made it more difficult to find aircrew for No.

The problems the Army was experiencing keeping the Iroquois and Black Hawks operational may have influenced this position, the service being reluctant to take on an even more complex type.

[43] It was also decided at this time to transfer the Chinooks to the Australian Army, as the RAAF no longer had significant expertise in operating the type and such a change would concentrate all the ADF's battlefield helicopters with the same service.

[47] The first operational deployment of the Army Chinooks began in October 1997, when two of the helicopters and three Black Hawks that were in Papua New Guinea as part of a training exercise were tasked with delivering food supplies to the highlands of the country following a severe drought.

[50][48] None of the CH-47s were available to support the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping deployment to East Timor in 1999 as the fleet had been grounded due to systematic problems with their transmissions.

[56] This history stated that "it is not possible to explain the rationale" for the deployment of the CH-47s given their unsuitability for operations within Iraq, and judged that the main achievement of the detachment had been to free up British and American helicopters for other tasks.

[72] Preparing for and sustaining the Rotary Wing Group rotations absorbed most of C Squadron's resources throughout this period, and Chinooks were rarely available for other Army training or operational tasks.

[70] The official inquiry into the crash found that it was caused by a known issue in which Chinooks suffered uncommanded pitch oscillations while flying through dense air, and that the aircrew had not been adequately trained to prevent such incidents.

[87][88] The ADF had previously intended to expand the CH-47F fleet at a later date, but the order was placed at short notice to use funds made available by an under-spend on other Defence capabilities.

[98][99] This will involve keeping pace with key changes introduced to the American CH-47F fleet, though there will be options to modify the helicopters to meet Australian requirements.

[100][102] A detachment of several Chinooks was deployed to RAAF Base East Sale during January 2020 as part of the ADF's response to the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.

Two of the helicopters were delivered to Australia early that month on board a United States Air Force Lockheed C-5 Galaxy transport plane after the US Army agreed to transfer two of their aircraft.