[5] Teams from Hall and the Royal Military College, Duntroon played rugby union matches prior to the First World War.

[6] The Federal Capital Territory Rugby Union was established [7] and re-established several times in the 1920s and 30s,[8][9] before the First Grade competition was finally started in 1938 with four clubs playing in the inaugural season.

[26] The win over the reigning Five Nations champions showed that ACT could compete against the top tier of rugby players in the world.

When the ACT comprehensively beat New South Wales by 44–28 in 1994,[18][29] an invitation was issued for a Canberra club to play in the expanded 14-team NSWRU Premiership sponsored by AAMI for the following season.

[33] The Canberra Kookaburras played in a white and black strip, separated by bands of blue and gold (ACT's traditional colours) around the centre of the jersey.

[37] The first grade team, coached by Geoff Stokes, also made the grand final in their first season but lost to Gordon by 24–11 to finish as runner-up in 1995.

[38] The advent of the ACT Brumbies and Super 12 in 1996 affected the Kookaburras' playing strength, with only one man from the previous grand final team available for the start of the 1996 season.

Canberra's entry increased the number of clubs from nine to ten and brought an added professionalism to the competition that was sponsored as the XXXX Premiership in 2001.

[55] With Terry Burkett as coach,[56] the Vikings finished second in the 18-round regular season behind GPS Old Boys,[57] but comfortably beat the Gold Coast Breakers by 32–10 in the grand final to win the Hospitals Cup.

[60][61] Played in the second half of the season to allow Super 12 players to compete, the Premier Rugby competition spanned nine rounds followed by a finals series for the Hospitals Cup.

[65][59] Fisher was the head coach again in 2003 when Canberra finished second behind University of Queensland in the minor premiership,[66][67] but his team went on to beat the Gold Coast Breakers in the grand final by 29–16 to win their third title in a row.

[68] After nine seasons of Canberra teams playing in interstate competitions, the Vikings' relations with the premier clubs in Sydney and Brisbane had become strained.

[69] This was reportedly due to a view that the Vikings were being given the opportunity every week of poaching talented young players and that the team was being run as a shadow ACT Brumbies development side.

[72] He also guided the side to seven wins from twelve matches in the regular season, but the Vikings finished sixth that year and did not play in the finals.

[73] Canberra was kicked out of the NSW Premiership for a second time ahead of the 2006 season, ostensibly to streamline the Sydney competition and allow the NSWRU to make more room in their calendar for the proposed Australian Provincial Championship.

[75] The team had two close matches against NSW Country and Perth Gold during the season, but managed to progress undefeated through the three pool games, semi-final and final to win the competition and take the shield.

The ARC was terminated at the end of 2007 after only one season of competition, with the Australian Rugby Union citing higher costs than budgeted and further projected financial losses.

[82] Prior to the 2016 NRC season, the Brumbies chief executive, Michael Jones, had suggested that the "Canberra Kookaburras" name might be reinstated.

[83] A decision was postponed due to financial considerations until 2017,[84] when the plan was revoked after the Vikings Group took sole ownership of the team licence.