In 1935, Brisbane was reactivated to transport personnel for the new cruiser HMAS Sydney to Britain, after which she was decommissioned and sold for breaking up as scrap.

Brisbane was built by Cockatoo Island Dockyard to the Chatham subtype of the Town class cruiser design.

[1] Laid down on 25 January 1913, the cruiser was launched on 30 September 1915 by the wife of Andrew Fisher; Prime Minister of Australia on three occasions.

[2] The cruiser's primary armament consisted of eight BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XI* guns, arranged in single mountings behind open-backed gunshields.

[2][5] Soon after, the ship was redeployed to Colombo, and employed on Indian Ocean patrols to search for the German raiders Wolf and Seeadler.

[2][5] In February 1917, a Sopwith Baby seaplane was acquired from HMS Raven II for reconnaissance work; the first aircraft to be used by a RAN ship.

[2][5] This remained aboard until June, when Brisbane was sent back to Australia with orders to patrol the Western Australian coast.

[6][7] The ship reached Murdos in late November, and spent most of December operating with the Australian Destroyer Squadron, before visiting Smyrna and the Dardanelles.

[8] From February until August 1925, the ship served with the Royal Navy's China Squadron as part of an exchange, with HMS Concord sent to Australia.

[9] The cruiser was placed back in reserve on 7 October, underwent a refit, and recommissioned on 17 November as a training ship attached to Flinders Naval Depot.