[1] In 1938, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) identified the need for a general purpose 'local defence vessel' capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties, while easy to construct and operate.

[6] The need for locally built 'all-rounder' vessels at the start of World War II saw the "Australian Minesweepers" (designated as such to hide their anti-submarine capability, but popularly referred to as "corvettes") approved in September 1939, with 60 constructed during the course of the war: 36 (including Junee) ordered by the RAN, 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.

[1] She was launched on 16 November 1943 by the wife of John Solomon Rosevear, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, and commissioned into the RAN on 11 April 1944.

[1] After entering active service, Junee was briefly assigned to New Guinea before being redeployed to Darwin, where she served as an anti-submarine patrol ship until February 1945, when the corvette underwent refit in Melbourne.

[1] Following the end of the war, Junee evacuated Australian prisoners-of-war and civilians, assisted in the transportation of occupation forces, and aided in the reestablishment of Dutch authority in the Netherlands East Indies.