On 3 June 1964, Parramatta and sister ship Yarra met the troop transport HMAS Sydney off the Philippines and escorted her to Kota Kinabalu, Singapore, and Penang to deliver Australian military units and supplies.

[1] Parramatta escorted the former aircraft carrier back to Fremantle: the return voyage to Australia was interrupted on the morning of 23 June by the detection of a suspected Indonesian submarine: the two Australian ships performed evasion tactics for eighteen hours before resuming the voyage.

[2] Other deployments[clarification needed] were made during 1965 and 1966, with this service later recognised by the battle honour "Malaysia 1964–66".

[3][4] During late May and early June 1965, Parramatta was one of several ships escorting Sydney on her first troop transport voyage to South Vietnam.

[8] Parramatta underwent a modernisation refit at Williamstown Naval Dockyard between 3 June 1977 and 26 August 1981, and visited the People's Republic of China in 1986.