HMAS Swan paid off for disposal at Sydney and was stripped of useful fittings and equipment, in 1930, at Cockatoo Dockyard and her hulk towed to the Hawkesbury River. Swan and her sister ship Parramatta were then used a accommodation vessels, by the NSW Department of Prisons, for men working on road repair in the nearby region. This usage of the vessels met with public outcry and was soon stopped. Both vessels were then moored in the river for a period. In early February 1934 Swan was being towed down the Hawkesbury River, on her way to be scrapped, when she foundered near Juno Point. Her wreck still lies there today in approximately ten metres of water.