HMAS Whyalla paid off at Brisbane. On 10 February 1947 Whyalla was sold to the Victorian Public Works Department. On 8 November 1947 the tug HMAS Reserve departed Brisbane for Melbourne with Whyalla in tow. The vessels arrived at Melbourne on 14 November. Whyalla (I) was handed over to her new owner and renamed Rip, being employed as a lights maintenance vessel. She ceased service as Rip in 1984. When the Whyalla City Council became aware that the ship was to sold as scrap, successful negotiations resulted in the Council purchasing her for $5,000. She returned to Whyalla under her own power later in 1984. Between February and April 1987, Whyalla was slowly moved up the slipway from which she was launched in 1941, and then relocated two kilometres inland and placed on permanent foundations, becoming the centrepiece for the Whyalla Maritime Museum which was officially opened on 29 October 1988. Whyalla is one of only two Bathurst Class preserved as museum ships, the other being HMAS Castlemaine in Williamstown, Victoria.