HMAS Brisbane decommissioned again on 22 January 1929 and then on 16 August 1929 Brisbane was placed in C-Class Reserve and then finally on 1 December 1930 she paid off into E-Class Reserve. As she was still a relatively new ship, with only 13 years of service, she was retained in reserve, although the RAN did not have the money or manpower to reactivate her during the period of the Great Depression. Brisbane was recommissioned at Sydney on 2 April 1935, under the command of Captain Charles Farquhar-Smith, RAN and on 2 May 1935 she sailed for England manned by a complement which would form the balance of the ship’s company of the new HMAS Sydney (ex-HMS Phaeton), a Modified Leander-class light cruiser. While en route Brisbane assisted the sloop HMS Hastings, on 13 June, which had run aground on Shab Kuttle Reef in the Red Sea. The ship arrived at Portsmouth on 12 July 1935, where she finally paid off on 24 September 1935. In June 1936 Brisbane was sold for breaking up to Thomas Ward & Co Ltd of Sheffield, England, for £19,125.