Four ships of the Royal Australian Navy have been named for the Yarra River in Victoria which rises north-east of Melbourne and flows into Port Phillip.
The first HMAS Yarra (D-79) was a River class torpedo boat destroyer laid down by Denny Brothers at Dumbarton in Scotland, launched on 9 April 1910 by Mrs. N. J. Moore, wife of the Honourable Newton J. Moore, Premier of Western Australia, commissioned as a Royal Navy ship for the voyage to Australia on 10 September 1910 at Greenock in Scotalnd, and passed to the control of the Australian government at Broome in Western Australia on 15 November 1910. Yarra operated with the fleet in the search for the German Pacific Squadron, took part in the capture of the German Colonies in the South West Pacific, was present at the surrender of German New Guinea at Rabaul on 13 September 1914, assisted in the consolidation of the Australian occupation of New Guinea and New Britain, served with the British Far East Patrol at Sandakan in Borneo and Singapore, operated in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the British 5th Destroyer Flotilla, operated with an Allied Squadron in the Black Sea, returned to Australia on 21 May 1919. HMAS Yarra paid off on 30 September 1929 and was broken up at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard in 1930.
The second HMAS Yarra was a Grimsby class sloop.
The third HMAS Yarra (F-07/45) was a River class destroyer escort laid down by the Williamstown Naval Dockyard at Melbourne in Victoria on 9 April 1957, launched on 30 September 1958 by Lady McBride, wife of the Minister for Defence and commissioned on 27 July 1961. HMAS Yarra paid off on 22 November 1985.
The fourth HMAS Yarra is a Huon class minehunter.