Australia is a relative newcomer to Handball, although there are recorded instances of the field version being played by Europeans back in the 1940’s whilst being held in internment camps in Australia during the Second World War.

 The first recorded modern indoor game was played in Australia in 1982 when Sasha Dimitric gathered a group of European immigrants (and former players) to play a match against a team from the French territory of New Caledonia. Following this game the sport continued in Sydney, and then other European immigrants in Brisbane and Melbourne also commenced to play the sport that they had left behind when they migrated to Australia. The Australian Handball Federation was formed and in 1988 became the 100^th Member of the IHF. The aim of the Federation was to grow and gain qualification to World Championships and the Olympic Games.

 This quest started with a guest appearance in the Asian Championship, but although coming 2^nd to Japan in the preliminary pool games, no further progress was possible since Asia would not surrender one of its own members place to the World Championship. The result was the formation of the Oceania Federation and a start to the process to allow Oceania to take part in the World Championship and qualification for Olympic Games. Australia won the first Oceania Championship in 1994, but it took the awarding of the 2000 Olympic Games to Sydney, Australia before both dreams could be realised. As host Nation Australia automatically qualified for the games, but needed far more International competition in preparation. For the World Championship in 1999, Australia was granted entry to assist their preparation.

 By 2003 Oceania had been granted a ticket to the World Championship and since then Australia has won the right to represent the Oceania region. The struggle to make a mark on the handball world continues as the sport in Australia is very small and attracts very little funding assistance with all players being amateur. All players selected to represent their Country at World Championships and any other tournaments pay their own expenses. The officials running the sport are all unpaid volunteers, yet the teams continue to compete at the highest levels and never fail to impress with their never give up play. 

 Since then a generational change has been in progress within the Australian team, with the 2005 team being all Australian born. Many of the younger players in the team for Sweden have only ever played handball in Australia. Several have reversed the previous story of former European players being the backbone of Australian teams by travelling to Europe and playing in the European leagues.