The history of the Australia Fed Cup team dates back to the first ever Federation Cup in 1963.
1963–1971: Early dominance Australia was one of sixteen nations that competed in the first Fed Cup competition in 1963, at Queen's Club in London. The first team consisted of doubles and singles Grand Slam winner and World No. 1 Margaret Smith, Australian Open singles finalist and doubles winner Jan O'Neill, and multi-Grand Slam winner Lesley Turner. It was also captained by Nell Hall Hopman, who was also a major tennis player and one of the key campaigners for the tournament's introduction. As a result of their eminent team, the Australians were able to defeat the Belgians, Hungarians and South Africans all without losing a rubber to reach the final against the United States. In the final, Smith defeated multi-Grand Slam winner Darlene Hard in straight sets, 6–0, 6–3, to win the first rubber. However, Turner was unable to beat doubles Grand Slam champion Billie Jean Moffitt, and Smith and Turner were defeated in doubles by Moffitt and Hard, meaning the Americans won their first tournament.
However, the Australians were able to enact their revenge by defeating the Americans and winning the next two titles at Philadelphia in 1964 and Melbourne in 1965. However, Smith retired before the 1966 tournament to marry Barry Court and start a family. This meant that the team, without the services of their most prolific player, was unable to reach the final of the next two tournaments: losing to West Germany in 1966 and Great Britain in 1967. However, Court returned to tennis and the Fed Cup team in 1968 where she, with the sole assistance of top 10 player and doubles Grand Slam winner Kerry Melville, was able to win the Cup while only dropping one rubber to South Africa. Their form continued to 1969; with the addition of Wimbledon finalist and multiple doubles Grand Slam winner Judy Tegart, they were able to reach the final against the United States. Though they lost 1–2, Tegart teamed up with doubles Grand Slam champion Karen Krantzcke to win the 1970 tournament, while Court teamed up with Lesley Hunt and then up-and-coming player Evonne Goolagong to win the 1971 Federation Cup on Australian soil without losing a rubber. This meant that Australia had surpassed the United States to hold the record at that time for most Fed Cup titles, with five.
1972–1980: Eight consecutive finals The 1971 Federation Cup, which took place in December 1970, transpired to be Court's last. Thus Goolagong, who had by 1972 reached the top 10 and won two Grand Slams in singles and one in doubles, took over to become Australia's most prolific player. While in 1972, when the team consisted of Goolagong, French Open finalist Helen Gourlay, and Hunt, they only managed a semifinal finish, they won the title in 1973 with Goolagong, Patricia Coleman and Janet Young, and in 1974 with Goolagong, Dianne Fromholtz and Young while only losing one tie in total.
In 1975, Australia once again reached the final with the team of Goolagong, Fromholtz and Gourlay. However, they were defeated by Czechoslovakia, 0–3, with Renáta Tomanová and Martina Navratilova overcoming them in only 36 games. Melville returned to the team in 1976 under her married name of Reid and she, alongside Goolagong (who reached the World No. 1 ranking for two weeks) and Fromholtz sent Australia to the final for the fourth consecutive time. They were still unable to claim their eighth title, nevertheless; on this occasion they were defeated by their old rivals from the United States, World No. 5 and successful doubles player Rosemary Casals and Moffitt, then known as Billie Jean King, who had become one of the most efficacious players of all time. After this tournament Goolagong left the Fed Cup team for a while, leaving it in the hands of Fromholtz, Reid and Top 10 player Wendy Turnbull. This team made four more consecutive final appearances for the Australian team, but in every one of them they were defeated by the Americans, mainly due to the presence of Casals and King alongside World No. 1 players Chris Evert and Tracy Austin. In 1979 the Americans surpassed the Australian record of most Fed Cup titles with eight, a record which stands to the present day.
1981–1991: Gradual decline In 1981, Australia's streak of consecutive finals was broken when they were defeated in the semifinals by the British team of Sue Barker and Virginia Wade. The Australians once again failed to reach the final in 1982, when they were defeated by West Germany in the semifinals, and in 1983 when they were defeated in the quarterfinals by Switzerland; marking the first time in Fed Cup history when the Australians failed to reach the last four.
In 1984, however, the Australian team once again reached a final with a new team composed of Turnbull, sisters and junior champions Anne and Elizabeth Minter, and mixed doubles champion Elizabeth Sayers. They defeated their rivals from West Germany and United States in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, but were once again unable to defeat the Czechoslovak team, this time composed of Helena Suková and Hana Mandlíková, in the final. Nevertheless, this success did not last, as the team was beaten in the semifinals the following year (by United States) and from then on for three consecutive years only be able to make quarterfinal appearances (being defeated by Czechoslovakia in 1986, Bulgaria in 1987 and West Germany in 1988).
In the Year-End rankings of 1987, Australia for the first time had no players within the singles Top 20, and in 1988 had only one player, Anne Minter, within the Top 30. These results transpired into their Fed Cup performance, where despite a semifinal showing in 1989, they had their earliest finishes in 1990 and 1991, when the team was defeated in the second round. On both occasions the highest ranked player in the side was below the Top 35.
1992–1994: Momentary return to success Despite the decline, the Australian team had a brief spurt of renewed success in 1992 and 1993, mainly due to Top 50 singles and accomplished doubles player Nicole Provis. In 1992, the team was able to defeat Bulgaria in the first round despite the appearance of Top 20 singles players Katerina Maleeva and Magdalena Maleeva, and Austria in the second round in spite of another Top 20 singles player in Judith Wiesner also being present. This set up a quarterfinal tie against the Czechoslovaks, who were accompanied by Top 20 singles player Helena Suková and Jana Novotná, one of the most consistent singles players and greatest doubles players of all time. While Rachel McQuillan lost to Suková in three sets, Provis was able to cause two upsets by defeating Novotná in singles, and doubles alongside Rennae Stubbs both in straight sets. This led to the Australians proceeding to their first semifinal since 1985. However, they were defeated in the next round by celebrated all-round players Conchita Martínez and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, as well as future doubles World No. 1 Virginia Ruano Pascual from Spain.
1993 saw an ever greater level of success for Australia, despite a daunting first round draw against the defending champions from Germany. Anke Huber easily defeated Elizabeth Smylie in straight sets to bring a 1–0 lead to the Germans, but after that Provis, then ranked No. 28 in singles, caused a massive upset by defeating World No. 1 and thirteen-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf in three sets. Prior to the rubber, Graf had met Provis four times, each time defeating her in straight sets, and had never lost a Fed Cup tie. While Graf had been struggling with an aching shoulder at the time, the match is still remembered as one of the greatest in Australian Fed Cup history, and Provis' career-best win. Following the win, Smylie and Stubbs ended up beating Huber and Barbara Rittner in doubles to ultimately defeat the Germans and create the first ever first-round loss for a defending champion in Fed Cup history.
The Australians then accumulated two more easy wins by defeating Denmark in the second round and Finland in the quarterfinals without losing a rubber. This led to a second consecutive semifinal appearance, and a tie against Argentina. The Argentinians and Australians split the singles, with Provis rallying to a three set victory over Florencia Labat, while Smylie and Stubbs won the doubles and lead their team to a 2–1 victory. This caused the Australians to unexpectedly reach their first final since 1984, and set up a tie once against the Spaniards. They were, however, comprehensively defeated once again by Martínez and Sánchez Vicario, respectively ranked No. 6 and No. 3 in singles, 0–3.
The Australians nevertheless failed to repeat their achievements in 1994. Provis left tennis that year to marry basketballer Mark Bradtke, meaning that she was replaced by Top 50 singles player Kristine Radford. Radford did not perform well at the tournament, losing all of her matches. Consequently, Australia only scraped a first round victory over Latvia thanks to wins from McQuillan in singles and Smylie and Stubbs in doubles, and were beaten in the second round by Austria. Australia thus had to contend with their third Round-of-16 defeat in five years.
1995–1999: World Group II In 1995, after the format of the Fed Cup was changed to try and mirror the success that the Davis Cup had with theirs, and to provide the nations with more opportunities to play on their home soil, Australia competed in World Group II. Provis rejoined the team with McQuillan and Stubbs as the newly married Nicole Bradtke. They were drawn against Slovakia and scheduled to play in Perth. Despite McQuillan losing both of her singles matches to Karina Habšudová and Radka Zrubáková, Bradtke was able to defeat both in singles and in doubles alongside Stubbs, meaning Australia progressed to the first World Group play-offs.
The Australians were drawn against Argentina in San Miguel for their Play-off to decide which team would enter the World Group. The same team that defeated the Slovaks were sent to Argentina for the tie, but they were defeated, 0–5, by Gabriela Sabatini, Florencia Labat and Inés Gorrochategui. The Australians thus fell back to World Group II for 1996.
1996 saw the Australians lose their World Group II tie to the Netherlands after McQuillan and Stubbs lost all their singles rubbers. They avoided relegation to Zonal Competition, however, by defeating the Canadians, 3–2, in the first ever comeback from 0–2 in Fed Cup history.
1997 saw the retirement of Bradtke after a shoulder injury, which meant that Australia hit a low in women's tennis after regularly lacking more than one team in the Top 100. However, despite never making the World Group, they also avoided regulation to zonal competition in 1997 and 1998. Annabel Ellwood and Kerry-Anne Guse joined the team alongside McQuillan and Kristine Kunce (née Radford), and while they had a victory over South Africa which included an upset of Top 15 player Amanda Coetzer on behalf Top 120 player McQuillan, they could not defeat Spain in the World Group play-offs, despite playing on home soil, and thus did not achieve an opportunity to win the Fed Cup in the World Group. The team suffered more ill fortune in their next tie when Guse and McQuillan could not defeat the Russians in singles at Perth, despite the opponents not having their top players World No. 16 Anna Kournikova and World No. 37 Elena Likhovtseva and thus were relegated to their second World Group II play-offs.
Their tie, drawn against Argentina and held at Canberra, featured a return of McQuillan and Guse but also a debut of Nicole Pratt and junior star Jelena Dokic. The new team performed brilliantly, as Dokic and Pratt won all their singles matches and Guse and McQuillan handily won their doubles match. This allowed Australia to play in World Group II for the fifth consecutive year, the only country to do so.