Rayann El Houli, 34, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, charged with one count of travelling to a declared conflict zone and one count of joining the terrorist organisation Islamic State.
Both offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
The Melbourne woman allegedly travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 before being detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 and held with her family at the al-Hawl detention camp in northeast Syria.
The 34-year-old travelled through Lebanon with her children and another woman and returned in September to Australia, where the family has lived before her arrest and charge on Thursday.
In court, defence lawyer Peter Morrissey SC said a bail application for the woman was a priority, as El Houli watched on in the dock wearing a black niqab and flanked by two custody officers.
He said it had been eight months since she returned with her four children, something that had been flagged with Australian Federal Police and the attorney-general.
"The children are doing well in school, in (sports) programs, doing everything as best they can," Mr Morrissey said.
"And personally she is very much caught up in their lives.
"They too have come from the camps and that's the reason for the haste."
Chief magistrate Lisa Hannan reiterated the high hurdle for bail and described evidence about her case as concerning.
Prosecutor Andrew Sprague told the court investigators were continuing to gather evidence including forensic testing of electronic devices, documents and photographs, phone intercepts and a hard drive that contained five videos, some showing the woman's children singing.
While the videos did not contain graphic material, Mr Morrissey opposed the songs being included in public evidence because El Houli was "very distressed at the prospect of any images or anything shown of the children".
"She suffers significantly from PTSD, and it's a genuine issue for her," he said.Â
El Houli was remanded in custody ahead of her bail hearing on Monday.
Two groups of women and their children returned to Sydney and Melbourne on Tuesday after years of detention in the Al Roj detention camp.
One woman from the group remains in Syria under an exclusion order, which is due to expire in 2028.
Since 2019, seven men and three women have been charged with foreign incursion and terrorism-related offences over their links to Islamic State, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told senate estimates on Thursday.
Another two women have been charged with crimes against humanity and slavery offences relating to alleged incidents in Syria.
This includes three women who were charged on arrival in Sydney and Melbourne in May.
"There are consequences for people's actions, and that is the case, as we have seen, where there are a number of Australian citizens who have been charged with very serious offences," Attorney-General Michelle Rowland told reporters.
The AFP are running eight separate investigations into the families who have returned from camps in Syria or who remain overseas.
"Any perceived delay in charges does not indicate investigations have ceased," Ms Barrett said.
"Today's arrest and charge is a case in point."
The AFP described the cases as "highly complex matters" and said gathering admissible evidence was challenging in conflict zones.
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