[3] It flows westward down the valleys and across Aerodrome Plain where they turn south west forming braided channels.

From source to mouth, the river is joined by twelve tributaries and descends 119 metres (390 ft) over its 332-kilometre (206 mi) course.

[5] Vegetation across the catchment area is speargrass savannah dominated by stringybark, bloodwoods and Moreton Bay ash.

Along the river banks and tributaries there are open stands of paperbarks and dense riparian rainforest.

[6] The river was named c. 1886 by Frank Johnston, the manager of Koolata cattle station, after his wife Alice.