[3][4] The Australian crake was formally described in 1843 by the English ornithologist John Gould and given the binomial name Porzana fluminea.

[3][2][12] While Gould asserted in The Birds of Australia (Gould) that "the sexes present so little difference in colour, that they are only to be distinguished by dissection",[14] it can be noted that the female is slightly smaller and paler than male with a brown stripe across upper lores and more defined white spots on breast and neck.

[10] Immature birds are paler again with white fringed plumage on belly and breast appearing like muted barring.

Chicks have very plumulaceous black feathers with a deep green hue and a distinctive, red blaze to base of upper mandible.

[3] The Australian crake lives in both coastal and inland habitats in freshwater, brackish, marine and terrestrial environments where it prefers densely vegetated areas of marshes, swamps, estuaries and saltmarshes that support lignum, chenopods, rushes and sedges.

[3][16][13][12] Distribution and movement is dependent on water conditions, so following periods of high rainfall, range can extend inland to areas like Alice Springs/Mparntwe.

[10] Densely vegetated areas amongst reeds, on mudflats or in shallow water (below 5 cm in depth) are favoured, where a variety of foods are enjoyed including; aquatic plants, algae, seeds, molluscs, crustaceans, spiders, tadpoles and insects, both adult and larval, in orders including Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera.