[2] It is 96 kilometres (60 mi) east of Bourke and west of Walgett on the Kamilaroi Highway, and 787 km from Sydney.

[3] Other towns and villages in the Brewarrina district include: Goodooga, Gongolgon, Weilmoringle and Angledool.

The town is located amid the traditional lands of the Muruwari, Ngemba, Weilwan and Yuwaalaraay peoples.

This opened the possibility of developing the town as a port, and by the early 1860s Brewarrina was recognised as the furthest navigable point on the Darling River.

On 15 December 1914, Wandering Jew was lost due to a fire on Barwon River, Brewarrina.

[12] "The Wandering Jew represents an earlier maritime era and provides a direct link to the riverine heritage of Brewarrina.

The number of people moving through the town at this time would have been considerable and would have given rise to the increase in stores and hotels.

[11] The impetus for Brewarrina bridge, was to capture the New South Wales wool trade from the river paddle steamers and direct it away from Melbourne and Adelaide to Sydney.

[19] Brewarrina was used as a location for the Australian silent film Moora Neya, or The Message of the Spear (1911).

[23] This came a few days after the announcement by Prime Minister Bob Hawke of a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, on 10 August 1987.

[26][27] Yetta Dhinnakkal Centre, a minimum-security outdoor prison for young Indigenous men that ran an award-winning program,[28] opened in 2000 and closed in 2020.

Although often referred to as Brewarrina jail or prison, it was situated about 65 km (40 mi) south at Gongolgon.

It is believed that Ngemba, Wonkamurra, Wailwan and Gomolaroi people have shared and maintained the traps for thousands of years.

[7][35][36] Brewarrina Ngemba Billabong has been declared a World Conservation Union (IUCN) Category V and VI protected area.

[21] The ready availability of fish made Brewarrina one of the great intertribal meeting places of pre-European eastern Australia.

[37] The Brewarrina radar station (29°58′S 146°49′E / 29.96°S 146.81°E / -29.96; 146.81) at the local airport was constructed from July 2020 to provide better weather forecasts for the area and farming community.

Brewarrina also hosted the unique "Surfboat Classic", which attracted a number of Surf Life Saving Clubs from the New South Wales Coast.

This was celebrated by a week long festival which included: Brewarrina Race Club meeting with over 2000 attendees, Bre Big Fish Competition, street parade and carnival, film festival, historical exhibitions, black tie ball, fireworks display, flower and cake show, as well as a number of celebratory sporting fixtures including rugby league and rugby union exhibition matches, clay target shooting and bowling competition.