The river drains into the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in the Timor Sea from a source just north of the Wombungi homestead.

The area is quite remote and largely unsettled, and the river itself forms the southern boundary of the township of Wadeye.

[4] A total of 16 species of fish are found in the river including the glassfish, Macleay's glassfish, fork-talked catfish, fly-specked hardyhead, mouth almighty, spangled perch, barramundi, oxeye herring, rainbowfish, exquisite rainbowfish, northern trout gudgeon, bony bream, catfish, and the seven-spot archerfish.

It was first charted in 1839 by European explorers aboard HMS Beagle under the command of John Lort Stokes.

In 1977, Australian bushman Rodney Ansell was stuck for months on the river, after his boat capsized in the estuary and he ventured upstream for a source of fresh water.