[2] The river rises at the eastern end of the Spencer Range and flows in a north-easterly direction, eventually discharging into the Arafura Sea south of Bat Island and to the south west of the Aboriginal Community of Maningrida.

[3] The estuary at the river mouth occupies an area of 33.8 square kilometres (13 sq mi) of open water.

[6] It has a mean annual outflow of 3,810 gigalitres (4.983×109 cu yd),[7] The river was named by explorer Phillip Parker King in 1818,[8] who named it after the British Prime Minister, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, otherwise known as Lord Liverpool.

Francis Cadell, following his explorations of 1867–68, as the most likely area in the Top End to succeed as a centre of agriculture and livestock production, and as the site for a capital city.

[9] Less than a year later George Goyder and his 100 men were hard at work, founding the city of Palmerston (present-day Darwin), some 500 km to the west.