[2] The headwaters of the river rise at the western end of China Wall on the Barkly Tableland,[3] in the Northern Territory and head in a south easterly direction.

The river then heads due east and crosses the border into the northwest region of Queensland near Nudjabarra across mostly uninhabited plains.

[7] The traditional owners of the area are the Yukulta / Ganggalidda[8] Waanyi, Maga-Kutana, Wakabunga, Nguburinji and Mingin peoples who have inhabited the region for thousands of years.

[11] The explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, passed through the area during his 1845 overland expedition from Moreton Bay in Queensland to Port Essington in the Northern Territory.

In his diary Leichhardt wrote that Nicholson's "generous friendship had not only enabled me to devote my time to the study of the natural sciences, but to come out to Australia...".