[1] Formed by the confluence of a series of waterways including the Fish Creek in the Port Musgrave Aggregation estuarine wetlands, the Pennefather River flows due west, joined by the Turtle Creek from the north and Dingo Creek from the south, before emptying into the Gulf of Carpentaria south of Mapoon.

[2] At its widest point, the river is approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide.

The Yupanguthi language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Shire of Cook.

[4] The river mouth was a site of the first recorded landfall in Australia by a Dutch explorer, by Willem Janszoon in 1606.

[5] Janszoon named it R. met het Bosch ("River with the Forest").