[1] The river's name came to some prominence when the French merchant ship Montebello went aground near the Stunsailboom Station in the early hours of Sunday, 18 November 1906.

Increasingly stronger lines followed and a flying fox was established between a large boulder on the shore and the mizzen mast of the stricken ship.

Here they were almost immediately found by local lad Percy May, a wallaby trapper, who happened to be passing while delivering a letter to one of the two Tilka sisters, Carlina and Christina, on Stunsailboom Station.

The Tilka Sisters looked after the sailors while Percy May made a dramatic 160-kilometre (100 mi) journey on horseback, that required swimming two rivers, to raise the alarm in the town of Kingscote.

[5] Several landmarks remain today as evidence of the wreck including the Stunsail Boom River Station shearing shed that is fabricated from original timbers which bear marks of marine origin, notably their rounded edges and bleached appearance; and also remains of the Montebello's steam boiler are wedged between granite rocks on the foreshore at Shelly Beach, the first of several small coves on the inhospitable southern coast to the west of the river mouth.