The Sturt River catchment area extends over 120 square kilometres (46 sq mi), from Heathfield in the Mount Lofty Ranges, to Glenelg North.

[5] Other important Kaurna campsites were located south of the Sturt-Patawalonga confluence, and at Chambers Gully in Coromandel Valley.

Light's first rough sketch, made in 1836, placed the city on the Sturt River, where the suburb of Marion is now located.

The river is lined with many buildings of historic and cultural value, especially in the Coromandel Valley and Craigburn Farm areas, which mostly date back to the 1850s.

A flood control dam was also constructed in 1965, in the part of the Sturt Gorge Recreation Park which falls in Flagstaff Hill.

Due to urbanisation and agriculture, the Sturt River has suffered a degradation in water quality, biodiversity and visual and recreational value.