The 332 hectares (820 acres) wetland known as the Scartwater Aggregation is a floodplain upstream from Lake Dalrymple where the river is split into two major channels by Scartwater Hill, a sandstone outcrop, the channels contain two large permanent waterholes.

The Jangga language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Etheridge Shire Council.

[6] The river was named after William Henry Suttor on 7 March 1845 by explorer Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington.

[7][8] The Suttor River Causeway is a stone causeway built across the Suttor River on the Old Bowen Downs Road (today at St Anns Road, Mount Coolon).

[10] St Ann’s was one of the oldest settled portions of the district, by 1935 was downgraded to be an outstation of Yacamunda.