Unlike many other Australian robins, it lacks bright colours in its plumage, being a predominantly greyish bird with white underparts.

The white-breasted robin was first described by the French naturalists Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard in 1830 as Muscicapa georgiana,[3][a] taking its name from the site King George Sound, where the authors had collected specimens.

[2] Australian amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews described a paler specimen from Warren River as a distinct subspecies warreni,[7] though this was not recognised subsequently.

[14] Gould had called it 'white-bellied robin' in 1848, and other terms used included grey-breasted or white-breasted shrike-robin from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

[18] The white-breasted robin is found in Western Australia south from Geraldton to the southwest corner of the continent.

In the main southern part of its range, it is found in an area bounded by Jarrahdale and Woorooloo on or east of the Darling Scarp, and south-east to Beaufort Inlet.

[19] The white-breasted robin is a cooperative breeder; breeding pairs are often assisted by one or more helper birds that help to raise young.

The nest is a neat cup made of dry grass, bark, and spider webs, generally located in a tree-fork in dense scrub, close to a watercourse.