Many freshwater soaks exist along the banks of the river that acted as popular camp-sites.

The Young river is thought to be the boundary between two Aboriginal peoples, the Wudjaarri in the west and the Nyungarra to the east.

John Septimus Roe, the Surveyor General, named the river after the Governor of South Australia while on expedition in the area in 1835.

[3] Since the 1950s it is estimated that approximately 60% of the land has been cleared in the Young River catchment area for agricultural purposes.

The Department of the Environment installed four gauging stations along the river, the first in 1970, to measure discharge and water quality.