The river rises on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, in Tallaganda State Forest at 1130 meters and flows generally from south to north before turning northwest, through Carwoola and the outskirts of Queanbeyan, where it has confluence with its major tributary, the Queanbeyan River, and then continues through Canberra, where it has been dammed by the Scrivener Dam to form Lake Burley Griffin.