The Delatite River rises in Howqua Gap, between the ski resort mountains of Mount Stirling and Mount Buller, of the Great Dividing Range. The river flows generally westwards, initially through rugged national park and state forests and, as the river descends, through more open woodlands. The river is joined by nine tributaries, passing north of the town of Merrijig before reaching its confluence in Lake Eildon, an impoundment formed on the Goulburn and Delatite rivers, just east of Eildon. The river descends 1,230 metres (4,040 ft) over its 85-kilometre (53 mi) course.
Etymology
In Australian Aboriginal languages, the river is variously named Wappang, Callathera, Kalylatherer or Kay-lath-er-rer, Pappang, and Wapping with no defined meanings for each of the words.
The name of the river is derived from the name of the wife of a former local indigenous leader Beolite, the leader of the yowung-illum-baluks of the Taungurung people, in the Taungurung language.