Today, the Yarra mouth including Swanson and Appleton docks are used for container shipping by the Port of Melbourne, which is the busiest on the continent. Industrialisation ultimately led to the destruction of the marshlands at the confluence of the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers in the area around Coode Island in West Melbourne. The catchment's upper reaches are also affected by logging.

Widening and dams, like the Upper Yarra Reservoir have helped protect Melbourne from major flooding. Beginning with the Victorian gold rush it was extensively mined, creating the Pound Bend Tunnel in Warrandyte, and the Big and Little Peninsula Tunnels above Warburton. The first of many crossings of the Yarra River to facilitate transport was built in Princes Bridge. The course has been progressively disrupted and the river widened in places. The landscape of the river has changed dramatically since 1835. The river was utilised primarily for agriculture by early European settlers. Originally called Birrarung by the Wurundjeri, the current name was mistranslated from another Wurundjeri term in the Boonwurrung language Yarro-yarro, meaning 'ever-flowing'. Shortly after the arrival of European settlers, land clearing forced the remaining Wurundjeri people into neighbouring territories and away from the river. The river has been a major food source and meeting place for Indigenous Australians for thousands of years. From its source in the Yarra Ranges, it flows 242 kilometres (150 mi) west through the Yarra Valley which opens out into plains as it winds its way through Greater Melbourne before emptying into Hobsons Bay in northernmost Port Phillip Bay.

The lower stretches of the Yarra are where Victoria's state capital Melbourne was established in 1835, and today metropolitan Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches. The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, ( Kulin languages: Berrern, Birr-arrung, Bay-ray-rung, Birarang, Birrarung, and Wongete ) is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.

Gardiners Creek, Glass Creek, Koonung Creek, Mullum Mullum Creek, Andersons Creek, Jumping Creek, Olinda Creek, Woori Yallock Creek, Hoddles Creek, Little Yarra River, Starvation Creek Maribyrnong River, Moonee Ponds Creek, Merri Creek, Darebin Creek, Plenty River, Diamond Creek, Steeles Creek, Watts River, Badger Creek, Don River, Cement Creek, O'Shannassy River

What does dredged in flower mean