Wards River rises within Kyle Range of the Great Dividing Range, near Waukivory, south southeast of Gloucester, and flows generally west and south, joined by one minor tributary, before reaching its confluence with Mammy Johnsons River at the locale of Johnsons Creek, north of Stroud. The river descends 334 metres (1,096 ft) over its 31 kilometres (19 mi) course.[3]
First surveyed by European explorers during the 1820s, the river was named in honour of William Ward, a founding director of Australian Agricultural Company.[1]