The Molonglo River has its source in the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia in the state of New South Wales. It flows from south to north before turning northwest, through the outskirts of the New South Wales town of Queanbeyan and continues through the nations federal capital city of Canberra where it has been dammed to form Lake Burley Griffin. It then flows on to empty into the Murrumbidgee River to the northwest of Canberra.