Charles Sturt named the river in 1845 after Charles Cooper, the Chief Justice of South Australia. The explorers Burke and Wills died from starvation in 1861 on the banks of Cooper Creek. John King survived the expedition with help from the Aborigines. Only ten years after the explorers' deaths, homesteads were being built along the creek. A station (farm) at Innamincka was the first permanent settlement in the area.