Detrital minerals within Proterozoic basins can be the only extant record of now-denuded crust, thereby giving constraints on paleogeography and subsequent sediment movement. Reconstructing basin histories, however, is critically dependent on identifying potentially exotic far-travelled (allochthonous) versus locally sourced (autochthonous) minerals. Detrital zircon from the Woodline Formation, a component of the Barren Basin, closely match the age and Hf isotopic signatures of the Nornalup, Biranup, and Frazer Zone magmatic suites of the Albany Fraser Orogen (AFO), Western Australia. However, the provenance of some Paleoproterozoic (2300—2000 Ma) zircon age maxima remains unresolved. Such ages are not readily accounted for by known tectonomagmatic activity in the AFO or even wider Western Australian Craton. This study presents in-situ isotopic data (U-Pb & Lu-Hf) and trace element geochemistry for zircon and U-Pb data for apatite collected from unconsolidated cover and siliciclastic rocks of the Woodline Formation. Paleoproterozoic detritus is absent from the unconsolidated material, demonstrating the substantial Pliocene transport of cover atop the Woodline Formation. This disparity may be important to consider as ongoing exploration efforts in the eastern margin of the Yilgarn Craton often analyse unconsolidated regolith to target mineralisation. We present a model of rift architecture during the Mesoproterozoic Biranup Orogeny, whereby an uplifted graben restricted the flow of detritus c. 2 Ga to later basins of the AFO. Based on Hf isotopic signatures, some of our detritus appear to be derived from the recently defined 2030–2010 Ma felsic-igneous Moonyoora Suite; however, time-constrained geochemical data also resolves an earlier ca. 2250 Ma episode of enigmatic rift-related magmatism offering an important glimpse into the earliest stages of rifting on the Yilgarn Craton margin.