A small village at the base of Nooloiga, or Haystack Mountain, Old Bonalbo is quietly nestled between Bonalbo and Urbenville on the Clarence Way. The site of the original Bonalbo village, the “Old” was added to it’s name in the early 1900’s when a new settlement also called Bonalbo was built on the banks of Peacock Creek some thirteen kilometres away.

Old Bonalbo began life in the mid nineteenth century when the first ceder cutters arrived and the some vast landholdings were established. Today none of these sprawling cattle stations remain intact. The emerging villages took the name of the largest landholding, Bunalbo Station, taken up by John McLean in 1840. The name Bunalbo being a corruption of the Githabul word “bunawlbu”’, meaning ‘place of bloodwoods’.

Beef cattle grazing is the main agricultural activity. The Dairy industry, once the major activity of farming families, has undergone many contractions and changes over the years. Currently a number of large efficient dairies operate in the district. Industry deregulation has necessitated increased efficiency and productivity, and an emphasis on a clean and chemical free product.

Evidence of the emerging Upper Clarence Hardwood Timber Plantation industry can be seen around Old Bonalbo. The very first plantation established by NSW State Forests and a landholder as a joint venture project is to be found at Upper Duck Creek. As a result of continued industry restructuring, only two timber mills remain in the Upper Clarence, at Woodenbong and Urbenville. As major employers they are an essential part of the rural community.