The North Coast railway line enters the locality from the south immediately to the west of the highway but then veers to the east in order to pass through the town, after which the railway veers back towards the highway but does not rejoin it within the locality.

There is a network of cane tramways to deliver the harvested sugarcane to the Mulgrave Sugar Mill in Gordonvale.

[4] The town name is a corruption of the Yidinji word "Ngalumba", indicating hard milkwood tree (Alstonia muelleriana).

It was a snowball march to recruit men into the Australian Imperial Force during World War I at a time when enthusiasm to enlist had waned after the loss of life in the Gallipoli campaign.

The march began at Mooliba with 4 men, passing through Babinda, Aloomba, Gordonvale, and Edmonton, and ending in Cairns 60 kilometres later with 29 recruits.