The western part of the locality, near where the Kings Highway runs close to Currowan Creek below Clyde Mountain, the largely forested and hilly central area, and the eastern part adjacent to the right bank of the Clyde River.

[9] Closer to the river mouth, it was Nelligen that was chosen to become the terminus of the new road connection to the Southern Tablelands and the port town on the Clyde.

[10] Although the Clyde follows a meandering course upstream of Nelligen, it was navigable to Currowan and the town had a stone wharf, plenty of flat land and a good water supply.

[11][12] The absence of a road connection from the Braidwood district to Currowan remained an obstacle to its growth as a port,[13][12][14] and the floods of 1860 showed that the town's site was flood-prone.

[15] Even so, Currowan remained a minor landing place that allowed easier access than Nelligen to gold mines in the district.

[17] The most significant period of quartz reef mining activity in the area seems to have begun in earnest around 1890.

The people living there had employment, at times, cutting sleepers and stripping wattle bark (for tanning), and three acres of land were under cultivation for maize and vegetables.

[43] The locality gave its name to one of the disastrous bushfires of the 2019-2020 Australian summer, the Currowan fire.

It broke out at Currowan on 26 November 2019 and, over 74 days and after merging with other fires—some of which were caused by the main fire spreading beyond erstwhile containment lines—it burnt 499,621 hectares (1,234,590 acres), destroyed 312 homes, and damaged another 173.

It took three human lives and also killed countless wild animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.