It is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south-southwest of the city centre and lies immediately to the north of St Clair, between it and Caversham.

It lies at the northwest corner of a plain that stretches across South Dunedin and St Kilda known locally as "The Flat".

Notable among these is the former Forbury Park Raceway, one of the city's main horse-racing venues, which actually lies in St Kilda.

Prominent features of Forbury include Tonga Park, a sports ground used by Caversham Football Club, and the twin single-sex secondary schools, King's and Queen's.

Prior to European settlement, the area of Forbury was not permanently settled, but several tracking and walking routes crossed The Flat.

The first non-native residents were the Valpys, who arrived in Otago in January 1849, and set up farms along the western edge of The Flat.

The family and their retinue of servants and labourers formed a virtual village close to the northern end of modern St Clair.

Prior to their work, the flat was largely covered with flax and ferns, although their digging produced considerable evidence that the area had once been heavily wooded.

One of Otago's principal quarries, Shiel's Brickmaking, existed close to the cliff to the west of Forbury Road from 1901 until the 1930s.