[1] The area now known as Larbert lies on the traditional lands of Walbanga people,[4] a group of Yuin.

The area was included in the surveying of the colonial lands, carried out under Thomas Mitchell's supervision.

By 1832, the crossing of the Shoalhaven River at Kurraducbidgee was part of the southward continuation of the Great South Road, which in those times forked at Marulan, with one route going to Bungonia and the other to Goulburn.

[9] This forking was in the—ultimately unfulfilled—hope that there would be a route found through the coastal escarpment via Bungonia, while the path through Goulburn headed in the direction of newly occupied grazing areas.

[10] There was once a small village named Larbert, north of the Kings Highway, along modern-day Mayfield Road and alongside the left bank of the Shoalhaven River.

[13][14] The new township site was adjacent to William Ryrie's 2,650 acre landholding Arnprior, near the location where the road crossed the river via a ford.

[17] There was also to be a village on the right bank of the river at the crossing, bearing the earlier name of the area, Kurraducbidgee.

The Wool Road was a failure, and Ryrie turned his attention to the Port Phillip District,[19] reducing Larbert's prospects of growth.

[21] The site lay on a natural floodplain, just upstream from where the topography constricts the width of river valley.

Flood waters could rise very quickly at Larbert—without any prior warning—following rain in the upper part of the Shoalhaven catchment.

[40] However, by September 1868, a local landholder had erected fences across the old road and the mail could no longer be carried via Larbert.

[64] The part of Larbert that lies on the left bank of the Shoalhaven is a quiet locality, with grazing and agriculture the main economic activity.