These mounds form a spur of the Great Dividing Range where the North West Slopes meet to the Northern Tablelands.

[2] The higher parts of the area often receive a snowfall in the winter, and the highest peak in the range is called Black Jack Mountain at 1,300 metres (4,300 ft).

When Banjo Paterson was born in 1864, the Great North Road was still in poor condition making travel to the New England district for wagon teams very difficult.

His song, The Mighty Moonbi Range, fitted into the truckdriving genre and included spellbinding verses such as, "Big Jim was a timber man with muscles made of steel.

B. H. Martindale, the Commissioner for Internal Communication, in his fourth report in 1860 was able to refer to "2 miles of road at the Moonbi’s Pass which has been greatly improved."