[1] The region corresponds generally to the Bureau of Meteorology forecast area for the Northern Tablelands which in this case includes Inverell although it is significantly lower in elevation.

The formation of the Great Dividing Range has resulted in a wide variety of soil types being located on the Northern Tablelands.

The Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is also accessible via Waterfall Way east of Armidale and south of Hillgrove.

The coastal flowing Clarence, Macleay and Manning, rivers have their headwaters on eastern escarpment of the Tableland.

[6] The high elevation of the tablelands means cool summers (rarely over 32 °C) but winters are cold with occasional snowfalls and many frosty mornings.

Winter minimums can go as low as -10 °C around Armidale, Guyra, Woolbrook and Walcha regions during frosty mornings, but this usually results in clear sunny days.

Edward Gostwych Cory, who was displaced from his runs by the Australian Agricultural Company, came over the Moonbi Range and settled at Gostwyck, near Uralla.

Soon others followed, seeking new lands away from the influence of the Australian Agricultural Company, which dominated resources in the Hunter valley, and settled around the present Armidale district.

Squatters soon settled the tablelands with their large sheep runs before Glen Innes and Tenterfield were surveyed in 1851.

[10] Captain Thunderbolt the famous bushranger (Frederick Wordsworth Ward, 1836–1870) who escaped from Cockatoo Island came to the Northern Tablelands, where he robbed properties, mail coaches and hotels in the region.

[19] Some rare Hillgrove gum trees (Eucalyptus michaeliana) may be seen growing along the Long Point Road and the Big Lease, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.

The endangered Hastings River mouse (Pseudomys oralis) is restricted in distribution to the upland open forests and woodlands around Werrikimbe National Park and south-east Queensland.

[20] Other endangered species that may be seen on the Northern Tablelands include the brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) which lives in isolated sections of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.