Quamby Bluff lies 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Deloraine by road, just north of the main escarpment of the Great Western Tiers mountain range.

[5] Daniel Bunce in his 1859 book of memoirs postulated that the name was derived from an incident where a British colonist in the area aimed his gun at an Indigenous Tasmanian.

[6] The Tasmanian central plateau was uplifted from the lower Meander Valley, most probably in the Eocene epoch though possibly earlier, forming the escarpment of the Great Western Tiers.

The face of the tiers has been eroded and retreated approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) since then, leaving Quamby Bluff as a solitary outlier.

Due to its prominence and isolation, views from the top cover a large portion of Northern Tasmania.

[1] In the right conditions Mount Strzelecki on Flinders Island, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) distant, can be seen from the peak.

Erosion has formed the dolerite into steep cliffs and scree slopes which dominate the top of the mountain.

[15] There are caves south of Meander, in the Great Western Tiers, with deposits showing aboriginal habitation, though these have not been dated.

[16] They maintained cleared grassy plains by regular careful burning, and used this method also to control undergrowth in the forests.

[17] Over an 18 Day period in July, 1827, 100 Indigenous Pallittorre people were massacred by Corporals William Shiner and James Lingren from 40th Regt; stockmen Thomas Baker, James Cubit, Henry Smith and William White in response to the killing of three stockmen.

There are scattered king billy pines (Athrotaxis selaginoides) on southern slopes, indicating long periods between bushfires.

Other sections contain mixed forest containing stringybark, myrtle, sassafras and dogwood (Pomaderris apetala), with a silver wattle (Acacia dealbata) understorey.

[25] The mountain lies within a forest reserve, listed on the Australian Register of the National Estate, declared on 15 December 1982.