The valley is bordered to the west by the World Heritage listed Yengo National Park (and Yengo State Forest) and the main road, the convict-built Great North Road (GNR) forms one of the major legs of the Greater Blue Mountains Drive.

The area is home to an abundance of native birds, reptiles and other animals including kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos and wombats and is surrounded by imposing tree-lined mountains.

The traditional custodians of the locality are believed to be the Darkinjung people, though the Awabakal and Wonnarua nations are also mentioned.

There is a vast number of historic Aboriginal sites in the surrounding countryside which is thought to have been used as a ceremonial meeting place as people from hundreds of kilometres visited the area and made their way to Mount Yengo - a place of great significance throughout the ancient nations of eastern Australia.

The establishment, development and significance of the township of Wollombi was directly connected with the construction and importance of the Great Northern Road in the early 19th century.

Major Thomas Mitchell - Surveyor-General - formulated the idea of an inland route to open up transport to regions in northern NSW.

Remnants such as stone culverts, bridges and retaining walls remain, particularly in the area between Wisemans Ferry and Wollombi, and are catalogued and cared for by The Convict Trail Project.

During the years before the GNR was commenced, only a few large land grants (1,000–2,000 acres (405–809 ha)) were allocated along Cockfighter's Creek or the lower Wollombi Brook, to John Blaxland and - Rodd at Fordwich, Heneage Finch at Laguna and Thomas Crawford at Congewai.

Then, on 12 June 1831, the steamship 'Sophie Jane' sailed from Sydney to the port of Morpeth on the Hunter River in eleven and a half hours.

This undermined the economic base of the region and along with overfarming of the land causing a loss of productivity and severe floods removing topsoil, the district entered a period of decline which continues to the present time.

[12] Australia's first Catholic bishop and the first Archbishop of Sydney Rev John Bede Polding rode into Wollombi on horseback to lay the first foundation stone.

[11] Polding bought the stone for 5 pounds near Cunnenn's Bridge on the Wollombi Brook with mass beginning in 1843.

[11] In 2005 local artist Margaret Ella was commissioned to design and craft a series of windows based on Creation as described in the Book of Genesis.