The modern town of Evandale was founded as Honeysuckle Banks by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who camped on the riverbank below the current site of Evandale when passing through the region in 1811. At this stage the only settler in the region was David Gibson, who received a grant of land in 1809 at Pleasant Banks 4 km upstream and across the river. He built a two-story wooden house in 1817 that survived as the oldest house in the region until it was burned down in 1915.