Gunalda is a rural village on the Bruce Highway, 25 km north of Gympie. Originally known as Keelar, the village was renamed formally in 1923 after the railway station. The Gunalda Range is east of the town.
Glenwood, a rural locality on the Bruce Highway, is seven km north-east of Gunalda. It has a State primary school (1918), but the origin of its name is apparently unrecorded.
In 1881 a government primary school was opened and the Gympie to Maryborough railway began operation. Within a decade there was a community of farmers and selectors, a Church of England and a station master who also looked after postal services. Farmers began dairying - about a quarter did so by 1910 - and increasingly went into fruit growing by the late 1920s. There were also a few teamsters who brought logs to the Miva sawmill. The Gunalda Hotel is thought to date from 1918.
Dairy farming has given way to beef grazing, and in recent times Gunalda's proximity to Gympie has brought about rural/residential living. Gunalda has a general store, a rural supplies outlet, the hotel, the primary school and a kindergarten.
Census populations have been:
| Census Date | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Gunalda | Glenwood | |
| 1911 | 171 | - |
| 1933 | 348 | 39 |
| 2006 | 574 | 934 |
| 2011 | 419 | 1259 |
