Camberwell received its name as a result of an early settler being reminded of the way three roads intersected in the south London district of Camberwell. The development that followed was a product of the expansion of Melbourne’s suburban rail network in the 1880s.
The Prospect Hill area is adjacent to the railway station and is the oldest part of the suburb. The original subdivision was relatively generous blocks, which were quickly filled with fine Victorian and Edwardian houses. Due to its hilly topography, many east-west streets in the Prospect Hill area have an excellent view of Melbourne’s Central Business District. Its main commercial centre developed along Burke Road from its railway station to Camberwell Junction, 500m to the south. Several tram routes converge on this point.
Though the area was originally agricultural, Camberwell is now one of the most well-established of Melbourne’s affluent suburbs. It is part of the City of Boroondara, the local government area with the lowest socio-economic disadvantage index in Australia. There is almost no industrial land in Camberwell, and commercial uses are concentrated near the Burke Road precinct, which has long been one of the busiest in suburban Melbourne.