Balwyn is in the Local Government Area of the City of Boroondara.

The suburb developed in the post WWII boom and was populated by a mixture of professional and working class families, although it is now primarily professional and mercantile, this being the demographic that can afford the higher real estate prices. The initial boom occurred along the Whitehorse Road tramline, which defined the lower class Deepdene factory (such as the Wade handbag and the Jarvis-Walker fishing rod factories) and shop strip and the Balwyn shops around the intersection with Burke Road.

South of the tramline was generally elite while the slopes down to the north was populated by aspiring middle classes, workers and frugal professionals such as teachers and bank managers. With Deepdene State School at its Western extreme, it drew a mixed student population that contrasted with the student population of Balwyn High School located in the area that became known as North Balwyn, which was populated later than the rest of the suburb by a more uniformly comfortably-off demographic.

Balwyn is also home to the Maranoa Gardens, a native garden developed by citizens. The suburb has been immortalised by the Skyhooks single named after the suburb, 'Balwyn Calling'.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Balwyn".