[3] Abbotsford is bounded by Collingwood, Richmond and Clifton Hill and separated from Kew by the meandering Yarra River.

Dight then further subdivided the land into 5 acre (12 hectare) lots and in 1878 Edwin Trenerry, a Cornwall-based property developer, purchased a large portion of Dight's Paddock for his nephew Fredrick Trenerry Brown and proceeded to further subdivide it for a residential estate.

[citation needed] In order to provide recreational facilities for potential residents and hence boost the value of the lots being offered for sale Fred Brown and solicitor David Abbott created a sports oval and called it Victoria Park in 1879.

[citation needed] Since World War II the area has become quite ethnically diverse, with many Greeks, Italians, Vietnamese, Chinese and more recently Arabs and Africans, making it their home.

A steady stream of migration since the 1980s has made Abbotsford home to Melbourne's largest Vietnamese community.

Abbotsford is home to Carlton & United Breweries, the company which produces Victoria Bitter and Foster's Lager.

Dights Falls, where the Merri Creek and Yarra River converge, is a short walk from the Collingwood Children's Farm.

It is located next to the grounds of the Abbotsford Convent Arts Precinct and a Steiner School, on a bend in the Yarra River.

It is a small-holding, fully functioning working farm with rare breeds of livestock, vegetable gardens and fruit orchards.

Eggs and seasonal produce are for sale, and visitors are encouraged to interact with farm animals through activities such as cow milking.

The former convent itself was also home to the Lincoln Early Childhood Studies Institute and a campus of La Trobe University for a while, but is now the site of a community and arts precinct use after protracted negotiations between developers, the state government and the Yarra City Council.

The Sailors and Soldiers Memorial Hall is an unusual looking free classical building constructed in 1927, on Hoddle Street.

Many terrace houses in Abbotsford remain in a state of disrepair although renovations have steadily increased as the suburb has gentrified.

The most prominent is Denton Hat Mills, a large turn of the century industrial complex designed by architect William Pitt in polychrome brick in 1888.

Hoddle Street is a major busway and includes a dedicated priority bus lane along the length of the Abbotsford section.