[8] Shells, sea urchins, crabs, foraminifera, remains of whales, sharks, rays and dolphins, and also birds and marsupials, dating back to the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene (12 to 6 million years ago) can be found, and have been the subject of a number of papers.

[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The Bunurong (or Boon Wurrung) peoples of the Kulin nation lived along the Eastern coast of Port Philip Bay for over 20,000 years before white settlement.

[19] Visible evidence of their shell middens and hand-dug wells remain along the cliffs of Beaumaris,[20][21] but by the 1850s most withdrew to the Mordialloc Aboriginal Reserve established in 1852, and after the 1860s, to Coranderrk.

[25] The first Cheltenham settlers, Stephen and Mary Ann Charman, donated land in 1854 that was the first cemetery of the area, established in the churchyard of the small timber Wesleyan Church at the western corner of what is now Balcombe Road and Bickford Court.

Everest Le Page, Moorabbin Councillor and Cheltenham resident, believing that the previous burial sites may not have been relocated following the closure of the church, argued unsuccessfully against sub-division and seven lots of land were sold and houses built there.

Researcher Shirley Joy was unable to find evidence in 1998 that the church burials at the site had been relocated prior to the subdivision and development of the land [27] Responding to her efforts Mayor of Bayside, Cr Graeme Disney, had a commemorative bronze plaque set into the footpath at the corner of Balcombe Road and Bickford Court, Beaumaris.

In both 1913 and 1914, proposals were put forward for an electric tramway from Sandringham to Black Rock but using an inland route to preserve the visual amenity of the coastal reserves.

[40] In November 1914, an Act enabled this tramway to be owned and operated by Victorian Railways, on standard gauge to cater for any future connection to the main Melbourne system.

[43][44] As the anticipated residential development did not occur, the 'Bush Tramway', as it came to be known, ran at a heavy loss despite the £2,000 operating subsidy, and exactly five years after opening, the Beaumaris extension closed on 31 August 1931.

In the 1890s, there were proposals to build fenced and netted baths with changing facilities in the sea at Beaumaris, like those at Sandringham and Brighton Beach, and others at Mentone and Mordialloc which were operated by the Shire of Moorabbin.

Support for the idea came in 1896 from the proprietor of the Beaumaris Hotel Mrs. Finlay, who offered £20 per year for use of the baths by her boarders free of charge, and John Keys, the Shire Secretary and Engineer envisaged additional income to the council of £15 from its lease.

Charles Keefer was ultimately successful in his bid for £105 to build, with additional rooms, the structure planned for a site beneath the cliffs east of Beaumaris Hotel, and it was he who was accepted to lease the baths at a rent of £15.

[50] In 1939, Dunlop Rubber Company purchased 180 hectares of land in Beaumaris, intending to build a large factory and model village in an area bounded by Balcombe Rd., Beach Rd., Gibbs St. and Cromer Rd.

[58] Scores of people sheltered in the sea for hours from fierce flames in the cliff-top ti-tree, with many suffering exposure as a result and some with severe burns also contracting pneumonia.

[61] The Premier Albert Dunstan convened a special meeting of Cabinet to consider relief measures and, with Sandringham Lord Mayor Councillor Nettlefold, inaugurated a State-wide appeal.

[63] Most of the "ti-tree tracks" that roughly followed the street grid of Beaumaris remained unmade until the City of Sandringham realigned and surfaced them in asphalt between concrete kerbs in a campaign during 1961–67.

Amongst several others for works in the city and suburbs, the lowest tender at £1055 from Mr George Evans of Ballarat, was publicly accepted in November 1877 by the Education Department for the construction of a brick school at the current site.

Near Ricketts Point, there is a monument commemorating the first encounter of Arthur Streeton and Heidelberg school artists Tom Roberts,[79] and Fred McCubbin who rented a house over the summer of 1886/7.

Michael O'Connell (1898–1976), a British soldier returned from the Western Front, between 1924 and 1926 built Barbizon (named after the French art school), on a bush block in Tramway Parade near Beach Road.

[82] Clarice Beckett (1887–1935) now highly regarded as an original Australian modernist,[83][84] moved with her elderly parents from Bendigo to St. Enoch's, 14 Dalgetty Rd., Beaumaris in 1919 to care for them in their failing health, a duty that severely limited her artistic endeavours so that she could only go out during the dawn and dusk to paint her landscapes.

[23] With rectilinear, box-like volumes and typically small-scale, they were usually single-storey, of light construction on a minimalist plan, with flat or raking roofs, broad eaves supported on timber beams left visible in interiors, and with painted fascias.

[90] He also designed several buildings that were never built, including a remarkable Wright-influenced  clubhouse for the Black Rock Yacht Club and a star-shaped Beaumaris house with a hexagonal module.

Though, like many modernist homes in the district, several of his houses have been demolished since, surviving examples are simpler, more minimalist designs with planar face brick walls and floating flat roofs.

[91] The Norman Edward Brotchie (1929–1991) pharmacy designed in the 1950s by architect Peter McIntyre featured boldly distinctive floor-to-ceiling coloured tile murals.

Brown Evans and Co.) light fittings[92] featured in many houses (particularly those by Robin Boyd) in the 1950s and 60's,[93] while the designer of the famous Planet lamp Bill Iggulden, was a resident of Beaumaris.

An exhibition in 1961 of five women artists including June Stephenson, Sue McDougall, Grace Somerville, Margaret Dredge[98] and Inez Green raised funds for the Art Group.

[99] They continued to meet and exhibit at the Beaumaris State School,[100] before purchasing land and building studios in 1965 designed by local architect C. Bricknell at 84–98 Reserve Rd, which were opened by director of the National Gallery of Victoria, Dr. Eric Westbrook, who also launched the Inez Hutchinson awards in 1966.

K. Davis, operated from 1966[112] until 1979 at 468 Beach Road, near the junction of Keys St., and exhibited paintings, drawings, textiles,[113] woodcraft,[114][115] ceramics,[116][117][118][119][120] jewellery,[121] and graphics[122] by artists including Margaret Dredge, Robert Grieve, Wesley Penberthy, Mac Betts,[123] Kathleen Boyle,[124][125] Colin Browne,[126] Ian Armstrong, Noel Counihan, Wladyslaw Dutkiewicz, David Dridan, Judi Elliot,[127] Vic Greenaway,[116][117][128][129] Tim Guthrie, Ann Graham,[130] Erica McGilchrist,[131] Warren Breninger, Max Middleton,[132] Millan Todd,[133] Douglas Stubbs,[134] Alfred Calkoen,[135] Lynne Cooke, Peter Glass,[136] Noela Hjorth, Bruno Leti, Charles Billich, Barbara Brash, Dorothy Braund, Murray Champion,[137] Peter Jacobs,[138] Marcella Hempel,[113] Kevin Lincoln,[139] Judy Lorraine,[140] Mary MacQueen, Helen Maudsley, Jason Monet,[141] Tim Moorhead,[142] Victor O'Connor, Elizabeth Prior,[143] Anne Judell, Paul King,[144] Nornie Gude, Norman Lindsay, Ailsa O'Connor, Jack Courier, Alan Sumner, Howard Arkley, Alan Watt,[118] Tina Wentcher[145] and William Dargie.

[147][148][101] Other venues more recently have included the Ricketts Point Tea House[149] Beside architects, other creative professionals who were residents of Beaumaris include fashion designers Sally Brown, Linda Jackson, Prue Acton and Geoff Bade; architect and historian Mary Turner Shaw; graphic designers Frank Eidlitz and Brian Sadgrove; flag designer and canvas goods manufacturer Ivor William Evans (1887–1960);[150] journalist and nature writer Donald Alaster Macdonald (1859?–1932) whose memorial is in Donald MacDonald reserve, and whose ideas were continued in 1953 when the Beaumaris Tree Preservation Society (now Beaumaris Conservation Society) was formed to conserve bushland against accelerating land clearances for housing and to encourage planting of indigenous vegetation.

Beaumaris is in the local government area of the City of Bayside and occupies two of its wards since redistributions in 2008; Ebden (west and north),[165] and Beckett (south and east).