To the east of present-day Middleborough Road, much of the land was initially not very attractive to European squatters for settlement and parts were mostly covered with open forests, consisting of Red Stringybark, Red Box, Long Leaf Box, Candlebark and Manna Gum.

[4] Highbury Park contains some of the few remaining stands of remnant vegetation, including the locally uncommon Shiny Wallaby-grass (Austrodanthonia induta).

[8] However little more than thirty years later, the last of the orchards located in East Burwood had been ripped up or relocated in one case, to Bacchus Marsh.

It was the first 24-hour Kmart store and proved very popular with locals, frustrated with the limited shopping hours on offer at the time.

The site of the Tally Ho Business Park and its surrounds was previously occupied by the Tally Ho Boys' Home, which was established on land provided at a reduced price to the Methodist Church by Abel Hoadley, the inventor of the Violet Crumble chocolate bar.

Opposite the hotel a primitive racecourse was constructed,[17] and although the roads were considered in poor repair, activities there attracted large crowds.

The Tally Ho Boys Home was established nearby by the Wesley Mission of the Methodist Church in 1902.

The State Government has declared the Burwood Heights area as a 'Major Activity Centre' because of the easy access to public transport, current uses and the potential for significant development.

In March 2008 Whitehorse Council approved a development plan that will see housing for up to 1000 residents at the old brickworks site in East Burwood.

[21] The development will comprise over 25,000sqm of retail floorspace, multiscreen cinemas, up to 700 dwellings, leisure and entertainment and community facilities, all based around "main street" retail/entertainment precinct and urban plaza.

[23] The centre aims to meet the Living Building Challenge requirements, in terms of having zero carbon footprint, no waste, non toxic materials, growing 20% of the food used, and net generation of electricity and water,[24] aimed to be what the developer describes as "the most sustainable shopping centre in the world".

[25] Despite this, in July 2022, ABC News reported that the Brickworks establishment had been given approval to allow untreated stormwater to run into Gardiners Creek.

[26] Environmentalist Karin Traeger has expressed concerns that this decision will result in more pollution ending up in Gardiners Creek, and consequently the Yarra River.