[1] The division was created in 1937, and was named in honour of Alfred Deakin, who served as Prime Minister of Australia on three non-consecutive occasions from 1903 to 1910.

Vermont South includes Pin Oak Court, the cul-de-sac used as the filming location for Ramsay Street in the television soap opera Neighbours.

Also part of the division's boundaries are the nearby Nunawading Studios, where other scenes for the show have been shot.

Prior to the 2013 federal election it was the second most marginal Labor Party seat in Australia.

At the time of the 2022 Australian federal election, approximately 10% of the electorate's population possessed Chinese ancestry.