It is located in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including Blind Bight, Botanic Ridge, Cannons Creek, Clyde, Cranbourne, Devon Meadows, Hampton Park, Junction Village, Lynbrook, and Warneet; and parts of Clyde North, Lyndhurst, Narre Warren South, Pearcedale and Tooradin.

[1] The division was created in the 1969 redistribution, and is named after Harold Holt.

Holt was a long-serving minister under successive governments led by Robert Menzies.

Its most prominent members include Michael Duffy and Gareth Evans.

Both served as ministers under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, though Evans was a Senator during that period.