It covers an area of approximately 137 square kilometres and comprises the suburbs of Bellfield, Briar Hill, Eaglemont, Eltham, Eltham North, Greensborough, Heidelberg, Heidelberg Heights, Heidelberg West, Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe East, Lower Plenty, Montmorency, North Warrandyte, Plenty, Rosanna, St Helena, Viewbank, Yallambie, Watsonia and Watsonia North; and parts of Bundoora, and Macleod.
Four Legislative Assembly Districts are represented in the Division, namely Ivanhoe, Eltham, Bundoora, and Eildon.
It was first held by Peter Staples, who served as a minister under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
Macklin served as Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party under Simon Crean, Mark Latham and Kim Beazley, as well as a minister under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Kate Thwaites replaced Macklin as Labor's candidate for the area and subsequently won the seat in the 2019 Australian federal election.