Eltham was declared a District on September 26th, 1856, and a Shire on April 6th, 1871, with the boundaries adjusted on May 31st, 1912.

The Municipal Directory of 1914 places the area at 200 square miles, the population at 3,500 and the number of dwellings at 890. There were three ridings, imaginatively named Southern, Northern and Eastern, and despite the nominal name of Eltham, the Shire offices were in Kangaroo Ground (ultimately also the site of the Shire Memorial Tower).

The main townships within the district were shown as Allwood (now Hurstbridge), Christmas Hills, Eltham, Kangaroo Ground, Kinglake, Panton Hill, Nillumbik (now Diamond Creek), Research, Queenstown (now St. Andrews), Steele’s Creek and Tarrawarra.

The Directory of 1919 listed a number of additional towns (which may have been too small to be considered in 1914), the additional areas were Balee (now Wattle Glen), Chiselhurst, Cottle’s Bridge, Hurstbridge, Lower Plenty, Smith’s Gully, Strathewen, Tanck’s Corner (now Yarrambat), Nutfield, Toolangi and Yarra Glen.