Berwick is 41 kilometres (25 mi) south-east of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Casey. At the 2016 Census, Berwick had a population of 47,674.
It was named by an early leaseholder Robert Gardiner after his birthplace Berwick-on-Tweed in Northumberland.
The town of Berwick was originally part of the Cardinia Creek run. Subdivision started in 1854 and a store, post office, hotel and other businesses were established. Wheat, barley and potatoes were grown, with a flour mill operating for several years. Dairy farming and cheese making later became the main activities. The Berwick Agricultural Society, originally started in 1848 as the Mornington Farmers' Society, is one of the oldest farmers' societies in Victoria.
The area grew with the construction of a coach road between Melbourne and the Gippsland region, the Post Office opening on 18 September 1858.
A quarry opened in 1859 to supply ballast for the railway line along the same route, which opened in 1877, and a spur line was constructed to Berwick railway station to transport the metal. The site of the quarry is now occupied by Wilson Botanic Park. From 1861 until 1902, Berwick was also the headquarters of the Shire of Berwick, originally formed as the Berwick Roads Board.
Poplar trees lining the High Street and on into Beaconsfield were planted as an Avenue of Honour to commemorate the fallen in the First World War. Originally name plaques were supposed to have been mounted at the foot of each tree but this was never carried out, despite the plaques being produced.
Late in the 20th century Melbourne sprawled eastward to Berwick. The surrounding rural land was subdivided becoming a popular destination for first home buyers with the population exploding with new housing developments from the 1990s to the 2000s. Some of the character of the original township has remained.
The Berwick Inn on the corner of High Street and Lyall Road, was licensed at Berwick in 1857 as the Border Hotel. The original one-storey section is now the bar. The two-storey section was added in 1877 as the railway approached. The western section was built later in the century. The first licensee was Robert Bain who owned the town's first store and post office and donated the land on which the shire hall was later built.
The Border Hotel was an important local centre in the early days. Aside from being the first pub on the townsite it was also a stopping place for coaches en route to Gippsland, as it involved climbing the hill in Berwick the horses were watered and rested then they stopped at Beaconsfield over the hill to rest after the climb and descent. Bain was the first secretary of the Berwick Roads Board and its initial meetings were held at the hotel from 1862 to 1865. The first local police court was held at the hotel in 1865 and it also served as a licensing court.
The town's first school, Berwick Primary, was originally established in an old shepherd's hut near the old Berwick hospital in 1857. It was the first school in the Berwick area and school number 40 in Victoria. School buildings were later built on a parcel of land abutting Lyall Rd, between Peel Street and Brisbane Street. The school operated from this site until 2003 when a new school was built in Fairholme Boulevard. Subsequently, the Peel Street site was redeveloped as Pioneer Park, a community open space. The original school buildings were retained during the redevelopment and now operate as a restaurant.
As well as the State School, a Boys' Grammar School operated from 1882 to 1922. St Margaret's Girls' School (originally called Berwick Presbyterian Girls' School) opened in 1920 with Junior boys being admitted during the 1960s. It ceased providing boarding placement in 1978, being one of the first of the St Margaret's Schools in the world to change. Berwick Secondary College and Kambrya College, public high schools, and the Berwick campuses of Beaconhills College and St. Francis Xavier College are located in the suburb of Berwick, Victoria.
Victoria's first academically selective co-educational secondary school, Nossal High School, opened in 2010, and is located on the Federation University campus.
Berwick is also home to the third campus of Haileybury, Melbourne, Victoria, with the campus having been simply named 'Edrington', Berwick Lodge Primary School also opened up in 1990, in the suburb. Berwick Fields Primary School opened in 2006 and has an estimated total of 925 students in May 2019, and around March 2012, the total exceeded 1,000 students. In addition, Berwick is also home to Victoria's first coeducational selective entry school, Nossal High School and a Chisholm Institute providing tafe courses and degrees for domestic and international students.
Brentwood Park Primary school is located on Bemersyde Drive, adjacent to Kambrya College.
In 2017, Federation University moved into the former Monash University and is located at 100 Clyde Rd, Berwick on the former Casey Airfields.
Berwick also has adult education facilities, including Chisholm Institute of TAFE and a sizable campus of Federation University Australia, formerly a Monash University campus until 2017.
Berwick has its own large retailers, including a Woolworths supermarket (Berwick Central), 3 Coles supermarkets (Parkhill Plaza, Eden Rise and Berwick Central) and an Aldi (Eden Rise). Many small shops and businesses are also situated along the shopping precinct on old Princes Highway (Main street of Berwick village). These shops include a selection of restaurants, cafés, and other services including a library, post office & Optometrist (Berwick Optical Centre) which opened in 1979 and is still located in Loveridge Walk. Further south on Clyde Rd is the Eden Rise Shopping Centre which is the largest shopping complex within Berwick. There are a number of car dealerships along the Princes Highway close to Berwick Village and more dealerships on Kangan Drive close to the hospitals.
Berwick has a railway station and bus terminus situated together along Reserve St. Regular trains travel into Melbourne City and out to Pakenham via Beaconsfield and Officer. V-Line trains also transit through Berwick from the city to Warragul and beyond. Due to a restricted bus infrastructure, Berwick is a fairly car-dependant suburb, with 77.7% of people using a car to travel to work, compared to the Victorian average of 68.3%. The Monash Freeway transits through Berwick taking traffic from the City & Inner Eastern Suburbs out to Warragul, Morwell, Traralgon, Sale, Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance. Work began in late 2020 to remove the level crossing that crosses Clyde Road adjacent to Enterprise Avenue.
Berwick currently has 2 hospitals, Casey Public Hospital[9] which is in the process of being extended, with a second St. John of God Berwick Private Hospital, opposite Casey Hospital on Kangan Drive. There are other clinics in the suburb making it mostly self sufficient for all medical needs of the residents.
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League and an Association football team called Berwick City Football Club.
The town also has a successful cricket club known as the "Wickers" and later changed to the Berwick Bears that compete in the DDCA competition and a tennis club that competes in the BDTA (Berwick & District Tennis Association).
Golfers play at the Montuna Golf Club at Guys Hill approximately 5 km from Berwick Village.
There is also Little Athletics at Edwin Flack Reserve.
Berwick Badminton is open to the public for those who are interested in the sport.
The Berwick Leisure Centre, 79 Manuka Road, is a space inside of the Berwick Secondary College grounds, at which there are Gymnastics running, as well as a Trampolining program. Often, there are other activities, such as karate.
The Hallam Cobras Softball Club Inc have club rooms at Sweeney Reserve, Melzak Way, Berwick