Warburton is a resort and tourist resort with 1,946 inhabitants about 75 km east of Melbourne in Victoria (Australia) . The place belongs with 50 other settlements to the 2460 km² rural administrative unit Yarra Ranges Shire , one of the so-called "Eastern Suburbs" of Melbourne.
Until the 1880s the place was called "Upper Warburton". Only then was the original "Warburton" (a gold mining settlement on Mount Little Joe named after the local mining inspector Charles Warburton Carr and previously called "Yankee Jims Creek", whose population declined with the decline in gold production) renamed "Old Warburton" and out the former "Upper Warburton" became today's "Warburton".
Warburton is set amidst the picturesque rolling hills of the Yarra Ranges, with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains; the 1250 m high Mount Donna Buang is snow-covered in winter. The Yarra River , the valley of which is grown for many vines, meanders through the village, and along its banks are hiking trails and picnic areas. Warburton was from 1901 on the railway line from Melbourne to Lilydale, which was closed in 1965; since then the old railway line has been a trail for hikers, cyclists and riders.
The Upper Yarra Dam , about 20 km east of Warburton, completed in 1957, supplies Melbourne with drinking water.