The area of Upwey was originally known as "Mast Gully" as several masts for ships were cut down in the 1850s. To this day, Mast Gully Creek and Mast Gully Road still remain. The Tullidge sisters bought a homestead in 1897 and named it after an English village Upwey on the River Wey. On 18 December 1900, the narrow gauge railway from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook was opened and they requested the Victorian Railways build a stopping place nearby, which was agreed to and on Monday, 3 June 1901, a station named Upwey was opened. The name was adopted locally, with the Upwey Church of England opening in 1904 and a post office opening on 1 July 1909. Every year in Upwey, Bendigo Bank sponsors a billy cart race to raise money for the community. People come from everywhere as far as Melbourne, even the scouts join in on the fun. In 1918, the Upwey Convention started holding annual gatherings over the Christmas – New Year period—initially held at the Upwey Union Church and later moving to their own property next to the High School. When the State Government acquired the land to extend the High School, the Convention moved to Belgrave Heights in 1950. By the 1920s, both a Progress Association and a fire brigade had been established, and by the end of the 1920s and early 1930s, many weekenders had been built in the area. When the Great Depression occurred, the Victorian Government opened up Dandenong Ranges to housing and the population of Upwey and the surrounding foothills grew steadily. Upwey Primary School opened in 1934 and still exists today. Upwey Higher Elementary School opened in 1937 and became Upwey High School in 1945. Today, it serves as the main secondary education provider in the Dandenong Ranges, taking students from around the foothills and Mount Dandenong. In 1954, the railway was closed due to a landslide the previous year further along the line past Selby, only to see it reopened as far as Belgrave in 1955 for three years as the first effort to run it as a preserved tourist railway, again closing in 1958. In 1962, the railway from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave was reopened as part of the broad gauge suburban electric network, giving Upwey a direct link to Melbourne. With the reopening of the railway, the main road no longer crossed the railway next to the station, but continue further on going under a railway bridge. Some years later, Upwey was by-passed with Collier Avenue on the north of the railway being upgraded and renamed Monbulk Road—later to be renamed Burwood Highway. The main street on the south side of the railway became a quiet local shopping strip. In 1997, the Dandenong Ranges suffered devastating bushfires that threatened Upwey and its neighbouring towns, however Upwey was spared from the onslaught. After the last branch of the Commonwealth Bank closed Upwey's local banking services were reduced to an ATM in the old bank building. In 1998, the abandoned bank building became the first metropolitan and third ever Community Bank branch of Bendigo Bank, a model that returns branch profits into the community.
Business and community
Today, Upwey is a thriving community. Main Street boasts a wide variety of shops and services, instilling a traditional community village nature into an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne. Many creative thinking professional have sought a tree change in Upwey. Part of this new professional community is lawyer & educator Donna Farrell who has recently launched her "mobile lawyer" business . Together with its neighbouring township Tecoma, Upwey has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League. 3158
Transport
Upwey is on the Belgrave Railway line. It has one railway station which is located adjacent to Main Street, Upwey's main shopping strip. The bus route 693 which runs from Belgrave to Oakleigh via Burwood Highway and Ferntree Gully Road runs through the suburb.
Education
Upwey has two primary schools— and . There is one secondary school in Upwey—, a government school for years 7–12.
Creeks and waterways
Upwey has two main creeks, Ferny Creek and Mast Gully Creek. These two creeks are part of the Dandenong Creek catchment, that flows into Port Phillip at Patterson Lakes.
