The Uniting Church in Australia, and before that the Methodist Church, has been located on the corner of Burwood Highway and Blackburn Road for almost 150 years. Support for the local community has always been a focus of the congregation, and this has been expressed in a variety of ways, particularly during the last 50 years.

In 1973, giving practical expression to a belief that a counselling centre should be established, the Rev Ern King brought a successful conclusion to three years of discussions with local General Practitioners, Social Workers and the Marriage Guidance Council of Victoria, and the East Burwood Counselling and Care Centre was established, opening in September that year.

The congregation made the existing manse available as rent free accommodation and also gave a grant of $3,000. The Nunawading City Council (now City of Whitehorse) local churches and other organizations contributed a further $5,000. Twenty-four volunteers from East Burwood Methodist Church, the Anglican Church of the Ascension in East Burwood, and from the community were selected for training by a Lifeline team.

The official opening took place in April 1974 and later in that year the Centre was officially constituted and registered with the Hospitals and Charities Commission.

In mid-1974, part-time staff had been appointed to assist with the counselling, and following the transfer of Ern King to Perth, the social worker took on an increased case load as insufficient funds were available to replace him.

At the request of Nunawading City Council in 1976, a Citizens Advice Bureau was set up, making greater use of the trained volunteer telephone workers.

In 1984 the Centre was incorporated as ‘East Burwood Counselling Centre & Nunawading Community Advice Bureau Inc’. A new constitution was prepared in 2000, and the Centre became the ‘East Burwood Centre Inc’. In the same year, concessional tax status was granted, as a “Deductible Gift Recipient” and “Charitable Organization”.

In recent years, the administrative load for organizations has greatly increased, particularly in terms of accountability and documentation. In 2008, the Board voted to join the UnitingCare Network, which has raised the profile of the Centre and added a new dimension to the means of raising funds.

More recently, operation of the Centre came under the oversight of Uniting Victoria and Tasmania. The more centralised management model of Uniting meant there was a decrease in the involvement and participation by the local congregation, and in 2025 there was a decision to consolidate Uniting Services at other locations.

Burwood Heights Congregation, with the support of the Anglican Church of The Ascension in Burwood East, has seen this change as an opportunity to initiate a new model of local outreach, resourced from within the local community and continuing to operate from the East Burwood Centre, and we are pleased to launch our new service as East Burwood Care.