Drouin is a major service town, located in West Gippsland, 90 kilometres (56 mi) east of Melbourne. Its local government area is the Shire of Baw Baw. The town is supposedly named after a Frenchman who invented a chlorination process for the extraction of ore or an Aboriginal word meaning "north wind". New estate developments have accelerated the town's residential growth in recent years. According to the 2006 census, Drouin and the surrounding area had a population of 7,523 people.

In 1904, the population of Drouin was 700. By 1933, there were just over 1,000 inhabitants and by 1970, 2,750.From the 1970s, the subdivision of an industrial estate on the south-east edge of the town had encouraged the growth of light industry. A number of housing subdivisions have also been initiated, as well as rural residential subdivision on the fringes of the town. The construction of a freeway bypassing Drouin allowed the remodelling of the shopping centre. By 1981, the population was 3,492 and in 1991 was 4,100. The Victorian Municipal Directory described the town in 1994.