Eureka is bordered by Specimen Creek to the north, Canadian Creek to the south, Queen and Joseph streets to the west and Kline and Stawell Street to the east.

The suburb takes its name from the Eureka Lead – a lead is an ancient river bed that contains gold – of the Eureka Mining Company and is most notable as the site of the historic event of the Eureka Rebellion. This was the site where the rebel miners flew the Eureka Flag for the first time, a flag that has since become a symbol of the working class and trade union movement. The site is marked by several monuments and a museum called the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E), which opened in May 2013 and housed the original Eureka Flag, on loan from the Art Gallery of Ballarat. The Museum closed in 2018.