Grovedale, Victoria

Grovedale Geelong, Victoria
Looking south towards Grovedale from Highton
Grovedale
Coordinates	38°12′0″S 144°21′0″E / 38.20000°S 144.35000°E / -38.20000; 144.35000Coordinates: 38°12′0″S 144°21′0″E / 38.20000°S 144.35000°E / -38.20000; 144.35000
Population	13,186 (2006 census)
LGA(s)	City of Greater Geelong
State electorate(s)	South Barwon
Federal Division(s)	Corangamite
Suburbs around Grovedale: Highton Belmont Marshall Waurn Ponds Grovedale Marshall Mount Duneed Armstrong Creek Charlemont

Grovedale is a mainly residential southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

The locality was originally named Germantown because several families of German Lutheran origin had settled there in 1849, with the German community expanding in the following decades. German Cottage, a house from this period located on the Surf Coast Highway (Torquay Road), is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Following the outbreak of the First World War, and particularly after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German submarine in May 1915, there was agitation to change the name of the area. A well-attended meeting at Germantown on 31 May 1915 agreed to recommend to the South Barwon Shire Council that the name should be changed to Marlborough or Cornwall. Other names suggested were Devon, Dennys and Grovedale. On 2 July the Council chose the name Cornwall. However the Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department and the Victorian Lands Department rejected the choice, because it duplicated an existing name elsewhere in Australia. Consequently, the council decided to recommend Bridges or Grovedale as replacement names, with the preference being for Grovedale, which was the name of a property in the district bought by Alexander Pennell in 1847. The Post Office was renamed Grovedale on 1 March 1916.

A Post Office had originally opened on 21 January 1860. There were also two hotels, two flour mills, two tanneries and four wool-washing businesses.

The hilly country and volcanic soil were ideal for orchards and vineyards, and the area became Victoria's largest wine-producing region, particularly thanks to the efforts of German migrants. In the early 1870s the region's vines became infested with the phylloxera aphid and were pulled out.