Grovedale, Victoria

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

History

Toponymy

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.