contributed by Leanne Fagg
phone 52291571

​David Dee was born around 1820 in Waterford, Ireland.  In 1841 he arrived in Melbourne aboard the "Diamond", then 2 years later married fellow passenger Ellen Shea at St Marys Catholic Church Geelong.
 
Over the following 6 years they had 3 children (Michael, Mary and Hannah) while living at Irishtown (between Pakington and Belfast Sts, Newtown).
 
By 1851 they were living in Germantown (now Grovedale) as farmers, in a 2 room home on 4 acres near the current Peter Street.  Further children (Thomas, Martin and Bridget) were born in Germantown.
 
In 1856 David was granted Crown land Lot 14 and 15 (101 acres each) in Puebla Parish (on what is now Blackgate Rd) and built a 4 room home there.
 
However, a year later David was knocked off his horse by a tree branch, causing his death at age 33. Before the accident he had enjoyed 2 nobblers of wine at the German Town Inn (since demolished) then rode off towards home in the dark.
 
The Inquest into his death determined "he was not a habitual drunkard ... he was advised by a witness not to drink that evening as he had a very bad road to travel over.  He was in the habit of riding fast."
 
David was buried in the Catholic section of Geelong's Eastern Cemetery on 3 November 1857.
 
David's death left his wife Ellen with 6 children between the ages of 2 yrs and 13 yrs to support.
Ellen continued to farm their Puebla land (together with 7 acres of land in Germantown) with the help of her eldest son Michael.
 
In 1870 Ellen's misfortune continued when her daughter Mary died at home, aged only 22 yrs. 
 
The Geelong Advertiser reported "The funeral procession was a very long one, and reached from the top to the bottom of Moorabool St".  Mary was buried with her father David.

John Edward, eldest son of Johann (John)
​Christian and Dorothea Elizabeth (née Buttner) Andressen was born in 1863 at Grovedale.

He was a Shire of South Barwon councillor, serving for 22 years from 1896 until 1918. He served three terms as president of the shire  — 1901-02, 1907-08 and 1916-17. On 23 August 1904 when the last sale of Crown land in Grovedale was held, he purchased  allotments 3 – £230, 4 – £150 and 5 – £145. In 1911 he was appointed a justice of the peace. He was elected a trustee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Germantown in September 1913.When he retired he lived at 82 Swanston Street, Geelong.

​John died on 12 December 1961 at the age of 86 at a private hospital in Geelong. He was privately interred the next day in the Presbyterian section of the Geelong Eastern Cemetery with his wife Dorothea Catherine who died on 20 Jul 1961.

John, son of Friedrich Wilhelm and Johanna Eleonore (née Hermann) Rechenberg, was born on 26 September 1884 at Geelong.

He married Laura Olive Chapman in 1911. They had the following children:
John Stanley Chapman — born in 1912
Alan Keith — born in 1913​
Dulcie Jean — born on 29 November 1914, married Jack Eric Hobbs in 1937, died on 31 July 2012, buried in the lawn section of the Geelong Western Cemetery
Theo Claude — born in 1919 at Geelong, married Jean Corkill McAlpine

John was a thirty one year old labourer when he enlisted for active service. He was wounded in March 1917 and returned to Australia a year later. After the war he leased land in Marshall under the Soldier Settlement Scheme adjacent to Sparrovale.

In March 1923 John received a red polled bull from the private herd of Senator Guthrie who had made six bulls available to returned soldiers settlers to encourage the breeding of good stock.

​John was a South Barwon councillor, serving from 1927 until 1933 and from 1936 until 1949. His father, who settled in Grovedale in 1857, was one of the original blacksmiths in the district.

Cr Rechenberg conducted a meeting on Friday 31 May 1946 at St Paul's Sunday School Hall in Grovedale to discuss the possibility of erecting a United Services Memorial Hall at Grovedale. After many discussions it was decided at a meeting held in February 1948, to purchase the North Shore Recreation Hall, and have it erected on land at the Grovedale Recreation Reserve. It was built as a tribute to the men and women of the district who had served their country. They had raised more than £2000 towards the building of the hall. The State Government had granted £1000.

In June 1940 a branch of the Red Cross Society and the Australian Comforts Fund was established in Grovedale. This was the result of a public meeting held at the state school and attended by residents from Grovedale, Marshall and Mount Duneed districts. The meeting was chaired by Cr Rechenberg. The object of the branch was to produce the maximum of war work in the districts.

In March 1923 John received a red polled bull from the private herd of Senator Guthrie who had made six bulls available to returned soldier settlers to encourage the breeding of good stock.
​
John died on 13 December 1974 at Belmont aged 90 years and was buried in the Presbyterian section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. Laura who had died on 28 July 1954 aged 77 was buried with him.

3rd July — Mrs FH Stacey of Mount Duneed was notified that her son, Frank, had been wounded for the second time.
​11 July — Corporal Edward Victor Middleton, wounded
26 August — FL Gill of Mount Duneed, wounded
27 August — Charles Harold Gogoll, son of Charles Benjamin and Fanny Louise Gogoll, of Mount Duneed, wounded (gas), 4 October killed in action. He is remembered on his parents grave at Mount Duneed.
15 April — Private Jason Doyle of Grovedale returned to Geelong on the afternoon train after three years' absence. His wound was inflicted by gunshot at Ypres; his leg and arm were affected.
29 April — Bombardier John Francis Doyle, second son of JW and LC Doyle, of Grovedale aged 28 years, died of wounds received in France after 3 years and 8 months' active service.
​E McGee and A Gallagher of Grovedale have enlisted
Mrs E Scott of Connewarre has received the news from the Defence department that her son, Lce-Cpl WJ Scott was killed in action in France on 9 August. Some little time ago she received a congratulatory letter from Sir WR Birdwood, DSO as follows: "The Army Corps Commander wishes to express his appreciation of the gallant services rendered by the undermentioned soldier, No 4916
Private WJ Scott"
​Mrs T Ellis of Mount Duneed has received a cable from the Defence Department that her son, Pte Allan Ellis, has been gassed, and is classed as "wounded, second occasion".
​December — Pte HJ Richmond of Grovedale wounded 
9 August at Blackwarry, death of Elizabeth, wife of the late John Parkes Hope, formerly of Mount Duneed.
​24 November 1918, at his residence, Mount Duneed, Benjamin Blyth, husband of the late Ann Blyth, aged 52 years​
18 December 1918, Edwin Challis, son of Harry and Sarah (née Porter) died of wounds sustained the previous day in a farm accident
Red Cross — New Registrations
Numbers 137 and 137, Mount Duneed Red Cross Sub-centre; Mrs AG White, president, straight-out giving and various efforts to be arranged.
Number 139 Freshwater Creek district Patriotic Committee; Cr W McIntyre, chairman; Mr A Milner, secretary; straight out giving
​Susannah Syrett, widow of John Syrett died on 19 October at her residence at Grovedale aged 78 years. She was buried at Mount Duneed Cemetery on 21 October.
​William Thomas, husband of Harriett Elizabeth  Berryman died on 10 October at Geelong aged 42 years. She was buried at Grovedale Cemetery on 11 October.
​Leslie Smith aged 18 of Grovedale suffered a nasty accident on 27 February while stacking hay. The fork slipped and struck his forehead. As a result he had 14 stitches inserted in a gash over his left eye.

In 1892 when the inspector, Sergeant Dawson,
visited Christopher John Tadgell's slaughter yard at Marshalltown he found it in a foul state. He recommended that Tadgell's license be cancelled, or the he be prosecuted for having the premises in an offensive state. Tadgell wanted a transfer of his license to a more suitable premises as the land was low-lying and impossible to drain. He had obtained land in Germantown (Torquay) Road where he carried on his trade. By the following year he was running a shop in Colac Road, Belmont and periodically renewed his slaughtering license. By 1900 he had his butchering business for sale. The following year he had re-commenced his business. 

In 1899 he was elected as a South Barwon councillor where he served until August 1902 when he was defeated by H R Winter. He then wished to be relieved of his position on the committee of management of the Belmont Recreation Reserve and was replaced by Councillor Andressen. A clearance sale was held at Ryrie Street on 17 July 1906. A mortgagee sale was held to sell the butcher's shop and residence at Belmont. By November he was selling meat in Little Malop Street, Geelong. In 1908 he was elected president of the Geelong Master Butcher's Association.
​
​He married Emily Williams in 1891. They had the following children while living in Geelong:
Edith — born 1892, died 1910
Alfred Ernest — born 1893
​Percy Sidney  — born 1894, died 1959
Emily Eliza — born 1896
Florence — born 1898
​Christopher John — born 1899
Gerte May — born 1902
​Gladys Tihan — born 1907
Daisy Vic — born 1905
Arthur Keith born 1910, died 1974
Walter Leonard — born 1912

Christopher  moved to Gippsland in 1910, selling his 396 acre farm, one mile from Officer Railway Station, in 1912. In 1913 his shop in Belmont, occupied by his son, had been destroyed by fire. He died in 1938 aged 68 years at Sunbury and was buried at Fawkner Cemetery. Emily died at Camberwell on 23 January 1844 aged 73 and was buried at with him.

​Charles John, son of Nicholas Belfield and Eliza (née Lascelles) Dennys, was born in 1818 in England. He was an early settler of Geelong, arriving in the colony in 1842.

​He married his cousin Martha Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Allen Lascelles, on 8 November 1855 at Trinity Church at Barrabool. They had the following children:
Ethel — born 9 Jun 1857, married Edward Harewood Lascelles on 21 February 1889 at Christ Church, died in 1952 at South Yarra aged 95
unnamed female — born 4 September 1858, died soon after of spinal injuries caused by extreme fright which happened to mother during pregnancy
Laura — born 9 August 1859, married Holford Highlord Wettenhall, died in 1932 at Armadale aged 73 years.
Emmeline — born 19 November 1861, died 1941 at Toorak aged 79

​In 1847 he bought the Barwon Melting Establishment, a tallow-rendering works below the breakwater. In 1850 a leather warehouse was added.  Back then both sides of the river were called Breakwater. Now the area north of Waurn Ponds Creek is known as Belmont and the area south of the creek is called Marshall. Early in 1851 Dennys decided to retire from the business for a while and took a trip to England. After he returned he decided to put the melting establishment up for sale. The sale was on 28 August 1854, but the buildings did not sell. By November he was successful in renting out the business to Samuel Bradley Corrigan. On 19 June 1857 Corrigan decided to buy the works for £1400.

​Dennys then concentrated on wool broking and the selling of wool by auction. He leased the large stores erected by George Armytage on Victoria Terrace (now Western Beach Road) and west of Gheringhap Street. He had a number of partnerships. In 1868 the business purchased an old coal yard on the corner of Moorabool and Brougham Streets where they built an imposing bluestone wool store and offices. This building is now occupied by the National Wool Museum.
​
​He was appointed First Secretary of the District Council of Grant on 19 October 1843. He was one of the first councillors of the Shire of South Barwon, serving from 1857 to 1859. 

In 1851 Dennys had bought five farms from W C Haines at Barrabool which he leased out to farmers including Giacomo Auchetto and R Woodward.

​​He lived at Claremont (then called Claremont Hall), in Noble Street, Newtown from 1876 until his death on 4 February, 1898 aged 80 years. He was survived by his children Laura, Emmeline and Ethel. Martha had died at Claremont on 11 April, 1896 at the age of 72. The flags were flying at half-mast on various wool warehouses and several private buildings on Monday 13 April as a mark of respect on the day of her interment at the Eastern Cemetery. The funeral cortege was a lengthy one.​

The Burville family were of French descent. They have been traced back to France to about 1600 when the family name was "de Burville".  As Hugenots, they fled to England for religious and political reasons where they settled in Kent. In the 1850s members of the family migrated to Australia. Burvilles Road, Mount Duneed is named after the Burville family who lived along the road, and remained there until the land was sold as a crematorium and cemetery.

John Burvill, son of John Burvill and Eliza née Wale, bought the land on the corner of Torquay Road and Whites Road in 1854. Fourteen acres of this land was sold to Robert Broughton in 1876. He was a  teacher and superintendent of the Grovedale Methodist Sunday School for thirty-six years.
​
​John married Mary Ann Radford in 1862. It was in this generation that the name changed to Burville. They had the following children:
Louisa — born 1863
Laura — born 1864
​Annie Maria — born 1865, died 1937
Eliza — born and died 1866
Arthur — born 1867, died 1927 at Ballarat
Charles William — born 1869, died 1870
Frederick — born 1870, died 1871
Rosina — born 1871, died 1871
Walter — born 1872, died 1946
Alice — born 1873, married August Hartwich, died 1958
John — born 1875, died 1876
Mary Isabel — born 1877
​Alfred John — born 1879, died 1927

​John died on 23 August 1902 at his residence at Mount Duneed at the age of 70 years and was buried in the Methodist section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery with Laura, Mary and Annie and his mother Eliza who had married Robert Andrews.

​On 27 January 1867 Harold Humphrey of Connewarre had a fatal accident. He fell from his wagon and was run over by the wheel. He left his widow, Hester, destitute. A tea meeting was held on 15 February at Mount Duneed Church School to raise funds to support the family.

​In March the Gazette named the following men to be trustees of land set aside for Wesleyan Church purposes at Mount Duneed:
John Parkes Hope
​James Daltan
William Trewen
Robert Preston
​Thomas Fiveash

​In August Sons of Temperance held a public meeting at Mount Duneed. A requisition was signed for the formation of a division at Mount Duneed. Among them were Messrs Hope, Landale, Abercrombie and Angus.

​In October a farmer named Thomas Caldwell, who lived at Mount Duneed, met his death through a tree which he was cutting, falling upon him, and striking him upon the head. He left a widow and two children.

​Bonfires were planned at Mounts Moriac and Duneed to celebrate the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh's to Victoria.

​A boy in the employ of Mr Trewin, farmer, of Mount Duneed, was drowned in a waterhole in that locality. 

​Arthur Streeton was born on 8 April at Clifford

Burials at Mount Duneed​
Jane Hill — 22 February
​Louisa Palmer — 15 March
Ellen Fuller — 25 March​
Ellen Brown — 26 March, aged 2 years
​Mary Eady — 20 April
Mary Humphrey — 3 May
​John Land — 14 May, aged 37 years
​Joseph Southall —  7 July
Stephen Cain — 29 July, aged 56 years
Charles Roulier — 9 December 1867

Burials at Germantown
Mary Kubial — 6 March, aged 6 years
​Amalie Schulz — 10 April, aged 2 years
Martha Betts — 23 April
Gottlieb Alwegge — 13 June, aged 36 years
Johann Hannasky — 21 June
​Anna Petzke — 20 October, aged 23 years
​

Burials at Freshwater Creek
Maria Louise Kubiel — died 6 March aged 6 years
​Johann Gottfried Robert Liebhard — 16 July aged 21
​Adolph Gustav Schmidt — 27 January aged 83, husband of Margaret

August F Gradner died of wounds received in France while in action on 30 March, 1917. He was the brother of William (also on active service) and Ella Gradner of Grovedale. 
​Arthur Stanley Palmer, aged 25 years, died somewhere in France on 25 January 1917. He was the third son of James and Eva (née Withers) Palmer of Grovedale. He was the husband of Dot, father of Jean and brother of Henry Wallace, Elsie May, Minnie, Albert Roy, James Reginald, Horace Leslie and Ivy Myrtle.
​Private Edward Charles Ensby ​of Grovedale, son of  Charles and Anna Ensby, was reported as wounded and taken prisoner on 11 April, 1917. He was a prisoner of war for 20 months.
Private Sydney Gordon Challis, a farmer from Connewarre, enlisted on 17 April 1916. He was born at Mount Duneed in 1896 and was declared killed in action on 11 April 1917 by Court of Enquiry. He was the son of Harry and Sarah Jane (nee Porter) Challis.
​Andrew Miller Fuller, son of Robert Fuller and Susannah née McLeary, was killed at Polygon Wood on 26 September 1917. He was aged 33 years. He is remembered at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium and on his parent's grave at Mount Duneed Cemetery.
​Private Francis Henry Challis a former farmer, born on 8 December 1883 at Barwon Heads, was a railway employee married to Elsie May and living at Sandringham prior to enlistment. He was declared killed in action of 12 May by Court of Enquiry in the vicinity of Bullecourt. He had one son. He was the son of Francis Henry and Jessie Elizabeth Challis.​
John Frederick William Rechenberg, born on 26 September 1884 at Geelong, was admitted to 12th General Hospital in Rouen suffering from a severe gunshot wound in the neck on 9 April. He was the son of Friedrich Wilhelm and Johanna Eleonore (née Herman) Rechenberg
Edwin George Bush, born in 1891 at Mount Duneed, died of wounds received in ​action on 4 November 1917. He was the son of Thomas and Madeline (née Humphry) Bush. 

​
​Burials at Grovedale
​Dorothea Elizabeth Andressen — died 9 January,  aged 79 years. She was the relict of John Andressen, mother of Cr Andressen, Frank Albert of Melbourne and Charles Daniel of Grovedale. She had been a resident of Grovedale for 52 years. She was buried two days later in a private service.

Burials at Mount Duneed
​Susannah Danger died on 7 March aged 71. She was the wife of Samuel Danger and daughter of Robert and Mary (née Butler) Broughton.
​Baby Bubb — died May
Frederick Beard — died May aged 81
​Alexander Tait — died June aged 75
​Frederick Stacey — died November aged 18 of pneumonia. He was the son of Francis Henry and Catherine Mary (née Danger) Stacey

​Albert Benari ran the Germantown Hotel for 27 years until his death on 27 May 1886. He was postmaster of Germantown probably from the time the post office opened in January 1860 until his death. He was mayor of the Borough of South Barwon from 1866 to 1867 and a councillor of the municipality of South Barown from 1861 to 1875.

​In 1858 he married Bridget Hackett.
Albert and Bridget had 7 children:
Albert (born 1859)
Joseph (born 1859)
Louis
Fanny (born 1862)
Charles (born about 1864)
Philip (born 1865)
​Ida (born 1868) 
​In 1869 Albert and Bridget separated. Bridget died in 1896 in Geelong Hospital and was buried in an unknown location in the Geelong Eastern Cemetery.
​
The Germantown Hotel was situated on 1 acre of land in Germantown (Torquay) Road. It was a 20 roomed wooden building with slate roof and a wooden store with two rooms at the back. By the time of Benari's death the furniture, which had been in use for 27 years, was described as dilapidated and worn. The hotel had been auctioned in 1882. Bidding did not go beyond £500.

When he died at the age of 66 at his home he left an estate of £1273 to his children. He was buried at the Germantown Lutheran Cemetery.

​The hotel was a centre of community activity with meetings, political speakers and inquests often being held.

​Some of the items sold at the general store were saddlery, furniture, manchester, crockery, hardware, groceries, tobacco, clothing and underware.

​Properties in the estate of the late Albert Benari were sold in 1866. Frederick Baensch bought the hotel. An allotment of 4 acres 3 roods was sold to Robert Smith Tuffs.

​Burials at Mount Duneed Cemetery
​Rebecca Harkness — 8 February (78 years)
Elizabeth Archer — 15 May (100 years)
Sarah Graham — 9 September (82 years)
Ida Stacey — 15 October (26 years)
Robert Ellis — 23 December (74 years)

Burials at Germantown Cemetery
Leslie Adolf — 26 April (20 years)
Ada Plier — 9 July (58 years)
​George Rechenberg — 15 July
Eleanora Thomas​ —  6 October (85 years)​​
​
Burials at Freshwater Creek Cemetery
Augusta Seiffert — 21 Jun (37 years)
M Seiffert

Killed in Action
​Albert Clery ​died of wounds in France on 19 July 1916. Before the war he had worked for his aunt, Jane Clery at Connewarre. A memorial service was held at St Dunstan's church on 1 October.​

Private Arnold WC Decker ​was killed in action in France on 17 August. He was a member of St Cuthberts Church of England in Marshall. A memorial service was held on Sunday evening 24 September. A parade of members of the Young Men's Club paid a tribute to the memory of their late vice president. A former scholar of the sunday school he was later a teacher.

​​Private Fred J Holmes ​ was killed in France on
26 August but news of his death did not reach his parents until June 1917, after which a memorial service was held in his honour at St Cuthberts Church.

Private Harold Clifford Lewis, ​son of William and Ellen (née Middleton) Lewis, is remembered on his parents headstone in the Presbyterian section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. He was born at Mount Duneed on 27 September, 1894. He was killed on 15 July in France and is buried at Rue de Bois Cemetery.​

​Bernard Jasper, aged 23 years, was reported killed in action in France of 19 July 1916. He was the youngest son of Hr and Mrs H Jasper of Grovedale. He has previously been reported missing.

​Private John Gedfrey (Jack) Baensch, eldest son of Godfrey and Margaret Letitia (née Mawson) Baensch of Grovedale, was born at Grovedale on 28 March 1891. Although baptised at Trinity Lutheran Church at Germantown the family later joined the Grovedale Methodist Church. Prior to the war he worked at the Australian Tannery. He died of wounds received in France on 8 August 1916. He was 25 years and 5 months.​

​​Died of Illness
Erwin Mallette Spencer, ​son of William and Jane (née Gardiner) Spencer, died of Meningitis on 17 August 1916 while en route to Egypt. He was buried at sea.
​

Burials at Mount Duneed Cemetery
David Armstrong (11 years)
Edward John Harkness Armstrong (infant)
Eliza Burville
Ann Challis (36 years)
Robert Dow (25 years)
Alexander Hogg (53 years)
William Radford (58 years)
Louis Roulier (1 year)
Hephzibah Smith
​Rosa Windsor

Burials at Germantown Cemetery
​Isabella Herron (1 February)
Emma Baensch (10 February)
Johann Beansch (13 April)
Johann Paech (24 April)
William Gibbs (18 May)
Samuel Bieske (23 July, 56 years)
Johann Deutschmann (10 August, 13 years)
​Ernst Gottlieb Schultz (1 January, 10 months)
​Johann Benjamin Paech (24 April, 11 months)

​

In May, William Landale owner of the post office was appointed deputy registrar of births and deaths for the district of Mount Duneed.
​
Mail Delivery

Walter Burville was born in Whites Road in 1871. His parents were John and Mary Ann (née Radford) Burvill. The spelling of the name changed from Burvill to Burville in this generation. He purchased part of Armstrong's station and old homestead and took his bride Sarah née Barlow, to live there. The aboriginals were living near Armstrong's Creek and often called at the homestead for food and tobacco. The old property was bought to become the cemetery and crematorium for the Geelong district. He took an active part in activities of the Grovedale Methodist Church. He was secretary of the Sunday School from July 1892 until 1899 when he became superintendent, a position he held until his death in November 1946, at the age of 75 years. He served for a total of forty seven years. He was a trustee of the church and proposed the following scheme in 1922 to raise £1,000 to go towards the erection of a new and larger church:
​"That 20 acres of peas be planted each year for 10 years to yield on average 7 bags per acre. These 140 bags could be sold at 5/- per bushel to yield £105. Threshing and manure costs per annum £20. £85 net return per year with compound interest would in ten years yield £1,000." This money was raised and stayed in the building fund for decades.

His wife Sarah was an organist in the church for over forty years. The Ladies' Guild donated a new pulpit in her memory after her death in July 1952 at the age of 83 years 11 months.

His sister Alice, born 1873, was a Sunday School teacher and treasurer. She married August Hartwich and had two daughters and three sons. She died on 10 September 1958 at the age of 84 years. They are buried at the Geelong Eastern Cemetery. The name Hartwich was changed to Hartwick, probably about the time of WW1.

​His son Harry became a Sunday School teacher in December 1929 and took over as superintendent at the end of 1946. He stayed in this position until July 1956 when he went to Bellbrae to help with their Sunday School. He became a trustee at Grovedale Methodist Church on 30 March 1933, serving for many years. He sang in the choir for many years and is remembered for his lovely tenor voice. He died in December 1974 at the age of 66. Harry and his wife Eunice lived on their dairy farm in Burvilles Road. Harry's schooling was in Mount Duneed. In later years they built on the corner of Whites and Torquay Roads. Their four children attended Mount Duneed School. Eunice died on 7 January 2011 at the age of 96 years.
​
Walter's grandmother had a millinery business in Geelong for many years trading under the name of "Burwell".

​John Burvill bought the land on the corner of Torquay Road and Whites Road in 1854. He and his wife had three sons and five daughters. He was a  teacher and superintendent of the Grovedale Methodist Sunday School for thirty-six years. Fourteen acres of this land was sold to Robert Broughton in 1876.

​Mr L Burville was president of the Grovedale Methodist Cricket Club which was formed in 1933 in the Geelong and District Churches Association. On two occasions it reached the final series.
​
The Burville family were of French descent. They have been traced back to France to about 1600 when the family name was "de Burville".  As Hugenots, they fled to England for religious and political reasons where they settled in Kent. In the 1850s members of the family migrated to Australia. Burvilles Road, Mount Duneed is named after the Burville family who lived along the road, and remained there until relatively recently. The earliest member was probably John Burvill. Later Walter Burville lived there.

Robert Smith Tuffs was born in 1828. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Johnson and Elizabeth (née Todd) Barley, on 30 July 1848 at St Pancras Old Church, London. He sailed to Australia with his wife Elizabeth and 4 year old son Robert on the Maria Hay arriving in July 1854. They had the following children:
Robert Johnson — born 1849 in London, drowned 6 September 1865 when sailing near Brearley brothers' tannery aged 16 years.
William Johnson — born 1855 at Duneed, married Rosina Martin in 1882 at Germantown, died 20 October 1928 at a private hospital at Hawthorn
George — born 1858 at Duneed, died 9 May 1859 at Germantown aged 14 months
Thomas — born 1860 at Germantown, died 1861 at Germantown aged 16 months
Elizabeth Maria — born 1862 at Geelong, married Arthur Edward Brearley on 22 November 1890 at her parents residence, died on 4 October 1937 at Kew in Victoria
John Robert — born 1866 at Germantown, married Jessie Ramsay Naples on 11 March 1897 at the Ryrie Street Presbyterian Church, died 12 August 1942 in the vicinity of the Pentland Hills
Arthur — born 1870, died 25 October 1878 at Germantown at the age of 8 years of a most painful illness, arising from previous accidental injury to the brain

He lived at the Bay View Hotel (German Inn) during the time it was run by Felix Mulholland (1856-1864).

​He was one of the first councillors of the Shire of South Barwon, serving from 1857 to 1860. He was the first engineer for the shire from 1861 until his death in 1890. He was also the surveyor for the Borough of Queenscliffe. He designed the Wesleyan Church at Grovedale, the Lutheran Church in Grovedale, the Grovedale Primary School, Brearley brothers' tannery and St David's Lutheran Church at Freshwater Creek.​
​

​In August 1872 3r 2p sold to NW Keanan for £13.15s and 1r 38p to G Pacholke for £3.4s near the Roman Catholic Church site of 2 acres on the east side of Germantown (now Torquay) Road. These blocks were just south of Waurn Ponds Creek

​Grovedale Recreation Reserve consists of about 15 acres between Perrett Street and Reserve Road. It has a cricket area that converts to two  soccer pitches. The Grovedale United Services Memorial Hall is in the north western section (allotment 1). It was built in 1949 as a tribute to the men and women of the district who had served their country. In the 1960s a baby health centre which was built to the east of the hall was open on Tuesday mornings. This was demolished 1970 when the kindergarten was built in Heyers Road, west of the shops.

The block below marked "Reserve" contained the scout hall with a large quarry behind it which was in the process of being filled in the 1960s.

​The boundaries of the blocks fronting the east side of Torquay Road were shifted back in the 1960s to allow for the widening of the road.

2 acres was reserved for Wesleyan and Lutheran churches adjoining the reserve in Torquay Road and a Roman Catholic church not far south of Waurn Ponds Creek also in Torquay Road. The first Lutheran church which was made of mud walls with a grass roof, was built in 1854 next to the cemetery in Church Street on land donated by Samuel Roehr. The first church service, conducted by Pastor Matthias Goethe, was held on 24 June 1854. This building was also used as a school which was the first Lutheran school in Victoria. The first teacher was Mr Stanger from 1854 to 1858. Robert Renzow was the next teacher. In 1868 a new school number 283 was erected in Bailey Street on land donated by Robert Renzow. A new stone church, named Holy Trinity, was built on the east side of Torquay Road (allotment 6) in 1859 and dedicated on 26 December. A manse had been built in 1855. This Lutheran church had closed by 1949 and was being used by a mechanic as a garage until the 1970s when shops were built on the site. Used cars were once sold at the garage.

A rift occurred in the congregation and another Lutheran church, St Paul's, was built and decicated in March 1871 on the west side of Torquay Road. George Heyer was the pastor. The road near the church was named after him.

In 1855 the Wesleyans were the first denomination to build a church at Grovedale. It was replaced by a church built in 1869 on the corner of Torquay and Reserve Roads. It became a Methodist church on 1 January 1902 when the Primitive Methodists, the Wesleyans and the Bible Christians united to form the Methodist Church of Australasia. The name on the headstone was changed in 1917. It was built of bluestone from Mount Duneed and the freestone from Benjamin Holdsworth's quarry on the Colac Road at Waurn Ponds. The foundation stone was laid by the Mayor of Geelong, Thomas N Couves, in the presence of about fifty spectators. The ceremony took place on the afternoon of 25 March 1869 about 5pm. Rev James Bickford led the proceedings and concluded by the singing of the doxology. A tea meeting followed.
Before the Sunday School was built tea meetings were held in a large tent with tan bark strewn over the floor. The architect of the 1969 church was Robert Smith Tuffs, a surveyor who lived in the Grovedale area. He was on the first council of the Shire of South Barwon, serving from 1957 to 1860 and the first engineer of the shire from 1861 to 1890. ​The timber buildings at the rear of the church were demolished to make way for a new brick building.