Ocean Grove
Tree removal in Ocean Grove
Tree removal, pruning and stump grinding in Ocean Grove, from the old sheoaks and gums of the woodland estates to the garden trees of the older streets.
Tree work in Ocean Grove
Two overlays and an indigenous canopy
In Ocean Grove the overlay on the street is the first thing to look at, and the trees come after it.
A precinct of established Ocean Grove streets sits under Significant Landscape Overlay Schedule 15, the Ocean Grove Significant Tree Residential Area, which came in through Amendment C349 in June 2018. Removal or major pruning of a canopy tree at an address in that precinct is checked against the schedule before it is quoted.
The Ocean Grove Hillside Area is a separate control, Significant Landscape Overlay Schedule 7, which the same amendment revised and took off some areas, so which schedule applies is confirmed address by address rather than assumed from the suburb.
Ocean Grove's largest woodland remnants are at Kingston Park, the Nature Reserve and the adjoining Woodlands and Yellow Gums estates, where the dominant trees are Drooping and Black Sheoak, Coastal Manna Gum and Bellarine Yellow Gum. A job in those estates is more likely to involve indigenous sheoak and eucalypt than a planted exotic, so the species is identified first.
Sources: Amendment C349 Ocean Grove Significant Tree Project, City of Greater Geelong (retrieved 10/09/2026); Our Home, Ocean Grove Coastcare (retrieved 10/09/2026); Wild weather wreaks havoc across region, Bellarine Times (retrieved 10/09/2026); Ocean Grove Nature Reserve prepares for bushfire season, Bellarine Times (retrieved 10/09/2026)
Services in Ocean Grove
After a storm, and before the next one
The morning after the October 2021 thunderstorm, the Bellarine Times listed Ocean Grove as the most affected town, with 12 incidents, ahead of Torquay with 8. A limb hung up in a crown after a blow like that is under load, and it is brought down more carefully than a sound one.
Tree removal
Storm damaged and unsound trees taken down in sections, with tight drop zones where the trees around them are staying.
Tree pruning
Deadwood out and crowns thinned, so less is left to come down in the next blow.
Stump grinding
Stumps ground below the surface, so the spot can go back to lawn or garden.
How it works
From the first call to a clear garden
Nothing happens without a written quote you have agreed to.
Tell us about the tree
Call or send the form with the tree and what is worrying you.
A contractor comes to see it
A local tree contractor looks at the tree, the access and whatever sits underneath it, because a quote off a photo misses the things that change the job.
A written quote
The quote sets out the scope, what happens to the timber and the stump, and the date. It is the contractor's quote, and nothing starts until you accept it.
The work and the clean up
On the day the tree is dealt with as quoted, the green waste leaves on the truck and the lawn is raked.
Ocean Grove questions
The reserve and the overlays
Is the bush in the reserve managed for fire?
Forest Fire Management Victoria scheduled slashing and mulching across the reserve for December 2023 and January 2024, and described it as fuel management work to reduce the risk of bushfire close to the Ocean Grove township.
Does the overlay mean the tree cannot come out?
It depends on the tree and on what the schedule says about it. If the schedule calls for a planning application, the council's time on that comes before any date can be booked.
Backing onto the reserve?