Town by town snapshot: Ocean Grove

The size of Ocean Grove is approximately 18.5 square kilometres and has 13 parks covering nearly 6.2 per cent of total area.

The population of Ocean Grove in 2011 was 12,555 people and by the 2016 Census the population was 14,161 showing a population growth of 12.8 per cent in the area during that time.

Significant land sales since the last Census would suggest a population well beyond the 2016 estimate with nearly 300 land sales throughout 2018 alone.

Ocean Grove began to take shape when a hall with a free library was opened in 1910 and the Methodist Church formed a youth camp at Ingemells Park in1920.

There was steady growth during the 1930’s and 1940’s and an infant welfare centre was opened in 1949.

From the early 1950’s many post war European migrant families settled in Ocean Grove, mainly Dutch, Polish, German and Yugoslav.

Ocean Grove underwent a building boom during the 1970s and 80s, but even during the previous decade it became evident that urban growth would be paramount.

In 1962 long-time residents raised money to purchase a large piece of land considered to be the last significant bushland in the area. Named the Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, it is a habitat for a rare small blue butterfly which breeds in ant nests. Ocean Grove is the largest town on the Bellarine Peninsula.

About 4 km offshore from Ocean Grove the former HMAS Canberra was scuttled and opened to divers as an artificial dive reef in 2009.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Ocean Grove is 0-9 years with households in Ocean Grove being primarily couples with children and are likely to be repaying $1,800 – $2,399 per month on mortgage repayments, and in general, people in Ocean Grove work in a professional occupation. In 2011, 75.8 per cent of the homes in Ocean Grove were owneroccupied compared with 76.1 per cent in 2016.