Relatives of the 72-year-old Melbourne man found him underneath the large native at Mudgegonga about 10.50am on Wednesday.

He had been removing the tree from the side of the Myrtleford-Stanley Road with a chainsaw when it fell and crushed him.

He died at the scene.

Sergeant Shane Bannerman said the man was staying at a farm owned by his relatives.

There were no witnesses to the incident so it was not immediately apparent how the tree fell on him. The chainsaw was still in the tree and still running. It was a very large tree.”

The tree was on Indigo Shire land just outside the farm’s fence line.

The man was not undertaking work for for the council and the matter is not being investigated by WorkSafe.

“The family are devastated, as you would expect,” Sergeant Bannerman said. “Someone was trying to help family members out and it’s ended in tragedy.

“A family has lost a family member.”

Police spent several hours at the scene and the cause is being investigated by officers from Beechworth.

“Without witnesses seeing what’s occurred it’s hard to say what’s happened,” Sergeant Bannerman said. “It looks like the tree was growing right on the fenceline and was obscuring the fence.

“I’d say that’s why it was being cut down.”

The tree likely weighed several tonnes.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after emergency services arrived.

Police, the SES, firefighters and paramedics were called to the property but nothing could be done to save him. 

The incident occurred about 100 metres from the home on the property and it's believed several family members were at the house at the time. 

The tree is a native gum believed to be either an apple box or long-leaved box. 

The man's name has not been released, but tributes appeared on social media soon after the incident. 

The accident occurred almost a year to the day after a death at Brimin. 

A 33-year-old woman from Chirnside Park in Melbourne died after a red gum branch fell on her at a camp site on November 5, 2014. 

Border Mail