Ball Bay flood map & planning overlays
Ball Bay's residents have a median age of 56, joint 3rd in Mackay Regional. Bayside and seasoned.
Things you won't regret: spending $9 to know the lot before you commit.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Ball Bay
(Mackay Regional, QLD) - 14.94 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
14.94 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Ball Bay's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Magenta is where aircraft were observed in the sampled period, brightest below 3,000 ft.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Ball Bay properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 288 analysed Ball Bay properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 288 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Ball Bay.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Ball Bay
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 7 Nov 2026
typical observed square 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 1,500 ft - night is sampled as often as day, but night traffic is light, so this is a floor and no rate can be put on it.
How this is measured
Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously, so every figure is a floor: aircraft not captured between samples are not represented. Rates are per 500 m square - the busiest square in the suburb, not a count of flights over the suburb - and a square is only rated where enough traffic was seen to measure it. Altitudes are above mean sea level. Flight paths change with runway use, weather, season and airspace design. This is a record of observed traffic; it is not a noise contour and not a planning control.
Ball Bay at a glance
Schools in and near Ball Bay
Public school-location data shows availability across the suburb; it does not rate schools or assign any individual address to a catchment.
Inside the suburb boundary
0 schools providing primary years and 0 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: 0.82 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 20.77 km from the suburb boundary
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time.
Which school zone is a Ball Bay address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Ball Bay is zoned
Selling in Ball Bay? The lot-level zone is the zoning Part 3 of Queensland's Form 2 seller disclosure statement asks for - see our Form 2 planning data guide.
Across its 14.94 km², Ball Bay is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 7% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 49% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Rural. The terrain is gently undulating, and the median lot measures about 809 m² across 287 parcels.
Who lives in Ball Bay
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Ball Bay suburb boundary itself, not a wider region.
Socio-economic standing
ABS SEIFA 2021 ranks every Australian suburb. Decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth of the country, decile 10 the least.
Score 948, and decile 4 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Ball Bay's 384 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Seaforth - Calen, the wider ABS statistical area containing Ball Bay. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Ball Bay itself.
7,079 in 2001 to 8,785 in 2025, up 24%.
Source: ABS Census 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (Suburbs and Localities), Regional Population (SA2), CC BY 4.0. Small counts are randomly adjusted by the ABS.
Ball Bay data sources and coverage
“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.
| Dataset | Coverage | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Flood mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Zoning | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data, Defence |
| Observed flight paths | Observed | adsb.lol, under the Open Database License |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
| School availability | Available | Queensland Government |
Profile last materially updated 7 November 2026. See the methodology and full source list. Source data changes over time and critical decisions should be checked with the responsible authority.
Check a specific Ball Bay address
See exactly which overlays touch a single property - the interactive map is free. Need it on paper? A full planning PDF is just $9.
See what's in the $9 report →Aircraft have been seen below 3,000 ft over about 38% of Ball Bay. The report's Aircraft Overflight page narrows that to the address itself: how many aircraft a day, how low, and at what heights.
Published flood models are held over parts of Ball Bay. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$9 with the planning report.
The Terrain Report shows the fall of the block - contours, cross sections and a 3D model of the lot to spin round in your browser (+$9 with the planning report).
Moving here? The Liveability section adds walking times from the address to schools, parks, shops and transport, and the school zones it sits in (+$9 with the planning report).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Ball Bay lot.
Ball Bay planning - frequently asked
Is Ball Bay flood-prone?
About 7% of Ball Bay falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 36%. Across the suburb, 48% of the 288 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 137 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Ball Bay; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Ball Bay bushfire-prone?
Around 49% of Ball Bay is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Mackay Regional average of 26%.
Is Ball Bay under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 38% of Ball Bay, and over about 75% at any altitude up to 10,000 ft, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 4,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 1 aircraft a day were recorded passing over one 500 m square. Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously and flight paths change with runway use, weather and season; the ANEF contour is the planning instrument.
What is the zoning in Ball Bay?
The dominant planning zone in Ball Bay is Rural, though the suburb also includes Conservation and Open space.
Does Ball Bay have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Ball Bay.
Is Ball Bay hilly or flat?
Ball Bay is gently undulating: the median ground slope is about 4%, and 22% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 4 m to 72 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Ball Bay?
Across 287 surveyed parcels in Ball Bay, the median lot size is about 809 m². There are also 10 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Ball Bay?
At the 2021 Census Ball Bay had 384 usual residents, with a median age of 56 and an average household size of 2.1 people. The wider Seaforth - Calen statistical area, which contains Ball Bay, went from 7,079 people in 2001 to 8,785 in 2025, up 24%.
Is Ball Bay an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Ball Bay scores 948 and sits in decile 3 of 10 nationally and decile 4 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Ball Bay?
Median household income in Ball Bay was $1,346 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,937 for the typical suburb in Mackay Regional. Median rent was $290 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,560 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haliday Bay | 1.7 km | 22% | 55% |
| Belmunda | 4.0 km | 86% | 30% |
| Seaforth | 5.9 km | 21% | 44% |
| Cape Hillsborough | 6.6 km | 22% | 56% |
| Mount Jukes | 7.7 km | 24% | 42% |
| The Leap | 14.4 km | 11% | 37% |
| Kuttabul | 14.4 km | <1% | 53% |
| Habana | 15.1 km | 34% | 23% |
| Mount Ossa | 18.1 km | 9% | 44% |
| Hampden | 18.6 km | 0% | 57% |