Cowley Creek flood map & planning overlays
71.6% flood-mapped, on median lots of 25 ha.
Most lots here are flood-mapped. The free check shows how much of one lot the overlay covers.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Cowley Creek
(Cassowary Coast Regional, QLD) - 7.74 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 5 November 2026.
Constraint readout
7.74 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Cowley Creek's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Cowley Creek
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 to
Night movements: not established - night is sampled as often as day, but too few night flights have been seen here to conclude either way.
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.
Cowley Creek at a glance
Schools in and near Cowley Creek
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: 3.23 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 14.99 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 Cowley Creek address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Cowley Creek is zoned
Selling in Cowley Creek? 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 7.74 km², Cowley Creek is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 72% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 24% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Rural. The median lot measures about 253,056 m² across 26 parcels.
Who lives in Cowley Creek
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Cowley Creek 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 962, and decile 5 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Johnstone, the wider ABS statistical area containing Cowley Creek. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Cowley Creek itself.
8,075 in 2001 to 8,281 in 2025, up 3%.
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.
Cowley Creek 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 5 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 Cowley Creek 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 →Published flood models are held over parts of Cowley Creek. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$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 Cowley Creek lot.
Cowley Creek planning - frequently asked
Is Cowley Creek flood-prone?
About 72% of Cowley Creek falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 66%. Published flood models are held over parts of Cowley Creek; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Cowley Creek bushfire-prone?
Around 24% of Cowley Creek is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Cassowary Coast Regional average of 16%.
Is Cowley Creek under a flight path?
No aircraft were observed over Cowley Creek in the period sampled (recent weeks to now). Sampling is intermittent, so that is a floor rather than proof that none fly over. 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 Cowley Creek?
The dominant planning zone in Cowley Creek is Rural, though the suburb also includes Environmental management and conservation.
Does Cowley Creek have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Cowley Creek.
What is the typical lot size in Cowley Creek?
Across 26 surveyed parcels in Cowley Creek, the median lot size is about 253,056 m². There are also 6 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Is Cowley Creek an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Cowley Creek scores 962 and sits in decile 4 of 10 nationally and decile 5 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrubullen | 2.3 km | 59% | 32% |
| Cowley | 2.7 km | 84% | 14% |
| Goolboo | 3.3 km | 98% | 0% |
| Sandy Pocket | 3.8 km | 94% | 18% |
| Lower Cowley | 4.0 km | 93% | 18% |
| McCutcheon | 4.2 km | 88% | 9% |
| No. 5 Branch | 4.4 km | 78% | 4% |
| Basilisk | 4.9 km | 26% | 22% |
| Moresby | 6.0 km | 88% | 15% |
| Silkwood | 6.1 km | 98% | 7% |