Garbutt flood map & planning overlays
Garbutt has Townsville's busiest sky, 115 flights a day, and 94.4% noise coverage.
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 Garbutt
(Townsville City, QLD) - 11.96 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
11.96 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Garbutt's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Amber hatching is the published aircraft noise (ANEF) contour. 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 Garbutt properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 2,499 analysed Garbutt properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 2,499 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Garbutt.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Garbutt
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Inside an aircraft noise contour
94% of the suburb's land sits inside a published ANEF or airport-environs contour. Contours vary street by street, so whether a particular lot is inside one needs a property-level check.
Highest contour present
Under AS 2021, land at ANEF 30 and above is generally unacceptable for new houses and most noise-sensitive uses. The contour is a forecast, not a measurement at any one house.
Contours held
- Defence Airfields ANEF
- Townsville City Council ANEF
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 7 Nov 2026
typical observed square 3 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 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.
Garbutt at a glance
Schools in and near Garbutt
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
1 school providing primary years and 1 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: inside the suburb
Secondary: inside the suburb
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time; use the official catchment finder for a specific address.
How Garbutt is zoned
Selling in Garbutt? 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 11.96 km², Garbutt is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 100% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 5% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 6 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Specialised Centre. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 912 m² across 2,322 parcels.
Recent development applications in Garbutt
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public Townsville City Council register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 2 October 2026.
Previous 12 months: 70 (29% lower in the latest period).
Common application types
- Material change of use: 9
Counts depend on applications that the council publishes and that can be assigned to a suburb. Categories can overlap when one application covers several types. Totals below five and their latest dates are suppressed. Register last synchronised 8 November 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Garbutt
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Garbutt 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 848, and decile 1 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Garbutt's 2,309 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Garbutt - West End, the wider ABS statistical area containing Garbutt. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Garbutt itself.
6,439 in 2001 to 6,605 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.
Garbutt 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) | Inside a held contour | 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 |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | Townsville City Council |
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 Garbutt 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 100% of Garbutt. 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 Garbutt. 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).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Garbutt lot.
Garbutt planning - frequently asked
Is Garbutt flood-prone?
About 100% of Garbutt falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 57%. Across the suburb, 0% of the 2,499 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk. Published flood models are held over parts of Garbutt; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Garbutt bushfire-prone?
Around 5% of Garbutt is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Townsville City average of 50%.
Is Garbutt affected by aircraft noise?
About 94% of Garbutt sits inside a published aircraft noise contour, and the highest contour present is ANEF 40 - under AS 2021, land above ANEF 25 is generally considered unacceptable for new houses, and 20-25 conditionally acceptable with noise attenuation. ANEF contours are forecasts published per airport and used to control noise-sensitive development; they are not a measurement at any one house, and a property can sit under a flight path and outside every contour.
Is Garbutt under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Garbutt, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 117 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 Garbutt?
The dominant planning zone in Garbutt is Specialised Centre, though the suburb also includes Medium Impact Industry and Low Impact Industry.
Does Garbutt have heritage-listed places?
Garbutt has 6 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Garbutt hilly or flat?
Garbutt is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 1%. Ground level runs from roughly 3 m to 8 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Garbutt?
Across 2,322 surveyed parcels in Garbutt, the median lot size is about 912 m². There are also 264 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Garbutt have a train station?
There is no train station inside Garbutt itself. The suburb is served by 32 bus stops.
What is the population of Garbutt?
At the 2021 Census Garbutt had 2,309 usual residents, with a median age of 42 and an average household size of 2.0 people. The wider Garbutt - West End statistical area, which contains Garbutt, went from 6,439 people in 2001 to 6,605 in 2025, up 3%.
Is Garbutt an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Garbutt scores 848 and sits in decile 1 of 10 nationally and decile 1 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Garbutt?
Median household income in Garbutt was $1,082 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,510 for the typical suburb in Townsville City. Median rent was $220 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,300 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rowes Bay | 2.1 km | 100% | 36% |
| Currajong | 2.3 km | 100% | 0% |
| West End | 2.4 km | 75% | 17% |
| Belgian Gardens | 2.4 km | 69% | 15% |
| Castle Hill | 2.7 km | <1% | 86% |
| Vincent | 3.1 km | 91% | 0% |
| Gulliver | 3.3 km | 100% | 2% |
| Pimlico | 3.4 km | 100% | 13% |
| Mount St John | 3.4 km | 100% | 5% |
| Hyde Park | 3.5 km | 100% | 0% |