Palmerston flood map & planning overlays
100% under environmental overlays, joint top in Queensland, mostly essential habitat.
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A planning-constraint profile of Palmerston
(Cassowary Coast Regional, QLD) - 22.71 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 5 November 2026.
Constraint readout
22.71 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Palmerston's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Palmerston
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.
Palmerston at a glance
Schools in and near Palmerston
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: 13.04 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 22.58 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 Palmerston address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Palmerston is zoned
Selling in Palmerston? 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 22.71 km², Palmerston is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 32% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay. The dominant land-use zone is Environmental management and conservation. The median lot measures about 402,072 m² across 8 parcels.
Who lives in Palmerston
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Palmerston 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 955, 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 Palmerston. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Palmerston 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.
Palmerston 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 Palmerston 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 →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 Palmerston lot.
Palmerston planning - frequently asked
Is Palmerston flood-prone?
About 32% of Palmerston falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 66%.
Is Palmerston bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers Palmerston and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone (the Cassowary Coast Regional average is 16%).
Is Palmerston under a flight path?
No aircraft were observed over Palmerston 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 Palmerston?
The dominant planning zone in Palmerston is Environmental management and conservation.
Does Palmerston have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Palmerston.
What is the typical lot size in Palmerston?
Across 8 surveyed parcels in Palmerston, the median lot size is about 402,072 m².
Is Palmerston an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Palmerston scores 955 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wooroonooran | 7.3 km | 31% | 0% |
| Palmerston Tablelands Regional |
8.4 km | 34% | 0% |
| Mungalli Tablelands Regional |
9.0 km | 30% | <1% |
| Mamu | 9.6 km | 30% | <1% |
| East Palmerston | 11.3 km | 36% | 2% |
| Middlebrook Tablelands Regional |
12.0 km | 41% | <1% |
| Ellinjaa Tablelands Regional |
14.8 km | 38% | <1% |
| Maalan Tablelands Regional |
15.4 km | 35% | <1% |
| Nerada | 15.6 km | 46% | 1% |
| Mena Creek | 17.3 km | 53% | 2% |