Areas / Cassowary Coast Regional / Sandy Pocket

Sandy Pocket flood map & planning overlays

Sandy Pocket is 94.5% flood-mapped. The sand is clearly well watered.

A planning-constraint profile of Sandy Pocket (Cassowary Coast Regional, QLD) - 5.3 km², mapped from live council and state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 5 November 2026.

Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Sandy Pocket's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.

Nearby suburbs, nearest first

Aircraft noise and flight paths over Sandy Pocket

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

No aircraft observed
0%
of the suburb, in the sampled period - a floor, not a census

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.

Sandy Pocket at a glance

Parcels 34 Median lot 45,985 m² Schools in suburb 0 Landslide overlay 3%

Schools in and near Sandy Pocket

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

0 schools providing primary years and 0 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.

Nearest school availability

Primary: 6.22 km from the suburb boundary

Secondary: 11.91 km from the suburb boundary

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 Sandy Pocket is zoned

Rural 95%
Environmental management and conservation 5%

Selling in Sandy Pocket? 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 5.3 km², Sandy Pocket is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 94% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 18% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Rural. The median lot measures about 45,985 m² across 34 parcels.

Who lives in Sandy Pocket

Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Sandy Pocket suburb boundary itself, not a wider region.

Population
38
usual residents, 2021

Socio-economic standing

ABS SEIFA 2021 ranks every Australian suburb. Decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth of the country, decile 10 the least.

Advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD) Decile 3
most disadvantagedleast disadvantaged

Score 931, and decile 3 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.

Relative disadvantage (IRSD) Decile 3
most disadvantagedleast disadvantaged

Population trend, 2001 to 2025

Estimated resident population of Johnstone, the wider ABS statistical area containing Sandy Pocket. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Sandy Pocket 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.

Sandy Pocket data sources and coverage

“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.

DatasetCoveragePublisher
Flood mappingMappedthe relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data
Bushfire-prone mappingMappedthe relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data
ZoningMappedthe relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data
Heritage and environmentMapped where publishedthe relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data
Aircraft noise contours (ANEF)Not heldthe relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data, Defence
Observed flight pathsObservedadsb.lol, under the Open Database License
DemographicsAvailableAustralian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA)
School availabilityAvailableQueensland 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 Sandy Pocket 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 Sandy Pocket. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$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 Sandy Pocket lot.

Sandy Pocket planning - frequently asked

Is Sandy Pocket flood-prone?

About 94% of Sandy Pocket falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 66%. Published flood models are held over parts of Sandy Pocket; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.

Is Sandy Pocket bushfire-prone?

Around 18% of Sandy Pocket is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Cassowary Coast Regional average of 16%.

Is Sandy Pocket under a flight path?

No aircraft were observed over Sandy Pocket 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 Sandy Pocket?

The dominant planning zone in Sandy Pocket is Rural, though the suburb also includes Environmental management and conservation.

Does Sandy Pocket have heritage-listed places?

No heritage-listed places are on record within Sandy Pocket.

What is the typical lot size in Sandy Pocket?

Across 34 surveyed parcels in Sandy Pocket, the median lot size is about 45,985 m².

Is Sandy Pocket an advantaged suburb?

On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Sandy Pocket scores 931 and sits in decile 3 of 10 nationally and decile 3 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).

Compare nearby suburbs

Nearby suburbDistanceFlood mappedBushfire-prone
Moresby 2.4 km 88% 15%
Cowley 3.0 km 84% 14%
Warrubullen 3.2 km 59% 32%
Cowley Creek 3.8 km 72% 24%
New Harbourline 4.7 km 100% 17%
Basilisk 4.9 km 26% 22%
Martyville 5.1 km 100% 27%
Lower Cowley 5.2 km 93% 18%
Boogan 6.5 km 96% 4%
Goolboo 7.1 km 98% 0%

See all Cassowary Coast Regional suburb profiles →