Areas / Colac Otway / Beech Forest

Beech Forest flood map & planning overlays

Beech Forest's heritage list reaches 15 places, 5th in Colac Otway.

Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.

A planning-constraint profile of Beech Forest (Colac Otway, VIC) - 148.28 km², mapped from live council and state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.

Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Beech Forest'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

Aircraft noise and flight paths over Beech Forest

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 24 Oct 2026

Under observed aircraft
8%
of the suburb, at or below 10,000 ft
Below 3,000 ft
1%
of the suburb's area
Lowest measured
2,000 ft
averaging 4,500 ft
How often
not established
aircraft were seen, but not often enough to put a rate on

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.

Beech Forest at a glance

Parcels 628 Median lot 12,010 m² Mapped easements 147

How Beech Forest is zoned

Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) 69%
Farming Zone (FZ) 31%
Transport Zone (TRZ2) 0%
Township Zone (TZ) 0%
Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ) 0%
Public Use Zone (PUZ1) 0%

Selling in Beech Forest? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.

Across its 148.28 km², Beech Forest is highly constrained by planning overlays. Flood mapping covers the suburb and none of it falls within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 15 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ). The median lot measures about 12,010 m² across 628 parcels.

Who lives in Beech Forest

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

Population
125
usual residents, 2021
Median age
50
years
Median household income
$840
per week, Colac Otway suburb typical $1,443
Median rent
$185
per week, Colac Otway suburb typical $239
Median mortgage
$947
per month
Household size
2.0
people, average

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 4
most disadvantagedleast disadvantaged

Score 954, and decile 3 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.

Relative disadvantage (IRSD) Decile 3
most disadvantagedleast disadvantaged

Age profile

Share of Beech Forest's 125 residents in each ABS age band.

0-4 5.9%
5-14 11.9%
15-19 5.9%
20-24 2.2%
25-34 6.7%
35-44 13.3%
45-54 16.3%
55-64 24.4%
65-74 11.1%
75-84 2.2%
85+ 0.0%

Population trend, 2001 to 2025

Estimated resident population of Otway, the wider ABS statistical area containing Beech Forest. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Beech Forest itself.

3,452 in 2001 to 3,974 in 2025, up 15%.

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.

Beech Forest data sources and coverage

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

DatasetCoveragePublisher
Flood mappingMappedVicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services
Bushfire-prone mappingMappedVicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services
ZoningMappedVicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services
Heritage and environmentMapped where publishedVicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services
Aircraft noise contours (ANEF)Not heldVicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services, Defence
Observed flight pathsObservedadsb.lol, under the Open Database License
DemographicsAvailableAustralian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA)

Profile last materially updated 24 October 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 Beech Forest 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 →

The report's Aircraft Overflight page narrows that to the address itself: how many aircraft a day, how low, and at what heights.

Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Beech Forest lot.

Beech Forest planning - frequently asked

Is Beech Forest flood-prone?

Flood mapping covers Beech Forest and less than 1% of the suburb falls within a mapped flood overlay (the council-wide suburb average is 12%).

Is Beech Forest bushfire-prone?

Around 100% of Beech Forest is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Colac Otway average of 97%.

Is Beech Forest under a flight path?

Aircraft were observed over about 8% of Beech Forest in the period sampled, but only above 3,000 ft - the lowest measured was 2,000 ft. 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 Beech Forest?

The dominant planning zone in Beech Forest is Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ), though the suburb also includes Farming Zone (FZ) and Transport Zone (TRZ2).

Does Beech Forest have heritage-listed places?

Beech Forest has 15 heritage-listed places on record.

What is the typical lot size in Beech Forest?

Across 628 surveyed parcels in Beech Forest, the median lot size is about 12,010 m². There are also 147 registered easements mapped in the suburb.

What is the population of Beech Forest?

At the 2021 Census Beech Forest had 125 usual residents, with a median age of 50 and an average household size of 2.0 people. The wider Otway statistical area, which contains Beech Forest, went from 3,452 people in 2001 to 3,974 in 2025, up 15%.

Is Beech Forest an advantaged suburb?

On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Beech Forest scores 954 and sits in decile 4 of 10 nationally and decile 3 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).

What is the median household income in Beech Forest?

Median household income in Beech Forest was $840 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,443 for the typical suburb in Colac Otway. Median rent was $185 a week and the median mortgage repayment $947 a month.

Compare nearby suburbs

Nearby suburbDistanceFlood mappedBushfire-prone
Ferguson 7.1 km Not mapped 100%
Aire Valley 7.2 km Not mapped 100%
Weeaproinah 9.5 km Not mapped 100%
Tanybryn 10.3 km Not mapped 100%
Barramunga 11.6 km 1% 100%
Apollo Bay 11.7 km 3% 98%
Skenes Creek North 11.7 km Not mapped 100%
Gellibrand 12.6 km 6% 100%
Skenes Creek 12.7 km 3% 100%
Wyelangta 12.8 km 0% 100%

See all Colac Otway suburb profiles →