Brown Hill flood map & planning overlays
Brown Hill houses 4,489 people, median 36, 87.8% bushfire.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Brown Hill
(Ballarat, VIC) - 7.96 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
7.96 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Brown Hill'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 Brown Hill
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
typical observed square 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 3,500 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.
Brown Hill at a glance
How Brown Hill is zoned
Selling in Brown Hill? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 7.96 km², Brown Hill is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 4% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 88% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 2 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is General Residential Zone (GRZ1). The median lot measures about 786 m² across 2,664 parcels.
Who lives in Brown Hill
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Brown Hill 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 1011, and decile 6 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Brown Hill's 4,489 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Ballarat North - Invermay, the wider ABS statistical area containing Brown Hill. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Brown Hill itself.
12,250 in 2001 to 15,204 in 2025, up 24%.
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.
Brown Hill 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 | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Zoning | Mapped | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services, Defence |
| Observed flight paths | Observed | adsb.lol, under the Open Database License |
| Demographics | Available | Australian 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 Brown Hill 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 38% of Brown Hill. 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 Brown Hill lot.
Brown Hill planning - frequently asked
Is Brown Hill flood-prone?
About 4% of Brown Hill falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 8%.
Is Brown Hill bushfire-prone?
Around 88% of Brown Hill is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Ballarat average of 68%.
Is Brown Hill under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 38% of Brown Hill, and over about 96% at any altitude up to 10,000 ft, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 2,000 ft, with an average of 4,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 1 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 Brown Hill?
The dominant planning zone in Brown Hill is General Residential Zone (GRZ1), though the suburb also includes Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ1) and Farming Zone (FZ).
Does Brown Hill have heritage-listed places?
Brown Hill has 2 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Brown Hill?
Across 2,664 surveyed parcels in Brown Hill, the median lot size is about 786 m². There are also 1,276 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Brown Hill have a train station?
There is no train station inside Brown Hill itself. The suburb is served by 16 bus stops.
What is the population of Brown Hill?
At the 2021 Census Brown Hill had 4,489 usual residents, with a median age of 36 and an average household size of 2.5 people. The wider Ballarat North - Invermay statistical area, which contains Brown Hill, went from 12,250 people in 2001 to 15,204 in 2025, up 24%.
Is Brown Hill an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Brown Hill scores 1011 and sits in decile 7 of 10 nationally and decile 6 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Brown Hill?
Median household income in Brown Hill was $1,757 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,680 for the typical suburb in Ballarat. Median rent was $290 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,619 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gong Gong | 2.0 km | 9% | 100% |
| Nerrina | 2.2 km | 1% | 100% |
| Ballarat East | 2.6 km | 10% | 48% |
| Warrenheip Moorabool |
3.5 km | 5% | 100% |
| Eureka | 3.5 km | 7% | 0% |
| Black Hill | 3.7 km | 2% | 76% |
| Glen Park | 4.4 km | 6% | 100% |
| Pootilla Moorabool |
4.4 km | <1% | 100% |
| Leigh Creek Moorabool |
4.4 km | 6% | 100% |
| Ballarat North | 4.6 km | 1% | 26% |