Charam flood map & planning overlays
Charam carries West Wimmera's biggest flood share, 20.2%.
A planning-constraint profile of Charam
(West Wimmera, VIC) - 139.28 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
Suburb-wide figures; the free map shows which overlays touch your lot.
Constraint readout
139.28 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Charam's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Charam
Two different things, kept apart on purpose. The ANEF contour is the planning instrument - a forecast published per airport that planning schemes use to control noise-sensitive development. Observed overflight is what a sampled aircraft-tracking feed actually recorded over the suburb - where aircraft flew, how low and how often.
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 24 Oct 2026
Night movements: not established - night is sampled as often as day, but too few night flights have been seen here to conclude either way.
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.
Charam at a glance
How Charam is zoned
Selling in Charam? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 139.28 km², Charam is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 20% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ1). The median lot measures about 778,392 m² across 144 parcels.
Who lives in Charam
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Charam 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 1050, and decile 9 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of West Wimmera, the wider ABS statistical area containing Charam. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Charam itself.
3,353 in 2001 to 2,656 in 2025, down 21%.
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.
Charam 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 Charam 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 →Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Charam lot.
Charam planning - frequently asked
Is Charam flood-prone?
About 20% of Charam falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 7%.
Is Charam bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Charam is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a West Wimmera average of 100%.
Is Charam under a flight path?
No aircraft were observed over Charam in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). 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 Charam?
The dominant planning zone in Charam is Farming Zone (FZ1), though the suburb also includes Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) and Transport Zone (TRZ2).
Does Charam have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Charam.
What is the typical lot size in Charam?
Across 144 surveyed parcels in Charam, the median lot size is about 778,392 m². There are also 82 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Is Charam an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Charam scores 1050 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wombelano | 8.8 km | 10% | 100% |
| Ullswater | 9.5 km | 15% | 100% |
| Karnak | 11.3 km | 11% | 100% |
| Miga Lake | 15.7 km | 8% | 100% |
| Ozenkadnook | 18.3 km | 6% | 100% |
| Douglas | 20.3 km | 10% | 100% |
| Jilpanger Horsham |
20.7 km | 6% | 99% |
| Edenhope | 21.0 km | 10% | 100% |
| Patyah | 22.3 km | 9% | 100% |
| Harrow | 23.3 km | 2% | 100% |