Emu flood map & planning overlays
Emu runs 6 ha farms with flood mapping across 15.4%.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Emu
(Northern Grampians, VIC) - 82.04 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 25 October 2026.
Constraint readout
82.04 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Emu'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 Emu
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
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.
Emu at a glance
How Emu is zoned
Selling in Emu? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 82.04 km², Emu is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 15% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 3 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 56,549 m² across 350 parcels.
Who lives in Emu
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Emu 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 944, and decile 2 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of St Arnaud, the wider ABS statistical area containing Emu. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Emu itself.
4,075 in 2001 to 3,394 in 2025, down 17%.
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.
Emu 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 25 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 Emu 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 Emu lot.
Emu planning - frequently asked
Is Emu flood-prone?
About 15% of Emu falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 27%.
Is Emu bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Emu is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Northern Grampians average of 100%.
Is Emu under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed over about 3% of Emu in the period sampled, but only above 3,000 ft - the lowest measured was 7,500 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 Emu?
The dominant planning zone in Emu is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) and Transport Zone (TRZ1).
Does Emu have heritage-listed places?
Emu has 3 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Emu?
Across 350 surveyed parcels in Emu, the median lot size is about 56,549 m². There are also 11 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Emu have a train station?
There is no train station inside Emu itself. The suburb is served by 2 bus stops.
Is Emu an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Emu scores 944 and sits in decile 3 of 10 nationally and decile 2 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dalyenong | 8.9 km | 7% | 100% |
| Carapooee | 10.2 km | 24% | 100% |
| Kooreh | 10.2 km | 41% | 100% |
| Bealiba Central Goldfields |
10.3 km | 19% | 100% |
| Cochranes Creek Loddon |
11.9 km | 6% | 100% |
| Logan Loddon |
12.5 km | 31% | 100% |
| Archdale Central Goldfields |
12.7 km | 51% | 100% |
| Burkes Flat Loddon |
14.5 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| St Arnaud East | 16.2 km | 4% | 100% |
| Stuart Mill | 16.5 km | 9% | 100% |