Harkness flood map & planning overlays
Harkness is home to 12,463 people, median 30, 77.3% 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 Harkness
(Melton, VIC) - 17.94 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
17.94 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Harkness'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 Harkness
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 2,000 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.
Harkness at a glance
How Harkness is zoned
Selling in Harkness? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 17.94 km², Harkness is highly constrained by planning overlays. Flood mapping covers the suburb and none of it falls within a mapped flood overlay, and 77% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 2 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Green Wedge Zone (GWZ). The median lot measures about 497 m² across 4,860 parcels.
Who lives in Harkness
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Harkness 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 935, and decile 2 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Harkness's 12,463 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Melton West, the wider ABS statistical area containing Harkness. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Harkness itself.
8,178 in 2001 to 22,710 in 2025, up 178%.
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.
Harkness 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 Harkness 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 79% of Harkness. 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 Harkness lot.
Harkness planning - frequently asked
Is Harkness flood-prone?
Flood mapping covers Harkness and less than 1% of the suburb falls within a mapped flood overlay (the council-wide suburb average is 4%).
Is Harkness bushfire-prone?
Around 77% of Harkness is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Melton average of 60%.
Is Harkness under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 79% of Harkness, and over about 95% 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 500 ft, with an average of 5,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 12 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 Harkness?
The dominant planning zone in Harkness is Green Wedge Zone (GWZ), though the suburb also includes General Residential Zone (GRZ1) and Green Wedge A Zone (GWAZ).
Does Harkness have heritage-listed places?
Harkness has 2 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Harkness?
Across 4,860 surveyed parcels in Harkness, the median lot size is about 497 m². There are also 2,135 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Harkness have a train station?
There is no train station inside Harkness itself. The suburb is served by 33 bus stops.
What is the population of Harkness?
At the 2021 Census Harkness had 12,463 usual residents, with a median age of 30 and an average household size of 3.1 people. The wider Melton West statistical area, which contains Harkness, went from 8,178 people in 2001 to 22,710 in 2025, up 178%.
Is Harkness an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Harkness scores 935 and sits in decile 3 of 10 nationally and decile 2 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Harkness?
Median household income in Harkness was $1,752 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,841 for the typical suburb in Melton. Median rent was $350 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,700 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melton West | 2.7 km | 3% | 53% |
| Long Forest Moorabool |
3.4 km | 5% | 100% |
| Kurunjang | 4.2 km | 4% | 36% |
| Brookfield | 5.2 km | 10% | 56% |
| Hopetoun Park Moorabool |
5.9 km | 18% | 100% |
| Melton South | 6.1 km | 3% | 7% |
| Merrimu Moorabool |
6.3 km | 5% | 100% |
| Toolern Vale | 7.1 km | <1% | 100% |
| Melton | 7.2 km | 6% | 63% |
| Cobblebank | 7.7 km | 1% | 75% |