Shepherds Flat flood map & planning overlays
Shepherds Flat keeps 29 heritage places, median 52, on 14,859 m² lots.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Shepherds Flat
(Hepburn, VIC) - 26.82 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
26.82 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Shepherds Flat'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 Shepherds Flat
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.
Shepherds Flat at a glance
How Shepherds Flat is zoned
Selling in Shepherds Flat? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 26.82 km², Shepherds Flat is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 9% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 29 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ). The median lot measures about 14,859 m² across 288 parcels.
Who lives in Shepherds Flat
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Shepherds Flat 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 1035, and decile 8 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Shepherds Flat's 71 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Daylesford, the wider ABS statistical area containing Shepherds Flat. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Shepherds Flat itself.
8,201 in 2001 to 10,342 in 2025, up 26%.
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.
Shepherds Flat 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 Shepherds Flat 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 Shepherds Flat lot.
Shepherds Flat planning - frequently asked
Is Shepherds Flat flood-prone?
About 9% of Shepherds Flat falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 7%.
Is Shepherds Flat bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Shepherds Flat is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Hepburn average of 100%.
Is Shepherds Flat under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed over about 42% of Shepherds Flat in the period sampled, but only above 3,000 ft - the lowest measured was 3,000 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 Shepherds Flat?
The dominant planning zone in Shepherds Flat is Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ), though the suburb also includes Farming Zone (FZ2) and Rural Living Zone (RLZ1).
Does Shepherds Flat have heritage-listed places?
Shepherds Flat has 29 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Shepherds Flat?
Across 288 surveyed parcels in Shepherds Flat, the median lot size is about 14,859 m². There are also 45 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Shepherds Flat?
At the 2021 Census Shepherds Flat had 71 usual residents, with a median age of 52 and an average household size of 2.2 people. The wider Daylesford statistical area, which contains Shepherds Flat, went from 8,201 people in 2001 to 10,342 in 2025, up 26%.
Is Shepherds Flat an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Shepherds Flat scores 1035 and sits in decile 8 of 10 nationally and decile 8 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Shepherds Flat?
Median household income in Shepherds Flat was $1,218 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,400 for the typical suburb in Hepburn. Median rent was $145 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,300 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elevated Plains | 3.5 km | 4% | 100% |
| Basalt | 3.9 km | 4% | 100% |
| Franklinford | 3.9 km | 2% | 100% |
| Hepburn | 4.9 km | 7% | 100% |
| Mount Franklin | 5.0 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Dry Diggings | 5.6 km | <1% | 100% |
| Kooroocheang | 5.9 km | 6% | 100% |
| Hepburn Springs | 6.2 km | 5% | 100% |
| Yandoit Hills Mount Alexander |
8.0 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Werona Mount Alexander |
8.1 km | 6% | 100% |