Smiths Beach flood map & planning overlays
Smiths Beach's 604 m² blocks carry 71% bushfire mapping.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Smiths Beach
(Bass Coast, VIC) - 1.17 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
1.17 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Smiths Beach'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 Smiths Beach
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 0 a day
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.
Smiths Beach at a glance
How Smiths Beach is zoned
Selling in Smiths Beach? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 1.17 km², Smiths Beach is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 2% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 71% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 604 m² across 626 parcels.
Who lives in Smiths Beach
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Smiths Beach 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 1026, and decile 7 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Smiths Beach's 315 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Phillip Island, the wider ABS statistical area containing Smiths Beach. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Smiths Beach itself.
7,361 in 2001 to 14,795 in 2025, up 101%.
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.
Smiths Beach 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 Smiths Beach 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 55% of Smiths Beach. 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 Smiths Beach lot.
Smiths Beach planning - frequently asked
Is Smiths Beach flood-prone?
About 2% of Smiths Beach falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 15%.
Is Smiths Beach bushfire-prone?
Around 71% of Smiths Beach is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Bass Coast average of 93%.
Is Smiths Beach under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 55% of Smiths Beach, and over about 67% 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 1,500 ft, with an average of 3,000 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 Smiths Beach?
The dominant planning zone in Smiths Beach is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes General Residential Zone (GRZ1) and Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ).
Does Smiths Beach have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Smiths Beach.
What is the typical lot size in Smiths Beach?
Across 626 surveyed parcels in Smiths Beach, the median lot size is about 604 m². There are also 57 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Smiths Beach have a train station?
There is no train station inside Smiths Beach itself. The suburb is served by 1 bus stop.
What is the population of Smiths Beach?
At the 2021 Census Smiths Beach had 315 usual residents, with a median age of 51 and an average household size of 2.1 people. The wider Phillip Island statistical area, which contains Smiths Beach, went from 7,361 people in 2001 to 14,795 in 2025, up 101%.
Is Smiths Beach an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Smiths Beach scores 1026 and sits in decile 8 of 10 nationally and decile 7 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Smiths Beach?
Median household income in Smiths Beach was $1,181 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,286 for the typical suburb in Bass Coast. Median rent was $330 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,600 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunset Strip | 1.2 km | Not mapped | 47% |
| Sunderland Bay | 1.5 km | <1% | 87% |
| Rhyll | 3.0 km | 14% | 94% |
| Surf Beach | 3.0 km | 11% | 81% |
| Wimbledon Heights | 3.1 km | Not mapped | 39% |
| Cowes | 4.1 km | 1% | 68% |
| Silverleaves | 5.7 km | 94% | 82% |
| Ventnor | 6.3 km | 1% | 96% |
| Newhaven | 6.8 km | 14% | 94% |
| Churchill Island | 7.2 km | 21% | 90% |