Torquay flood map & planning overlays
Torquay is the Surf Coast's biggest town: 18,534 people on 563 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 Torquay
(Surf Coast, VIC) - 34.48 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
34.48 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Torquay'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 Torquay
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: observed - 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.
Torquay at a glance
How Torquay is zoned
Selling in Torquay? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 34.48 km², Torquay is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 7% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 77% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 13 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ2). The median lot measures about 563 m² across 11,209 parcels.
Who lives in Torquay
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Torquay 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 1091, and decile 10 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Torquay's 18,534 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Torquay, the wider ABS statistical area containing Torquay. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Torquay itself.
10,225 in 2001 to 26,581 in 2025, up 160%.
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.
Torquay 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 Torquay 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 54% of Torquay. 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 Torquay lot.
Torquay planning - frequently asked
Is Torquay flood-prone?
About 7% of Torquay falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 7%.
Is Torquay bushfire-prone?
Around 77% of Torquay is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Surf Coast average of 97%.
Is Torquay under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 54% of Torquay, and over about 90% 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 3,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 13 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 Torquay?
The dominant planning zone in Torquay is Farming Zone (FZ2), though the suburb also includes General Residential Zone (GRZ1) and Low Density Residential Zone (LDRZ).
Does Torquay have heritage-listed places?
Torquay has 13 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Torquay?
Across 11,209 surveyed parcels in Torquay, the median lot size is about 563 m². There are also 5,133 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Torquay have a train station?
There is no train station inside Torquay itself. The suburb is served by 63 bus stops.
What is the population of Torquay?
At the 2021 Census Torquay had 18,534 usual residents, with a median age of 39 and an average household size of 2.7 people. The wider Torquay statistical area, which contains Torquay, went from 10,225 people in 2001 to 26,581 in 2025, up 160%.
Is Torquay an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Torquay scores 1091 and sits in decile 10 of 10 nationally and decile 10 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Torquay?
Median household income in Torquay was $2,295 a week at the 2021 Census, against $2,045 for the typical suburb in Surf Coast. Median rent was $500 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,167 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan Juc | 4.2 km | 4% | 77% |
| Breamlea Greater Geelong |
5.7 km | 71% | 100% |
| Mount Duneed | 7.0 km | 10% | 91% |
| Freshwater Creek | 7.8 km | 11% | 100% |
| Bellbrae | 8.1 km | 2% | 100% |
| Armstrong Creek Greater Geelong |
9.1 km | 34% | 48% |
| Bells Beach | 9.7 km | 2% | 100% |
| Connewarre Greater Geelong |
11.7 km | 52% | 64% |
| Grovedale Greater Geelong |
12.2 km | 2% | 12% |
| Paraparap | 12.5 km | 9% | 100% |