Waratah Bay flood map & planning overlays
Waratah Bay blocks run 647 m², 4th-tightest of 78.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Waratah Bay
(South Gippsland, VIC) - 9.25 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
9.25 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Waratah Bay'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 Waratah Bay
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.
Waratah Bay at a glance
How Waratah Bay is zoned
Selling in Waratah Bay? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 9.25 km², Waratah Bay is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 16% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There is 1 heritage-listed site on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 647 m² across 152 parcels.
Who lives in Waratah Bay
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Waratah Bay 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 1051, and decile 9 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Foster, the wider ABS statistical area containing Waratah Bay. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Waratah Bay itself.
8,272 in 2001 to 9,631 in 2025, up 16%.
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.
Waratah Bay 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 Waratah Bay 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 6% of Waratah Bay. 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 Waratah Bay lot.
Waratah Bay planning - frequently asked
Is Waratah Bay flood-prone?
About 16% of Waratah Bay falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 12%.
Is Waratah Bay bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Waratah Bay is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a South Gippsland average of 99%.
Is Waratah Bay under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 6% of Waratah Bay, and over about 24% 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 2,500 ft, with an average of 5,000 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 Waratah Bay?
The dominant planning zone in Waratah Bay is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) and Public Use Zone (PUZ1).
Does Waratah Bay have heritage-listed places?
Waratah Bay has 1 heritage-listed place on record.
What is the typical lot size in Waratah Bay?
Across 152 surveyed parcels in Waratah Bay, the median lot size is about 647 m². There are also 73 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Is Waratah Bay an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Waratah Bay scores 1051 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy Point | 5.8 km | 42% | 90% |
| Walkerville | 6.0 km | <1% | 100% |
| Walkerville North | 7.3 km | 14% | 100% |
| Fish Creek | 8.1 km | 1% | 100% |
| Walkerville South | 8.8 km | 5% | 100% |
| Yanakie | 11.8 km | 20% | 100% |
| Tarwin Lower | 12.7 km | 13% | 100% |
| Buffalo | 14.4 km | 12% | 100% |
| Middle Tarwin | 18.3 km | 24% | 100% |
| Foster | 18.7 km | 7% | 99% |