Waurn Ponds flood map & planning overlays
Waurn Ponds keeps 14 heritage places on its 681 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 Waurn Ponds
(Greater Geelong, VIC) - 23.25 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
23.25 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Waurn Ponds'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 Waurn Ponds
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, lowest 500 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.
Waurn Ponds at a glance
How Waurn Ponds is zoned
Selling in Waurn Ponds? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 23.25 km², Waurn Ponds is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 3% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 72% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 14 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 681 m² across 1,856 parcels.
Who lives in Waurn Ponds
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Waurn Ponds 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 1044, and decile 9 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Waurn Ponds's 4,956 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Highton, the wider ABS statistical area containing Waurn Ponds. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Waurn Ponds itself.
15,469 in 2001 to 25,794 in 2025, up 67%.
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.
Waurn Ponds 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 Waurn Ponds 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 63% of Waurn Ponds. 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 Waurn Ponds lot.
Waurn Ponds planning - frequently asked
Is Waurn Ponds flood-prone?
About 3% of Waurn Ponds falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 18%.
Is Waurn Ponds bushfire-prone?
Around 72% of Waurn Ponds is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Greater Geelong average of 50%.
Is Waurn Ponds under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 63% of Waurn Ponds, and over about 80% 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 2,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 0 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 Waurn Ponds?
The dominant planning zone in Waurn Ponds is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Special Use Zone (SUZ7) and Public Use Zone (PUZ2).
Does Waurn Ponds have heritage-listed places?
Waurn Ponds has 14 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Waurn Ponds?
Across 1,856 surveyed parcels in Waurn Ponds, the median lot size is about 681 m². There are also 1,033 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Waurn Ponds have a train station?
There is no train station inside Waurn Ponds itself. The suburb is served by 16 bus stops.
What is the population of Waurn Ponds?
At the 2021 Census Waurn Ponds had 4,956 usual residents, with a median age of 27 and an average household size of 3.0 people. The wider Highton statistical area, which contains Waurn Ponds, went from 15,469 people in 2001 to 25,794 in 2025, up 67%.
Is Waurn Ponds an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Waurn Ponds scores 1044 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Waurn Ponds?
Median household income in Waurn Ponds was $2,286 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,670 for the typical suburb in Greater Geelong. Median rent was $430 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,755 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wandana Heights | 3.5 km | 5% | 46% |
| Grovedale | 4.6 km | 2% | 12% |
| Ceres | 4.6 km | 11% | 100% |
| Highton | 4.7 km | 11% | 15% |
| Belmont | 6.2 km | 30% | 10% |
| Mount Duneed Surf Coast |
6.3 km | 10% | 91% |
| Barrabool Surf Coast |
6.4 km | 7% | 100% |
| Marshall | 6.8 km | 16% | 67% |
| Newtown (Geelong) | 7.5 km | 24% | 11% |
| Freshwater Creek Surf Coast |
7.6 km | 11% | 100% |