What to know about Waurn Ponds
- Waurn Ponds had a median age of 27 in the 2021 Census. 97.6% of occupied dwellings were separate houses and 55.9% had four or more bedrooms.Source: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, Waurn Ponds
- The Waurn Ponds Valley is a Significant Landscape Overlay area (SLO3) of rounded hills and Waurn Ponds Creek at Geelong's western entrance. A permit is needed to remove, destroy or lop vegetation, with exceptions such as listed weeds and dead vegetation.Source: Greater Geelong Planning Scheme, Schedule 3 to the Significant Landscape Overlay
- The Hams Road subdivision overlay (DDO45) aims to reinstate a natural east-west waterway as a central feature with habitat, open space and stormwater roles.Source: Greater Geelong Planning Scheme, Schedule 45 to the Design and Development Overlay
- The City of Greater Geelong's plant guide covers the Waurn Ponds area in Zone 6 (alluvial loam, poor to moderate drainage) and Zone 7 (limestone plains and hills), and lists Hop Wattle, Prickly Moses and Prickly Tea-tree as found only around Waurn Ponds.Source: City of Greater Geelong, Indigenous plants info sheets, zones 6 and 7
What to know before landscaping in Waurn Ponds
Most Waurn Ponds homes are recent: in 2021 nearly every occupied dwelling was a separate house and more than half had four or more bedrooms. Many owners are landscaping a new block from bare soil, so the first jobs are usually levels, drainage, a lawn, fencing and a paved outdoor area.
The valley overlay
The Waurn Ponds Valley, the rounded hills and creek at Geelong's western entrance, is protected as a significant landscape. On land inside it, removing, destroying or lopping vegetation needs a planning permit, apart from listed weeds and dead plants (SLO3). Ask your landscaper to check the overlay map for your address before any clearing.
Soil and plants
The council's plant guides describe limestone plains and hills with moderately fertile loams, and alluvial loams along the creek flats with poor to moderate drainage, both with 55 to 60 cm of average rainfall (zone 7, zone 6). Hop Wattle, Prickly Moses and Prickly Tea-tree are listed as found only around Waurn Ponds, which makes them natural choices for a local planting plan.
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