Derwent Valley
Tasmania · Central Highlands (Tas.), South East
Live · ABS ERP June 2025
Derwent Valley has 2 schools (2 government, 0 non-government; ACARA School Profile 2025) and 1 NQS-rated childcare service (ACECQA register). Population is 3,464 (ABS ERP June 2025).
Derwent Valley at a glance
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Boundaries: ABS Suburbs & Localities 2021. School pins are ACARA's published locations. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO. Open the full TAS map →
How the Family-Fit score is built31/100
Family-Fit score
Method published in fullFew family services nearby - strongest on families already here, weakest on childcare & early years.
- Schools in the area · 20% of the score
- 30/100
- Childcare & early years · 15% of the score
- 10/100
- Everyday amenities · 15% of the score
- 28/100
- Housing affordability · 15% of the score
- 53/100
- Families already here · 10% of the score
- 59/100
- Socio-economic profile · 10% of the score
- 11/100
TAS median 49/100
2 schools in this SA2 · average government-school ICSEA 891
TAS median 20/100
1 NQS-rated service nearby
TAS median 65/100
2 parks · no GP mapped (not counted) · 0 supermarkets · 2 playgrounds
TAS median 50/100
Paying over 30% of income on housing: 10.6% of mortgage-holding households, 30.9% of renting households
TAS median 51/100
16.8% of residents are children aged 0–14 · 41.5% of families are couples with children
TAS median 22/100
SEIFA IRSAD decile 2 of 10 nationally
The grey marker on each bar is the median across the 91 Tasmania areas we publish a score for (state median overall: 45/100). It is context, not a pass mark.
Not scored here (no published data for this area, so it is left out rather than counted as zero): Getting around. The remaining inputs were rescaled to 100.
How this score is calculated
Each published figure for the Derwent Valley SA2 is mapped onto 0–100 by fixed thresholds, then weighted. Inputs with no data here are dropped and the rest rescaled - never scored as zero. Every threshold and weight →
School results, crime and flood or bushfire overlays are not graded into this score. Limits of the score →
What families notice
What families notice
- We don't have official school-zoning data for TAS yet (only VIC, NSW and QLD) - confirm zoning directly with the school or department.
- We don't yet have official crime data for TAS (only NSW and VIC) - that's a data gap on our side, not a claim this area is safe.
- About 31% of renters here spend over 30% of income on rent - above the standard affordability guideline (ABS Census 2021).
Living in Derwent Valley: family snapshot
Living in Derwent Valley
A smaller suburb. 1 NQS-rated childcare service nearby. Mostly detached family homes.
Derwent Valley compared with Tasmania10 measures
| Measure | Derwent Valley | TAS average | Against TAS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Children aged 0 to 4 | 4.3% | 5.1% | About the same |
| Children aged 5 to 14 | 12.5% | 11.5% | Higher |
| Couple families with children | 41.5% | 36.7% | Higher |
| One-parent families | 12.6% | 17.4% | Lower |
| Homes owned outright | 42.2% | 37.6% | Higher |
| Homes owned with a mortgage | 46.0% | 33.8% | Higher |
| Homes rented | 9.3% | 26.7% | Lower |
| Separate houses | 98.5% | 88.0% | Higher |
| Flats and apartments | 0.0% | 5.3% | Lower |
| Born overseas | 9.6% | 15.4% | Lower |
Source: ABS Census 2021. The TAS figure is the population-weighted average of the 99 TAS areas with a published value. "Higher" and "Lower" describe the number only.
About this area and its boundary
Derwent Valley is a locality in the Central Highlands (Tas.) area of Tasmania. This profile draws on ABS population and Census figures, the ACARA school register and ACECQA childcare ratings for the Derwent Valley SA2.
3,464 residents - 16.8% are children under 15, median age 44.
This profile uses the ABS Derwent Valley statistical area (SA2) - the level Australian government data is published at. SA2 boundaries don’t always match suburb boundaries. It covers the gazetted suburbs of Lachlan, Molesworth, Westerway, Black Hills, Maydena, Glenfern, Bushy Park and Hayes and 13 more localities, drawn separately on the map above.
Property market
No free house sale price or 3-bedroom house rent is published for this area. 9.3% of homes are rented, against 26.7% across Tasmania.
Homes and households
Source: ABS Census 2021. Where the shares do not add to 100%, the rest is "other" or "not stated".
Housing cost pressuremortgage and rent against income
Housing cost pressure
In Derwent Valley, 30.9% of renting households spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and 10.6% of households with a mortgage spend more than 30% on repayments - the ABS's stretched-household threshold (Census 2021).
ABS published figures, not our calculation.
- Mortgage over 30% of income
- 10.6%
- Rent over 30% of income
- 30.9%
TAS avg 10.1%
Share of households WITH a mortgage whose repayments take more than 30% of income. That's 58 of 478 households with a stated repayment.
TAS avg 34.2%
Share of RENTING households whose rent takes more than 30% of income. That's 34 of 93 households with a stated rent.
The two figures cover different households (mortgage-holding vs renting), so never add them. How the ABS counts these → Grey marker: TAS average (96 for mortgage and 96 for rent). Census 2021 - housing costs have moved since. Not financial advice.
What's being built herenew homes approved, year by year
What's being built here
7 new homes were approved in Derwent Valley in the year to June 2025. Councils approved 56 new dwellings here across the 6 years to June 2025 - an approval is permission to build, not a home that exists yet.
Approved in the year to June 2025
Middle TAS area: 19
Separate houses
Private sector, over these 6 years
Townhouses & apartments
Private sector, over these 6 years
Counts are for the whole Derwent Valley statistical area. What these counts include → Dashed line: the median of 93Tasmania areas.
Schools and childcare
2 schools are located in the area. 1 childcare service is on the national register, 1 rated Meeting the National Quality Standard or above.
Government schools in Derwent Valley
Free government schools your child may attend. Exact school zones aren’t mapped for TAS yet, so we can’t confirm which one is yours.
A picture of students’ family backgrounds (ICSEA) - not a ranking or a quality score.
We show school intake context and catchments, not exam results. We don’t publish a school ranking.
To look beyond Derwent Valley, every Tasmania school is on the Australian schools and catchment zones map.
Schools in Derwent Valley
ICSEA reflects student intake context, not teaching quality (1000 = national average). Source: ACARA School Profile 2025. All TAS schools →
Childcare: 1 service
National Quality Standard ratings from the ACECQA register, refreshed Oct 2026. Services are matched by suburb name.
Childcare services, ratings and fees1 services
- Meeting NQSMolesworth Uniting Outside School Hours CareCentre-Based Care · 30 places · MolesworthRated Jan 2026
Verify locations before visiting. A rating over 3 years old is flagged. What the NQS ratings mean → Childcare places per child, by suburb →
Who lives here
Fewer rented homes than Tasmania overall: 9.3% of homes, against 26.7% statewide.
Ages of people here
Share of residents in each age band, in years. Source: ABS Census 2021.
How the area is changingCensus 2011 to 2021
Each line is drawn on its own scale, so compare the numbers, not the heights. Source: ABS Census 2011, 2016 and 2021.
Census trends against the middle TAS areafull charts
Which way this area is moving
The 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses for Derwent Valley, counted on today's boundaries.
Since 2011, Derwent Valley has grown older, with a smaller share of children.
- People counted
- +229 people since 2011
- Median age
- +4 years since 2011
- Children aged 0–14
- −4.6 pts since 2011
- Born overseas
- −0.7 pts since 2011
- Speak another language at home
- +0.2 pts since 2011
Usual residents counted on Census night.
Half the residents are older than this, half younger.
Share of all residents. The clearest signal of families arriving or moving on.
Share of all residents born outside Australia.
Share of residents who stated a language, speaking one other than English at home.
The dashed line is the median across the Tasmania areas we profile. How the three Censuses line up →
Where this year's population change came from+0.10% in a year
Where did the gain come from?
+5Reading the streams: organic growth - more babies than goodbyes - was the biggest driver.
Ages against the state average, band by band
Ages of people here
12.5% of people here are school-age children (5–14) - about the Tasmania average of 11.5%, and 4.3% are under 5. The median age is 44.
- 0–4 years · before school
- 4.3%
- 5–14 years · school age
- 12.5%
- 15–19 years · teens
- 7.2%
- 20–34 years
- 13.6%
- 35–54 years
- 28.9%
- 55–64 years
- 16.9%
- 65 years and over
- 16.8%
TAS avg 5.1%
TAS avg 11.5%
TAS avg 5.4%
TAS avg 19.3%
TAS avg 24.2%
TAS avg 13.5%
TAS avg 20.9%
Share of all residents of Derwent Valley (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census; the grey marker is the Tasmania average. How the bands and averages work →
Households and families
Households and families
54% of families here have children living at home - about the Tasmania average of 54%. The largest overseas-born communities are United Kingdom (4.6%), New Zealand (1%) and South Africa (0.4%). 9% of homes are rented.
Family make-up
Share of all families in the area. A small "other family" group the ABS also counts is not shown.
- Couple with children
- 41.5%
- One-parent family
- 12.6%
- Couple, no children
- 45.2%
TAS avg 36.7%
TAS avg 17.4%
TAS avg 44.5%
What people live in
Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated structures are not shown.
- Separate house
- 98.5%
- Semi-detached / townhouse
- 0.8%
- Flat or apartment
- 0%
TAS avg 88%
TAS avg 6.1%
TAS avg 5.3%
Owned or rented
Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated tenures are not shown.
- Owned outright
- 42.2%
- Owned with a mortgage
- 46%
- Rented
- 9.3%
TAS avg 37.6%
TAS avg 33.8%
TAS avg 26.7%
Figures describe Derwent Valley (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census; the grey marker is the Tasmania average. How these are counted →
Birthplaces, languages and communities
Who lives in Derwent Valley
Top 5 overseas birthplaces shown · 93.3% born in Australia or a country not in the top five.
- United Kingdom · established by 2016
- 4.6%
- New Zealand · established by 2016
- 1%
- South Africa · growing since 2016
- 0.4%
- Netherlands · growing since 2016
- 0.4%
- Canada · growing since 2016
- 0.3%
TAS avg 4.1%
TAS avg 0.9%
TAS avg 0.1%
TAS avg 0.2%
TAS avg 0%
- Nearby
- New Norfolk, Berriedale - Chigwell and Claremont also have an established United Kingdom community.
- Settlement pattern
- Of overseas-born residents who stated when they arrived, 5.8% arrived in the last 5 years (2016–2021) (TAS avg 20.2%) and 76.2% arrived before 2001 (TAS avg 51.4%).
- English at home
- Of residents who speak a language other than English at home and stated their English proficiency, 5% report speaking English “not well” or “not at all” (TAS avg 9.1%) - a self-reported ABS figure across all languages combined, not a judgement of any one community.
Figures describe Derwent Valley (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census. The ABS publishes only the five largest communities per area, so a missing name did not rank in the top five. How these are counted →
Socio-economic index (SEIFA)decile 2 of 10
- Decile (1 lowest, 10 highest)
- Decile 2 of 10
- Where this sits in TAS
- bottom 20% of Tasmania areas
A relative comparison of the whole area against all of Australia - not a safety, liveability, or school-quality measure. What IRSAD measures → Source: ABS SEIFA 2021, IRSAD index (SA2).
Getting around and lifestyle
2 parks are mapped in the area, and the nearest emergency department is Royal Hobart Hospital, 45.5 km away in a straight line.
Mapped inside the Derwent Valley boundary. A zero can mean "not mapped" rather than "not there". Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Train to the city and nearest emergency department
Train to the city
Not publishedTasmania publishes no passenger-rail timetable feed, so we show no train travel time. Buses are not covered anywhere on this site.
Nearest emergency department
MappedRoyal Hobart Hospital · 45.5 km
Straight-line distance from the middle of this area - not a drive time. In an emergency call 000; do not plan around this figure.
Community and recreation
About this data
Counts of features tagged in OpenStreetMap inside the Derwent Valley boundary. “Middle TAS area”: the median of 96 Tasmania areas. How these counts and times are made →
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors
Crime & safety in Derwent Valley
Official recorded-incident data is only published on this site for NSW and VIC so far - that's a coverage gap on our side, not a claim that Derwent Valley is safe. SuburbRadar does not rate suburbs as safe or unsafe. More on crime & safety →
Risks
1 of the 1 planning and hazard records we hold show something in this area: traffic noise. 6 more are not published for TAS - treat them as not checked.
Traffic noise
Freeway or highway presentLyell Highway
Each line is the extent of an official record across the whole Derwent Valley area - not a risk rating, and a specific address may or may not be affected. Not financial or insurance advice.
All 9 checks and what each one means
Flooding
Not publishedNo free statewide flood overlay is published for TAS yet, so we show none. Check the local council's planning maps.
Bushfire
Not publishedWe hold official bushfire mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for TAS yet. Check the state fire service's mapping.
Heritage controls
Not publishedWe hold official heritage overlay mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for TAS yet. Check the local council's planning scheme and the state heritage register.
Traffic noise
Freeway or highway presentLyell Highway
1 named road through this area carries OpenStreetMap's highest classification - a freeway, motorway or major highway, whatever the road is called locally, alongside 11 named main roads. Roads are counted by name, not by mapped segment. Where a home sits relative to them matters far more than the count - a street two blocks back can be quiet.
Aircraft noise
Not publishedWe hold official aircraft-noise mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for TAS yet. Check the airport's noise contours and the local planning scheme.
Land contamination checks
Not mappedWe hold official contaminated-land overlay mapping for Victoria only - nothing is published here for TAS yet. Check the state environment authority's contaminated land register and the local planning scheme.
Acid sulfate soils
Not publishedWe hold acid sulfate soil mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for TAS yet. Coastal and estuarine land is where these soils occur; check the state's soil mapping and the local planning scheme.
Recorded crime
Not publishedTAS does not release the suburb-level incident counts we republish for New South Wales and Victoria, so we show none here.
Social housing
Census figure0.0% rented from a state or territory housing authority · 0.0% from a community housing provider
Share of occupied private dwellings here with a stated tenure (Census 2021). The middle TAS area is 2.3% public and 0.6% community, across 96 areas. Listed because families ask; it is a fact about who owns the homes, not a judgement about the people in them.
About this data
Every line is an official published record for the Derwent Valley area - we don't rate, score or rank any of them. Where a line is missing, treat it as not checked rather than clear. What each line covers and does not →
Source: ABS Census 2021 (G37 tenure and landlord type) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) - road classification
Nearby suburbs
- New Norfolk 22 km
- Brighton (Pontville area) 34 km
- Bridgewater (Gagebrook area) 34 km
- Berriedale (Chigwell area) 35 km
- Austins Ferry (Granton area) 35 km
- Claremont 36 km
The six closest profiled areas in Tasmania, by distance between area centres.
The suburbs in this area
Everything else on this page is published for Derwent Valley as a whole - one ABS statistical area covering 21 separate gazetted suburbs. These are the figures published for each of the 19 the ABS publishes a profile for.
| Suburb | Residents Census 2021 | Schools |
|---|---|---|
| Lachlan | 953 | 0 |
| Molesworth | 683 | 1 |
| Westerway | 210 | 1 |
| Black Hills | 201 | 0 |
| Maydena | 198 | 0 |
| Glenfern | 176 | 0 |
| Bushy Park | 147 | 0 |
| Hayes | 109 | 0 |
| Glenora | 93 | 1 |
| Rosegarland | 92 | 0 |
| National Park | 80 | 0 |
| Mount Lloyd | 78 | 0 |
| Moogara | 67 | 0 |
| Plenty | 66 | 0 |
| Macquarie Plains | 53 | 0 |
| Uxbridge | 40 | 0 |
| Fitzgerald | 33 | 0 |
| Karanja | 31 | 0 |
| Tyenna | 29 | 0 |
2 smaller localities are also inside this area. The ABS publishes no separate census profile for them, so they have no row here.
Each row is that suburb's own published figure - nothing here is the wider area's number divided up. Resident counts are the Census 2021 usual-resident count for the gazetted suburb, so they will not add up to the population at the top of this page, which is the ABS's later June 2025 estimate for the whole statistical area: a different measure on a different date. Schools are ACARA-registered schools whose published address falls inside the suburb boundary, which is not the same as the school your address is zoned to. No free source publishes suburb-level house medians in Tasmania, so no price column is shown - that is our coverage gap, not a statement about the market here. Every other figure on this page - crime & safety, overlays, commute, amenities, projections, the Family-Fit score - is published for the whole statistical area and cannot be separated by suburb.
Other areas in Central Highlands (Tas.)sorted by growth in one year
- 01Central Highlands+0.5%2,494 ppl
- 02Southern Midlands+0.5%6,998 ppl
- 03Wilderness - East+0.0%7 ppl
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