Best Security Camera Positions for Australian Homes

1. Walk your property like a thief would

   Start outside. Walk around your home and ask yourself: where would someone approach if they didn't want to be seen? Look for dark corners, sections hidden by fences, and routes not visible from the street. These are your priority zones. In Toowoomba suburbs like Rangeville and Newtown, heritage Queenslanders often have long side verandahs and elevated stumps — that under-house access point is a common blind spot worth covering.

2. Mount at the right height — not too high, not too low

   The sweet spot for outdoor cameras is 2.4m to 3.5m above ground. Lower than 2.4m and someone can tamper with the camera or simply angle it away. Higher than 3.5m and you lose the ability to capture usable facial detail — you'll end up with top-of-head footage that's useless for identification. On a standard Queenslander with a high verandah, the fascia line often puts you right in that ideal range without any additional mounting hardware.

3. Front door: face, not wide-angle

   Your front door camera should be positioned to capture facial detail of anyone at the threshold. Mount it above the door frame, angled slightly downward. Aim for a field of view that extends 3–5m out from the door — enough to capture an approach, not so wide that faces become unrecognisable. A 2.8mm or 4mm lens works well here. Avoid going ultra-wide (1.68mm fisheye) on a door camera — the distortion makes identification harder.

4. Driveway: go wide and high

   Your driveway camera needs to do two jobs: capture vehicle number plates and show the full width of your entry. Mount it at the highest practical point — under an eave or on a corner post — and use a wider lens (4mm–6mm) to capture the breadth of the driveway. For number plate capture, angle the camera so the plate is roughly square-on, not at a steep angle. Steep overhead angles make plates almost unreadable on standard definition cameras.

5. Backyard: think zones, not just the door

   A single camera angled from a back corner of the house can often cover both the rear door and a significant portion of the yard. Position it under the eave at the rear corner and pan it diagonally across the yard. This avoids the common mistake of mounting a camera dead-centre on the back wall — that gives you a narrow corridor of coverage rather than sweeping the full space. In modern low-set homes in Highfields or Glenvale, the back corner eave position usually works perfectly.

6. Side gates: the easiest spot people forget

   Side passages are narrow and often unlit — which is exactly why they need a camera. Mount one camera above each gate, aimed along the passage toward the backyard. If the passage is long, consider a camera at each end. Keep the angle level, not steep — you want to see faces, not scalps. Motion-triggered lighting paired with a camera here is a strong deterrent combination.

7. Check for overlapping coverage and blind spots

   Once you've decided on positions, draw a rough sketch of your property and mark each camera's approximate field of view. Look for gaps — uncovered sections where someone could move without being recorded. Common blind spots include the area directly under a camera (mount angle too steep), the section between two cameras on a long fence line, and the area immediately behind large shrubs or vehicles. Trim vegetation that blocks camera sightlines, or reposition to avoid it.

After 15 years installing cameras across Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, a few things come up on nearly every job.

Factor in the storm season. Toowoomba sits at 700m on the Great Dividing Range and it is a lightning hotspot. October through March brings storms that can surge and fry NVR units. Every outdoor camera position needs to account for weatherproofing — I won't install an outdoor camera that isn't rated IP66 or better. Mount cameras under eaves wherever possible; it protects against both hail impact and direct water ingress. We've had hailstones recorded at over 11cm in this region — an exposed dome camera on a flat fascia won't survive a serious hail event.

Queenslander verandahs are a gift. The deep covered verandahs on heritage homes in East Toowoomba and Newtown give you a protected mounting position that's naturally angled toward the street. A camera on the verandah post or fascia, looking toward the front gate, is protected from rain and hail while sitting at the ideal height. Timber fixings are different to masonry though — you need appropriate screws and backing plates, not standard concrete anchors.

Think about power before you pick a position. On older Queenslanders especially, there often isn't a convenient power point near the camera location. That means running new cable — which is licensed electrical work, not a DIY job. PoE (Power over Ethernet) systems simplify this; you run a single Cat6 cable from your NVR to each camera, which carries both data and power. I recommend PoE for any permanent wired installation — it's cleaner, more reliable, and easier to fault-find than running separate power cables to each camera.

Label your cable runs. If you ever need to replace a camera or extend the system, knowing exactly where each cable runs saves significant time. We label both ends of every cable and include a simple diagram with every installation. It costs nothing to do during the install and saves hours of frustration later.

Choosing camera positions is something any homeowner can think through using this guide. Actually mounting cameras safely, routing cables through wall cavities, and connecting everything to an NVR is a different matter — particularly in heritage Queenslanders where you don't want to damage timber frames, or in any situation requiring new power points to be installed.

In Queensland, anyone installing security cameras commercially must hold a Class 2B security equipment installer licence under the Security Providers Act 1993. New power points or additional circuits require a licensed electrician. Getting both in one tradesperson saves time and avoids the coordination headache of managing two separate contractors.

If you're in Toowoomba or anywhere across the Darling Downs and want cameras positioned and installed properly the first time, call us on 0490 498 789. We'll walk through your property, recommend the right positions for your specific home layout, and get everything installed neatly with no exposed cabling and no blind spots.