Anxious Bay

Anxious Bay is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula about 275 km west north-west of Adelaide. It was named by Matthew Flinders on 21 February 1802. It is one of four ‘historic bays’ located on the South Australian coast.

Extent & description
Anxious Bay lies between Cape Radstock and Cape Finniss on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula. Anxious Bay itself is the entry point for the following minor coastal inlets from west to east - Baird Bay and Venus Bay. It is one of four bays on the South Australian coast considered by the Australian government to be a ‘historic bay’ under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 and proclaimed as such in 1987 and again in 2006 with the result that the mouth of the bay is on the territorial seas baseline and the waters within the bay are internal waters as per the definition used in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

European discovery
Matthew Flinders named Anxious Bay on 11 February 1802.

Ports and other settlements
Settlements on its shores include Venus Bay and Baird Bay. A third settlement, Port Kenny is accessible via the body of water known as Venus Bay. Both the settlements of Venus Bay and Port Kenny have port infrastructure consisting of jetties that are accessible via Venus Bay.

Economic use
As of 2013, an area within the southern end of the bay located to the immediate north of Waldegrave Island has been zoned under state planning legislation for aquaculture.

Protected areas
Protected areas located within and adjoining the bay’s extent include:
 * Conservation parks - Baird Bay Islands, Lake Newland, Venus Bay and Waldegrave Islands.
 * Marine parks - West Coast Bays Marine Park.