Anxious Bay

Anxious Bay
View of Anxious Bay from mouth of Venus Bay
Anxious Bay Location in South Australia
Location	Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
Coordinates	33°19′24″S 134°36′50″E / 33.32333°S 134.61389°E / -33.32333; 134.61389Coordinates: 33°19′24″S 134°36′50″E / 33.32333°S 134.61389°E / -33.32333; 134.61389
Type	Bay
Basin countries	Australia
Max. length	66 km (41 mi).
Max. width	21 km (13 mi)
Max. depth	58 m (190 ft)
Islands	Waldegrave Island Jones Island
Settlements	Venus Bay Baird Bay

Anxious Bay is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula about 275 kilometres (171 miles) 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.

Anxious Bay lies between 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.

Matthew Flinders named Anxious Bay on 11 February 1802.

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.

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.