Denial Bay (formerly McKenzie) is a town and an associated locality in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

located on the state's west coast about north-west of the state capital of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and about west of the municipal seat of Ceduna. The town which is located on the western side of

Murat Bay Murat Bay is a bay at the western end of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is an inlet of the Great Australian Bight. The main town on the bay is Ceduna, South Australia, Ceduna. The Tourville and Murat Bays Important Bird Area includes Murat ...

has extensive

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an history, first built on in 1889, and now hosts a large expanse of

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

farms, one of the largest on the Eyre Peninsula.

History

The bay which the town is named after initially

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

ped by

Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...

in 1802, as part of a wider attempt to map

coastline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

. Flinders named the inlet "Denial Bay" because of "''the deceptive hope we had formed of penetrating by it some distance into the interior of the country''". The first European exploration of the hinterland was in August 1839 by John Hill and Samuel Stephens, using the chartered brig ''Rapid'' as a base. The town was established by William McKenzie in 1889 as the first settlement in what was to become the Ceduna area. McKenzie nearly single-handedly set up the town, clearing mallee scrub by

axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

, building a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

and becoming the local

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

master,

postman A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

, saddler and Justice of the Peace, employing up to 30 people at any one time. The town established primarily as a loading and offloading point for the various inland

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

activities, and this was done using a unique system based on the rocky floor of the bay's

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

. A large wooden platform known as 'McKenzie's Landing' was constructed and at high

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

s would unload goods onto the platform and at low tides horse and cart would be used to collect the items. The same would be done to load boats. The town was surveyed during December 1909 and proclaimed under the name McKenzie on 16 June 1910 presumably after William McKenzie. The town was officially renamed as Denial Bay on 19 September 1940. During this peak of activity, a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

opened in 1897 and continued operation until 1945. In 1909, a

jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

was constructed south of McKenzie's Landing after a 1905 proposal, and still stands today. The boundaries of the locality were proclaimed in January 1999. Another piece of history at Denial Bay is the famous dog fence which runs down to the water near McKenzie's Landing. The town has long since ceased functioning as a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

, and today relies on the

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

industry, as well as

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

Economy

The

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

of Denial Bay now depends heavily on the production of

Oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of Seawater, salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in Marine (ocean), marine or Brackish water, brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly Calcification, calcified, a ...

, as well as minor inputs from

. Oyster farming was established in the area in 1985, with of intertidal farms allocated to farmers within the bay. The maximum size per individual farm was . This has since increased to over in Denial and Murat Bays. The oysters grown in both the Denial Bay and Smoky Bay regions account for approximately 20% of all oysters grown in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. The oyster growing industry is celebrated each year during 'Oysterfest' in Ceduna. Tourism in the town is centred around recreational

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and other marine based activities such as

snorkelling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing the ambient air through a shaped tube called a snorkel, usually with swimming goggles or a ...

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and even

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

along some parts of the coast. The bay has an unusually high density of the Blue Swimmer Crab, making it a popular destination for crabbers, with crabs caught off the

or by

. Other notable species caught in the bay include Snapper, King George and Yellowfin Whiting, Salmon, Mulloway,

Shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

and

Squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

, as well as a host of other species.

Media

A newspaper, the ''Denial Bay Starter'', a weekly paper issued every Saturday, was printed in Denial Bay from 14 November 1908 to 29 January 1910.

Facilities

Denial Bay is a very small

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

, and as such has very limited facilities. The town does have a small

that sells

petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

and

groceries A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

, with a public payphone located nearby. A full range of shopping and business services is located in Ceduna only 12 kilometres away by sealed road. The town has very little in the way of accommodation, sporting grounds, eateries or other services.

Governance

Denial Bay is located within the federal

Division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 ...

, the state electoral district of Flinders and the local government area of the District Council of Ceduna.

References

External links

Ceduna Online

Map of Denial Bay
{{authority control Coastal towns in South Australia Eyre Peninsula Bays of South Australia Fishing communities in Australia