Denial Bay is the name for both a small bay on the coast of South Australia, and a small fishing town built at the bay. The bay was named by explorer Matthew Flinders on 7 February 1802. Flinders had hoped that bay was bigger and would have provided better access into the inland of South Australia. One of the first European settlers was a sheep farmer, William McKenzie, who built a house in the area in 1889. The town was known as Mac's Town, and in 1910 the government officially named it McKenzie. In 1940 it was named Denial Bay.