Geilston Bay, Tasmania

Geilston Bay Hobart, Tasmania
View from Mount Wellington
Geilston Bay
Coordinates	42°50′11″S 147°21′4″E / 42.83639°S 147.35111°E / -42.83639; 147.35111
Population	3,461 (SAL 2021)[1]
Postcode(s)	7015
LGA(s)	City of Clarence
Federal division(s)	Franklin
Suburbs around Geilston Bay: Risdon Risdon Vale Risdon Vale Derwent River Geilston Bay Derwent River Lindisfarne Flagstaff Gully

Geilston Bay (pronounced both "Jeels-ton and "Geels-ton", other pronunciations also possible)^[a] is a largely residential suburb of Hobart between Risdon Vale, Shag Bay, and Lindisfarne, in the City of Clarence located on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River, taking its name from an inlet of that river of the same name. The inlet and locality were sometimes known by the alternative name "Limekiln Bay" on account of lime kilns which operated there between approximately the 1830s and the 1920s, the remains of which remained visible for some decades thereafter; another early name for the Bay was "James's Bay". The present suburb name derives from an early land holding "Geils Town" in the region purchased by Andrew Geils, Commandant of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) for a brief period in 1812-1813, who subsequently left his Australian holdings behind when he moved back to Scotland.

The nationally significant Late Oligocene (or early Miocene) "Geilston Bay Local Fauna" fossil find originates from this locality. Fossil mammal remains at this site were discovered by limestone quarrying activities in the 1860s and sent to the British Museum in London for further analysis, where they still reside. However there are no surface indications of the location of the site today, which lies buried by landfill under the playing fields of the former Geilston Bay High School.

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