Alexandra Canal (New South Wales)
| Alexandra Canal | |
| Shea's Creek | |
| River | |
 Alexandra Canal, looking upstream towards the Sydney CBD.
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| Name origin: In honour of Princess Alexandra. | |
| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| State | New South Wales |
| Municipality | Sydney |
| Source | Sydney Park |
| - location | Alexandria |
| - coordinates | 33°54′37″S 151°11′29″E / 33.91028°S 151.19139°E |
| Mouth | Cooks River |
| - location | Tempe |
| - coordinates | 33°55′59″S 151°9′43″E / 33.93306°S 151.16194°ECoordinates: 33°55′59″S 151°9′43″E / 33.93306°S 151.16194°E |
| Length | 4 km (2 mi) |
| Width | 0.08 km (0 mi) |
Alexandra Canal, a tributary of the Cooks River, is an artificial waterway in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Alexandra Canal was named after Princess Alexandra, who married Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in 1863.
The canal is Sydney's first inbound waterway. It stretches 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the inner Sydney suburb of Alexandria, flowing through the suburbs of St Peters and Mascot, past Sydney's Sydney Airport to the Cooks River at Tempe, which eventually discharges into Botany Bay. The canal is 60 metres (200 ft) wide, increasing to 80 metres (260 ft) at its mouth. and is one of only two navigable canals constructed in New South Wales.
Early industry used Shea's Creek for drainage and complaints by the public were often aired to the government with requests for a solution.
Alexandra Canal was once a salt marsh known as Shea's Creek. Excavation began in 1887 to transform the marshland into a canal capable of carrying barges to transport goods from the nearby brickworks, woollen mills, tanneries and foundries.
During the excavation of Shea's Creek in 1896, the remains of a dugong were found in the estuarine clay. Examination by the then curator of the Australian Museum, Robert Etheridge, revealed the animal had been butchered by a blunt-edged cutting or chopping instrument. Two stone hatchet heads were found nearby. The artifacts provide evidence of the Indigenous Australians who lived in the area prior to European settlement.
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