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Alexandra Canal, a tributary of the Cooks River, is an artificial waterway in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The canal is Sydney's first inbound waterway. It stretches 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 wide, increasing to at its mouth.〔 and is one of only two navigable canals constructed in New South Wales. ==History== Alexandra Canal was named after Princess Alexandra, who married Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in 1863. The suburb of Alexandria is also named after Princess Alexandra. 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. Construction of Alexandra Canal provided employment for workers during the depression of the 1890s.〔 The original plan was for the canal to continue all the way to Sydney Harbour,〔 but this did not eventuate, and construction of the canal ceased in 1900. During World War II, 250 wool sheds were constructed along the eastern side of the canal, built as temporary storage for the large amounts of wool stockpiled during the war. Some of these sheds still exist today. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the canal became highly polluted by runoff from nearby industries,〔 with the canal's sediment contaminated with heavy metals.〔 〕 In 1998, Sydney Water launched a A$4 million plan to clean and restore the condition of the canal's water,〔 but this plan has since been abandoned.〔 Five tributaries flow into the canal.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alexandra Canal (New South Wales)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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