Alexandra Canal, Heritage canal in southern Sydney, Australia

Alexandra Canal is a 4-kilometre artificial waterway in southern Sydney, running from Alexandria through St Peters and Mascot past Sydney Airport to the Cooks River at Tempe. Its banks are sloping dry sandstone capped with sandstone coping, and it is spanned by four bridges, including the Shell pipeline bridge and the Sydenham to Botany railway line. The canal is 60 metres wide, widening to 80 metres at its mouth.

The canal took shape in the 1890s as a work relief project, redirecting Shea's Creek into a cargo transport route for industry. This effort shaped the area's economic development and infrastructure for generations.

The canal is named after Princess Alexandra, who married Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1863. During World War II, 250 wool sheds were built along its eastern bank for wartime wool storage; some still stand. The Southern Cross Cable, commissioned in 2000, runs beneath the canal at Alexandria and carries a large share of Australia's internet traffic to North America.

Walking paths run along the banks with observation areas where you can pause and view the waterway. The terrain is relatively flat and straightforward for exploring on foot, with many points to stop and take in the surroundings.

In 1896, excavating Shea's Creek for the canal, workers found dugong remains in estuarine clay. Robert Etheridge, then curator of the Australian Museum, found the animal had been butchered with a blunt-edged chopping tool, and two stone hatchet heads lay nearby.