View source for Alexander Kennedy Smith

{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Other people|Alexander Smith}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder |
| honorific-prefix    =
| name= Alexander Kennedy Smith
| honorific-suffix=
| image=
| caption=
| nationality=[[Scotland|Scottish]] and [[Australia]]n
|citizenship=[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]]
| order=31st [[Mayor of Melbourne]]
| term_start=1875
| term_end=1876
| deputy          =
| predecessor=[[James Gatehouse (politician)|James Gatehouse]]
| successor= [[James Paterson (mayor)|James Paterson]]
| birth_date={{Birth date|1824|7|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place=[[Cauldmill]], [[Roxburghshire]], Scotland
| death_date={{Death date and age|1881|1|16|1824|7|7|df=yes}}
| death_place=[[Melbourne]], Australia
| spouse=
| party=
}}
'''Alexander Kennedy Smith'''  (7 July 1824 – 16 January 1881) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]]/[[Australians|Australian]] [[engineer]] and former [[Mayor of Melbourne]].

==Early life==
Smith was born in [[Cauldmill]] near [[Hawick]], [[Roxburghshire]], Scotland.  He was involved in the development of many of [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]]'s gas and water works during the 1850s and 1860s.

Smith was sent{{Clarify|date=October 2009}} from Scotland to [[Melbourne]] in 1854 to manage and build the Melbourne Gas and Coke Co. works. Once that project was complete, Smith remained in Victoria and set up his own practice. He built gas works at [[Ballarat, Victoria|Ballarat]], [[Castlemaine, Victoria|Castlemaine]] and [[Bendigo, Victoria|Bendigo]] in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], as well as one at [[Newcastle, New South Wales]]. Smith also drew up plans and specifications for many other works in Australia and overseas. He was a consulting and [[locomotive]] engineer for the [[Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company]], and worked as an engineer on the South Yarra Waterworks.

Smith was also a member of the [[Victorian Legislative Assembly]] from 1877 to 1881, member for the La Trobe Ward in the [[Melbourne City Council]] for fifteen years, and [[List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Melbourne|Mayor of Melbourne]] from 1875 to 1876.

Smith died of heart disease at his home in [[Yarra Bend Park|Studley Park]], Victoria, Australia.

==Career highlights==
*1846–1854 Engineer with the [[Great Western Railway|Great Western Railway Company]].
*1853 – c.1857 Seconded to build and manage the Melbourne Gas and Coke Co. works – a five-year contract
*1854 Arrived in Australia (Melbourne)
*c.1857 –  Civil and Consulting Engineer private practice established in [[Carlton, Victoria]]
*1860 – ? Major in the Victorian Volunteer Artillery Regiment
*1875–1876 Mayor of the City of Melbourne
*1877–1881 Member for [[Electoral district of East Melbourne|East Melbourne]] in the Legislative Assembly

==References==
*[http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P000152b.htm Bio at Melbourne University Bright Sparcs]
*Jill Eastwood, [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060159b.htm 'Smith, Alexander Kennedy (1824–1881)'], [[Australian Dictionary of Biography]], Vol.6, [[Melbourne University Press|MUP]], 1976, p.&nbsp;139

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Alexander Kennedy}}
[[Category:1824 births]]
[[Category:1881 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Scottish Borders]]
[[Category:Australian civil engineers]]
[[Category:Scottish civil engineers]]
[[Category:Mayors and lord mayors of Melbourne]]
[[Category:Victoria (state) state politicians]]
[[Category:Engineers from Melbourne]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia]]
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Australia]]


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