Cambridge Gardens is a relatively new suburb, having only been
gazetted in 1981. It was formerly part of the suburb of
Cambridge Park.
Aboriginal culture Prior to European settlement, what is now Cambridge Gardens was home to the Mulgoa people who spoke the
Darug language. They lived a
hunter-gatherer lifestyle governed by traditional laws, which had their origins in the
Dreamtime. Their homes were bark huts called 'gunyahs'. They hunted
kangaroos and
emus for meat, and gathered
yams, berries and other native plants. Shortly after the arrival of the
First Fleet in Australia in 1788, an outbreak of
smallpox decimated the local indigenous communities and made it easier for settlers to dispossess them of their land.
European settlement The first land grant in the area was made in 1831 to Phillip Parker King, son of the Governor
Phillip Gidley King. It became part of the Werrington estate belonging to his sister Mary Lethbridge and was run as a farm until the 1880s when the estate was subdivided into smaller farms. This area was renamed Cambridge Park. In 1978, a second primary school was established in Cambridge Park and given the name Cambridge Gardens Public School. Three years later, the name was adopted for the surrounding area and the suburb of Cambridge Gardens was born. ==Demographics==