Cambridge Park, New South Wales

Cambridge Park is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 53 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.

Aboriginal culture
Prior to European settlement, what is now Cambridge Park 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 disposses 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. He named it St Stephens although it later became part of the Werrington estate belonging to his sister Mary Lethbridge. It was run as a farm until the 1880s when the estate was subdivided into smaller farms, one of which became Cambridge Park. Development in the area began in the 1950s. Cambridge Park Post Office opened on 2 January 1953 and closed around 1995.

Housing
Developed mainly in the 1950s, the streets are at right angles to each other, unlike the curving street patterns of the newer suburbs to the north, and the houses are mostly fibro on quarter acre blocks.

Demographics
According to the 2011 census, there were 6,160 residents in Cambridge Park.

In Cambridge Park, 79.7% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were England 4.4%, New Zealand 1.7% and Germany 0.8%.

88.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Greek 0.7%, Arabic 0.7%, Italian 0.5%, Polish 0.4% and German 0.4%.

The most common responses for religion in Cambridge Park were Catholic 30.9%, Anglican 26.8% and No Religion 17.8%.

Governance
At a local government level, Cambridge Park is part of the north ward of Penrith City Council, represented by Lexie Cettolin, Kevin Crameri, Ross Fowler, Pat Sheehy (currently mayor of Penrith) and John Thain. At the state level, it is part of the Electoral district of Londonderry, represented by Liberal's Bart Bassett. Federally, it is part of the Division of Lindsay, represented by Labor Party Member David Bradbury.