Cambridge Gardens, New South Wales

Cambridge Gardens is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cambridge Gardens is located 54 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.

History
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
According to the 2011 census of Population, there were 2,038 residents in Cambridge Gardens. In Cambridge Gardens, 80.7% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were England 4.5%, New Zealand 2.1% and Ireland 0.8%. 91.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 1.2%, Thai 0.5%, Tagalog 0.5%, Samoan 0.5% and Polish 0.4%. The most common responses for religion in Cambridge Gardens were Catholic 33.9%, Anglican 26.9% and No Religion 17.1%.

Notable residents
Cambridge Gardens is the suburb of the actor/model Michael Vincent Mchugh

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 Labor's Allan Shearan. Federally, it is part of the Division of Lindsay, represented by Labor Party Member David Bradbury.