The area of present-day Camden was originally at the northern end of the area of influence of the Gandangara , who called it Benkennie , which means arid land . The area north of the Nepean River was under the influence of the Muringong , while in the east the clan of the Tharawal was at home. They lived in groups of 20 to 40 members and ate kangaroos , possums and eels , as well as vegetables and fruits such as yams . The Aborigines were described by the first Europeans as small, stocky, strong and well-built and were generally considered to be peaceful. However, when British settlers took possession of their land and thereby endangered their food supply, they resorted to armed resistance, which only ended when many of them were murdered in 1816.
The first Europeans visited the Camden area in 1795 and called it cowpastures after rediscovering a runaway herd of cattle here. In February 1805 appointed Governor Philip Gidley King there for John Macarthur expel about 20 square kilometers land after it beat him to it by war and Colonial Secretary John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden had been promised. Macarthur then named his property Camden Park Estate .
As Macarthur's wool industry prospered, the population's desire for a town nearby grew. The then assistant to the chief surveyor Thomas Mitchell then proposed to Macarthur to make 1.3 km² of his land available for a city, but this refused. It was only after his death in 1834 that his children divided up the land and the first plots of land in the new town of Camden were sold in 1840. In 1883 the population had grown to over 300 people, and in 1889 the municipal council held its first meeting.
