Traditionally owned by the Cadigal people, the land that became Dulwich Hill was granted to early colonists Thomas Moore and James Bloodworth in the 1790s. Later owned by Robert Wardell, it was known as Wardell's Bush. By the 1860s Chinese market gardens and orchards, as well as small brickworks and potteries dotted the landscape. Subdivision took place in the 1900s after the railway and electric trams came through, and residential density has continued to rise with the building of units for the suburb's diverse population.