Cambrians is located off Loop Road which runs between Becks and St Bathans in the Maniototo region of Central Otago.

It is situated 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) southwest of St Bathans and consists of a handful of historic former miners cottages and a few modern residences on Cambrian Road at the foot of the Dunstan Mountains.

[1] The earliest European settlers in the region were pastoralists who took up farming leases in the Manuherikia Valley shortly after the topographic surveys of John Turnbull Thomson and Alexander Garvie in late 1857 to early 1858.

A group of five prospectors, led by Mr A. G. Reyman, was mining in a large gully running into Dunstan Creek in late 1861 when they discovered gold and coal nearby.

The opening of a post office in 1875 resulted in the Chief-Postmaster deeming it necessary to change the settlement's name due to the presence of another Welshman's Gully near Waikaia (itself known as Switzer's at the time).