Cattai is an historic

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, in the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is located 44 kilometres north-west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

and 30 kilometres north-west of

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. It is in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

s of

The Hills Shire The Hills Shire (from 1906–2008 as Baulkham Hills Shire) is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Greater Western Sydney, Greater Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is north-west of the Sydne ...

and

City of Hawkesbury The City of Hawkesbury is a local government area of New South Wales, Australia, part of which is at the fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area, about north-west of the Sydney central business district. Hawkesbury City is named after the Hawkes ...

. Cattai's

state electoral district State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our ...

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places ;Geography *Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada * Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...

, and its federal electoral divisions are Berowra and

Macquarie Macquarie may refer to: People * Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of the British colony of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. * Elizabeth Macquarie Campbell, Lachlan Macquarie's second wife Locations * Division of Macquarie, an electoral district in th ...

. Cattai is bounded in the north-west by the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...

and is traversed by Cattai Creek. It encompasses the

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

Cattai Estate The Cattai Estate is a heritage-listed former farm and cultural landscape and now national park at Wisemans Ferry Road, Cattai, The Hills Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1804 to 1821. It is also known as Caddai Estate, ...

, located within

Cattai National Park The Cattai National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Hawkesbury region of Sydney, New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated approximately northwest of the Sydney central business district ...

at the junction of the Creek and the

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. The Georgian house was built between 1804 and 1821 by former

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

Thomas Arndell Thomas Arndell (4 March 1753 – 2 May 1821) was a surgeon, magistrate, and farmer. He was born in England, but moved to Australia with the First Fleet when he was 35. He farmed many acres of land there, and he later became a magistrate. He or ...

, with further additions being made in the 1860s. Cattai is also home to a historic rural public primary school that was founded in 1886. The suburb was originally home to the

Darug The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

before being settled in the early nineteenth century.

History

Indigenous Peoples

The locality of Cattai was the home of the

Darug people The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

who occupied a large expanse of

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...

. The Darug people are thought to have occupied the locality of Cattai for more than 20,000 years. The name Cattai was originally thought to have derived from an Aboriginal word with an unknown meaning. However, it was more likely named by the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

Assistant Surgeon and Magistrate

who built a homestead called 'Caddie'. The homestead is now called

and resides in

. The suburb of Cattai has henceforth been considered a misnomer of 'Caddie'.

Settlement

European settlers moved into the area in 1794 to sustain the food shortages of

. Following protests by the Dharug people over the loss of their traditional hunting and fishing lands, soldiers were sent to the area in 1795. Cattai Post Office opened on 26 November 1906 and closed in 1994. Cattai Public School was established in 1886.

Arndell Anglican College Arndell Anglican College is an independent Anglican co-educational primary and secondary day school located in the Sydney suburb of Oakville, New South Wales, Australia. The college includes students from Prep to Year 12. History Arndell A ...

was an independent secondary college that was established in Cattai in 1990, until it moved to its current site of Oakville in 1994.

Heritage listings

Cattai has a number of

sites, the most notable being

on Wisemans Ferry Road.

Demographics

Population

At the 2016 Census, there were 790 people in Cattai. The median age was 41.

Culture and language

The majority of people from Cattai were born in Australia (85.0%). The most common responses for

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

was

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

(28.0%), followed closely by

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(24.5%) and No Religion (21.1%). The majority of people spoke only

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

at home (91.1%). The second most spoken language was

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Wealth

Cattai is an affluent suburb in the growing north-west of Sydney. The median weekly household income is A$2,318, which is 133.7% greater than the national average. In 2018, Cattai had a median house sale price of A$1.9 million. Over 30% of the households have an income greater than A$3,000 per week.

Landmarks

Parks and sights

Cattai national park view from cattai wharf

*Thomas Arndell's Cottage *

*Mitchell Park

Education facilities

* Cattai Public School is a historic rural school founded in 1886. It is located on 487 Cattai Rd, Cattai, and 'is a happy and safe rural school' that 'overlooks the Cattai Creek in a picturesque setting

Campus facilities: ** 4 classrooms with interactive whiteboards ** Computers, including a specialised computer room with access to the internet and classes that allow for more individualised tuition ** School Library ** 1 Administration Building ** An upgraded playground with rubber-based Soft Fall and mini goal posts for student use **Sports oval, with complementary large grass areas *

was originally established in 1990 at ''Threlkeld Drive, Cattai.'' It has since been relocated to

Oakville, New South Wales Oakville is a suburb of the City of Hawkesbury, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Oakville is located 49 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of ...

. The school is of

denomination.

Other

*Riverside Oaks Golf Resor

*

*Cattai Joinery

References

{{Hawkesbury suburbs Suburbs of Sydney City of Hawkesbury Hawkesbury River The Hills Shire