Cattai is an historic

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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 ...

and 30 kilometres north-west of

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. 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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

s of

The Hills Shire The Hills Shire (known until 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 area is north-west of the Sydney ...

and

City of Hawkesbury The City of Hawkesbury is a Local government in Australia, local government area that is located on the far northwest fringe of the Sydney, Greater Sydney area in New South Wales, Australia. The local government area is located in the Hawkesbury ...

. Cattai's state electoral district is

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places Australia * Hawkesbury Island, Queensland, an island *Hawkesbury River, a river in New South Wal ...

, and its federal electoral divisions are Berowra and Macquarie. Cattai is bounded in the north-west by the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River (Dharug language, Dharug: Dyarubbin) is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle ...

and is traversed by Cattai Creek. It encompasses the

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

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

, 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 an ...

at the junction of the Creek and the

River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

. 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 judi ...

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, are a nation of Aboriginal Australian clans, who share ties of kinship, country and culture. In pre-colonial times, they lived as hunters in the region of current day Sydney. The Darug speak one of two dialects o ...

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

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, are a nation of Aboriginal Australian clans, who share ties of kinship, country and culture. In pre-colonial times, they lived as hunters in the region of current day Sydney. The Darug speak one of two dialects o ...

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, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...

. 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 were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

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 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 , there were 1,077 people in Cattai. The median age was 40.

Culture and language

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

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

was No Religion (31.0%), followed closely by

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(28.7%) and

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(21.2%). The majority of people spoke only

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

at home (89.8%). The second most spoken language was

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

(0.9%) followed by

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

and Croatian (both 0.7%).

Wealth

Cattai is an affluent suburb in the growing north-west of Sydney. The median weekly household income is A$2,878, which is 164.8% greater than the national average. In 2018, Cattai had a median house sale price of A$1.9 million. 47.3% 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. 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 * Arndell Anglican College 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 area of the City of Hawkesbury. Educa ...

. The school is of

denomination.

Other

*Riverside Oaks Golf Resort http://www.riversideoaks.com.au *

*Cattai Joinery

References

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