Cattai

Fishing at Cattai

Cattai is located approximately 60 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills.

The name 'Cattai' is derived from a Darug word of unknown meaning. It was first applied to "Caddie Park", a homestead on "Cattai Farm" owned by the First Fleet Assistant Surgeon Thomas Arndell. The homestead is now part of Cattai National Park. The name has been variously spelled as Caddie, Catta, and Catye. John Goldsmith an early settler in the area wrote that he had established a farm at 'Cat Eye" in 1805.

Cattai National Park is a major attraction here. The park borders the Hawkesbury River and offers a substantial picnic area, quiet bushwalks, camping facilities and pre-booked tours of the historic homestead. A number of Indigenous rock carvings and axe grinding sites can also be seen here adjacent to the old mill, which remains Australia’s oldest industrial ruin.

The original inhabitants of the Cattai area were the Darug people. The Darug were the custodians of the majority of what is now the Greater Sydney region. They were divided into a number of different ‘clans’, whose quick demise upon European settlement has sadly resulted in very little information remaining on how they utilised the local area.