[1] The site includes the last remaining stand of pre-European settlement Rottnest Island pine (Callitris preissii) on the mainland of Western Australia.

There are a number of buildings within the site besides those of the Army museum: there is the heritage listed former defense housing on Queen Victoria Street, the heritage listed Naval Store (1935[3]) on the Corner of Queen Victoria Street and Canning Highway, and a signal station built for the Fremantle Harbour Trust in 1956.

Included in the native plants is the only remaining natural occurrence of Rottnest Island pine (Callitris preissii) on the mainland.

In 1830, Ensign Robert Dale, who was working for Surveyor General John Septimus Roe, sketched Fremantle from Cantonment Hill.

[6][7] During World War I the site was used as a rehabilitation hospital for injured soldiers returning from the Western Front and later as an internment camp and as a quarantine station.

In 1931, as part of the City of Fremantle's employment for sustenance to those left unemployed by the Depression, a section of the land was cleared and levelled to make a park.

During World War II further development at the site saw construction of a tunnel network to an underground control room and a large warehouse on the north-eastern side.

Progress in negotiations was stalled however, as the parties have requested the Commonwealth to provide funding to reinstate the site to a usable condition—then Premier Geoff Gallop announced in September 2003 that the Government had formally declined the offer.

On 21 January 2010, the Prime Minister announced that Cantonment Hill, including Tuckfield Oval, would be sold back to the people of Fremantle.

[17] The council was to reportedly pay $76,000 for the land, and had plans to rehabilitate the vegetation and build walking paths and picnic facilities.

This drew criticism from members of the Cantonment Hill Working Group who had developed the master plan for the site which the City of Fremantle had previously given assurances to implement.

The mural by artist Nami Osaki depicts a girl and dingo in a Japanese manga style reflecting the site's indigenous history.