Parts of Cattai and Mitchell Park also contain areas of wetlands that are home to large numbers of aquatic plants and birds that are unique to the Western Sydney ecosystem.
), Queensland nut (Macadamia integrifolia), long-leaved privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium) and African olive (Olea europaea var.cuspidata)(both possibly from former hedges) and frangipani (Plumeria rubra cv.).
), geraniums (Pelargonium spp./cv.s), heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica and its dwarf form, N.d.'Pygmaea'), Paris daisy (Euryops pectinatus), azaleas (Rhododendron indicum cv.s), Wisteria (W.sinensis), cotoneaster (C.sp.
[1] The floodplain below the Arndell homestead has today grass cover with scattered native and exotic tree species, predominantly river oaks (Casuarina cunninghamiana), honey locusts (Gleditsia triacanthos), Lombardy poplars (Populus nigra "Italica", black poplars (P.nigra), kurrajongs (Brachychiton populneum) and white cedars (Melia azederach var.
[17][1] As at 4 May 2017, the Cattai National Park was a place of complexity and diversity that reflects the evolution of occupation, ownership and land management from Aboriginal occupation, through the contact and subsequent conflicts with European settlement of the earliest years of the nineteenth century to the late twentieth century recreational, environmental and educational values placed on this landscape.
[1] Hope Farm has state significance for its associations between European settlers and the historic Aboriginal tribe, the Dharug, who were the original inhabitants of the area.
It also has state significance for its associations with Dr Thomas Arndell, a surgeon, magistrate and land holder, who formed part of the first medical staff that cared for convicts of the First Fleet.
[1] The Hope Farm homestead has aesthetic significance at a local level as a simple slab hut (with later alterations and additions), being an integral part of a larger cultural landscape that includes adjoining Cattai and Mitchell Parks.
The homestead complex also retains some cultural plantings including the English oaks (Quercus robur) and crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica) that add to the aesthetic quality of the landscape.
Collectively they encompass a most substantial portion of an original First Fleet grant and an early Common that in the case of the former has been retained generally intact and which has evolved over two hundred years according to an array of external factors, personal tastes, needs and preferences.
It documents an extensive variety of European activities (domestic, industrial, agricultural, pastoral, recreational and aesthetic refinements) and illustrates their evolution according to the several historic catalysts.
[1] The physical demonstration of these several "layers" of occupation is spread throughout the entire park and takes many forms, architectural features, relics, archaeological sites, changes, additions to or subtractions from the landscape.
[1] Important or valuable as individual sites are, however, the most significant value of Cattai and Mitchell Parks are in their collective diverse and well preserve tapestry of Aboriginal and European lives and endeavours.
[1] The underlying geology and soils provide a representative demonstration of the interaction between older, eroded sandstone foothills and the more recent alluvial deposits.
[1] Two plant communities, Sedgeland dominated by Knotweed and Paperbark Low Open-forest, are of significance as they are considered vulnerable to extinction in New South Wales.
[1] As the west and northwest sector of Sydney continues to expand to its planned growth it can be anticipated that Cattai National Park will provide an increasingly sought-after recreational outlet.
Cattai National Park includes a range of evidence of Aboriginal occupation, artistic expression (engravings), tool preparation (grinding grooves, ground and pecked areas in a shelter), stone manufacturing technology and use (stone artefacts some of which have been retouched and/or used), some food sources (apparent rich evidence of bone in one shelter deposit); contemporary albeit brief, of Aboriginal and European occupation (the engraving of the sailing ship and a possible glass artefact recorded during the survey of Caddie Park.