Worimian

The Worimi are an Aboriginal Australian people of the New South Wales coast, their country running from the Hunter River estuary north to Forster and inland to the Williams River, with Port Stephens at its heart. They spoke Gathang, whose dialects were shared with the neighbouring Biripi, Gringai and Awabakal.

In 1790 four escaped convicts who landed at Port Stephens were welcomed as ancestors returned from the sea, given wives and lived with the Worimi for five years. Governor Macquarie exchanged food with them in 1811, but from about 1815 violent red-cedar gangs poisoned relations, and John Oxley met armed resistance on his journey through the Myall Lakes in 1818.

In 1826 the Australian Agricultural Company planted a settlement at Port Stephens under Robert Dawson. It opened farms at Stroud and Gloucester, drawing the Worimi into the colonial economy.