The Port Stephens local government area (LGA) is the traditional land of the Worimi nation. Council values the unique status of Aboriginal people as the traditional owners and custodians of lands and waters, including those of the Port Stephens LGA.
Port Stephens was named for Sir Philip Stephens, First Secretary of the Admiralty in the late 1700s and later a Lord Commissioner of the British Admiralty between 1795 and 1806.