The four ngurras of the Port Stephens area moved to the settlement at Carrington to work at the Australian Agricultural Company, and over the years lost their language and culture as they learnt European ways.

[2] In 1887: E.M. Curr published the first word list of the Gathang language, which had been compiled by John Branch, and in 1900, W.J.

In 1929, American linguist Gerhardt Laves worked with Gathang speakers Charlie Briggs, Bill Dungie, Charlie Bugg, Jim Moy, Albert Lobban, Hannah Bugg, Susan Russell, Ted Lobban, and Mrs Russell.

[3] During the 1960s, Swedish linguist Nils Holmer made recordings of two Worimi elders, Eddie Lobban and Fred Bugg, and compiled a grammar of the Gathang language.

The dictionary/grammar written by Lissarrague prescribes voiceless stops intervocalically, but this is violated many times such as in magu - axe.

[5] There is some evidence of a merger of the dental and palatal stops/nasals, with free variation existing in many words, such as djinggarr~dhinggarr - silver, grey.