Hinton is a suburb of the Port Stephens local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Primarily rural, the lar…Hinton is a suburb of the Port Stephens local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Primarily rural, the largest population centre is the township of Hinton, which is situated on the Paterson River, near to the confluence of the Hunter and Paterson rivers. In 1835 the post office requested a name for the town and the surveyor general suggested Hinton prior to this it was known as the second arm of the Hunter river. The first European settlers were 12 ex convicts in 1818.