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LJ Hooker

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65-491: LJ Hooker is one of Australia's largest real estate groups, with 600 franchise offices and 6,000 people engaged in residential and commercial property sales and property management. The company was founded in 1928 by Sir Leslie Joseph Hooker and after being sold to a private company for 20 years, the company returned to family hands in 2009. The first LJ Hooker office was opened in Maroubra , New South Wales in 1928. Following

130-406: A self-governing Crown colony with responsible government . Brisbane was selected as the capital city. On 10 December 1859, a proclamation was read by George Bowen , the first Governor of Queensland , formally establishing Queensland as a separate colony from New South Wales. On 22 May 1860 the first Queensland election was held and Robert Herbert , Bowen's private secretary, was appointed as

195-713: A city agency. In 1946, LJ Hooker bought the real estate business of Harold Bray Pty Ltd in Bondi Beach . In 1947, the company was floated on the Sydney Stock Exchange. The following year, LJ Hooker purchased F. Egan & Son, a real estate agency in Bondi Junction . In 1949, the company expanded into hotel brokerage. In 1950, the tenth office was opened in Crows Nest and in 1951 the Manly office

260-701: A consortium with other buyers and bought the company back from Suncorp-Metway for $ 67 million. In 2015, Janusz Hooker and other shareholders bought out the minority shareholders to consolidate ownership of the company. In the mid-1980s, while led briefly by CEO George Herscu, LJ Hooker crossed into development and acquisition of retailers and large scale shopping complexes in the United States. During this period LJ Hooker also acquired Merrill Lynch Commercial Real Estate in an effort to infuse seasoned Commercial Real estate expertise into its retail development arm. Robert Rodriguez (Sr. VP) and Dennis Mulligan (VP) led

325-597: A force of settlers and native police at Battle Mountain near modern Cloncurry . The subsequent battle of Battle Mountain ended in disaster for the Kalkadoon, who suffered heavy losses. Fighting continued in North Queensland , however, with First Nations raiders attacking sheep and cattle while Native Police mounted heavy retaliatory massacres. Tens of thousands of South Sea Islanders were kidnapped from islands nearby to Australia and sold as slaves to work on

390-569: A great rush to take up the surrounding land in the Darling Downs , Logan and Brisbane Valley and South Burnett onwards from 1840, in many cases leading to widespread fighting and heavy loss of life. The conflict later spread north to the Wide Bay and Burnett River and Hervey Bay region, and at one stage the settlement of Maryborough was virtually under siege. The largest reasonably well-documented massacres in southeast Queensland were

455-652: A population of half a million people. Since then, Queensland has remained a federated state within Australia, and its population has significantly grown. In 1905 women voted in state elections for the first time. The state's first university, the University of Queensland , was established in Brisbane in 1909. In 1911, the first alternative treatments for polio were pioneered in Queensland and remain in use across

520-478: A process known as blackbirding or press-ganging, and their employment conditions constituted an allegedly exploitative form of indentured labour. Italian immigrants entered the sugar cane industry from the 1890s. During the 1890s, the six Australian colonies, including Queensland, held a series of referendums which culminated in the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901. During this time, Queensland had

585-443: Is 003 890 4553. LJ Hooker is a franchise operation. The real estate side of the business is done by franchise owners. Grant Harrod was appointed chief executive officer and managing director in 2014. The company chairman is Janusz Hooker. LJ Hooker has also established an independent incorporated legal practice trading as LJ Hooker Conveyancing NSW, which is a division of Guardian Conveyancers Pty Ltd (ACN 136 790 022). The business

650-729: Is Chairman of LJ Hooker, and Natalia wrote a biography of her grandfather, LJ Hooker The Man in 2011. Hooker was a director and life governor of the Royal New South Wales Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. He was heavily involved in the development of CIDE, now the Shepherd Centre, which assists deaf children. He was on the board of the Sydney Hospital, was Chairman of the Sydney Eye and Ear Hospital Management Committee, and chairman of

715-746: Is a state in northeastern Australia , and is the second-largest and third-most populous of the Australian states. It is bordered by the Northern Territory , South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south, respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean ; to the state's north is the Torres Strait , separating the Australian mainland from Papua New Guinea , and

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780-487: Is home to the Torres Strait Islander peoples . Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples. They have a long history of interaction with both Aboriginal peoples of what is now Australia and the peoples of New Guinea . In February 1606, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed near the site of what is now Weipa , on the western shore of Cape York . This

845-484: Is independently owned and operated under licence from LJ Hooker Limited. LJ Hooker Conveyancing is located in Sydney. In Western Australia it uses LJ Hooker Settlements to do their conveyancing . Leslie Joseph Hooker Sir Leslie Joseph Hooker (18 August 1903 – 29 April 1976) (born Leslie Joseph Tingyou ) was an Australian property entrepreneur, businessman and philanthropist. From humble beginnings he created

910-582: The 138th meridian east , and to the southwest by northeastern South Australia . The state's southern border with New South Wales is constituted in the east by the watershed from Point Danger to the Dumaresq River , and the Dumaresq, Macintyre and Barwon rivers. The west of the southern border is defined by the 29th parallel south (including some minor historical encroachments ) until it reaches South Australia. Like much of eastern Australia,

975-625: The Australian frontier wars of the 19th century, colonists killed tens of thousands of Aboriginal people in Queensland while consolidating their control over the territory. On 6 June 1859 (now commemorated as Queensland Day ), Queen Victoria signed the letters patent to establish the colony of Queensland, separating it from New South Wales and thereby establishing Queensland as a self-governing Crown colony with responsible government . A large part of colonial Queensland's economy relied on blackbirded South Sea Islander slavery. Queensland

1040-524: The Brisbane River . He returned in 1824 and established a penal settlement at what is now Redcliffe . The settlement, initially known as Edenglassie , was then transferred to the current location of the Brisbane city centre . Edmund Lockyer discovered outcrops of coal along the banks of the upper Brisbane River in 1825. In 1839 transportation of convicts was ceased, culminating in the closure of

1105-630: The Gayiri Aboriginal people in response. Frontier violence peaked on the northern mining frontier during the 1870s, most notably in Cook district and on the Palmer and Hodgkinson River goldfields, with heavy loss of Aboriginal lives and several well-known massacres. Raids conducted by the Kalkadoon held settlers out of Western Queensland for ten years until September 1884 when they attacked

1170-610: The Great Dividing Range runs roughly parallel with, and inland from, the coast, and areas west of the range are more arid than the humid coastal regions. The Great Barrier Reef , which is the world's largest coral reef system, runs parallel to the state's Coral Sea coast between the Torres Strait and K'gari (Fraser Island) . Queensland's coastline includes the world's three largest sand islands: K'gari (Fraser Island) , Moreton , and North Stradbroke . The state contains six World Heritage -listed preservation areas:

1235-542: The Gulf of Carpentaria to the north-west. With an area of 1,723,030 square kilometres (665,270 sq mi), Queensland is the world's sixth-largest subnational entity ; it is larger than all but 16 countries . Due to its size, Queensland's geographical features and climates are diverse, and include tropical rainforests , rivers , coral reefs , mountain ranges and white sandy beaches in its tropical and sub-tropical coastal regions, as well as deserts and savanna in

1300-636: The Kilcoy and Whiteside poisonings, each of which was said to have taken up to 70 Aboriginal lives by use of a gift of flour laced with strychnine . At the Battle of One Tree Hill in September 1843, Multuggerah and his group of warriors ambushed one group of settlers, routing them and subsequently others in the skirmishes which followed, starting in retaliation for the Kilcoy poisoning. Central Queensland

1365-657: The Kingdom of Great Britain on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island , naming eastern Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales . The Aboriginal population declined significantly after a smallpox epidemic during the late 18th century and massacres by the European settlers. In 1823, John Oxley , a British explorer, sailed north from what is now Sydney to scout possible penal colony sites in Gladstone (then Port Curtis ) and Moreton Bay . At Moreton Bay, he found

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1430-705: The LJ Hooker empire and was at one time Australia's largest landholder and the world's largest cattle owner. He was knighted in 1973 for services to commerce. Hooker was born in Canterbury , Sydney , New South Wales . His mother, Ellen ("Nellie") Tingyou, was 18 and unmarried when she gave birth to him. They lived with their extended family, which included his grandfather, the Chinese-born James Tingyou. Nellie died at age 25 of tuberculosis, leaving Leslie an orphan at just 8 years of age. He

1495-553: The Sunshine Coast , Townsville , Cairns , Ipswich , and Toowoomba . 24.2% of the state's population were born overseas . The state has the highest inter-state net migration in Australia. Queensland was first inhabited by Aboriginal Australians , with the Torres Strait Islands inhabited by Torres Strait Islanders . Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon , the first European to land in Australia, explored

1560-601: The Sunshine State for its tropical and sub-tropical climates, Great Barrier Reef , and numerous beaches, tourism is also important to the state's economy. Queensland was one of the largest regions of pre-colonial Aboriginal population in Australia. The Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC, and early migrants are believed to have arrived via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait . Through time, their descendants developed into more than 90 different language and cultural groups. During

1625-414: The Torres Strait to the north, with Boigu Island off the coast of New Guinea representing the northern extreme of its territory. The triangular Cape York Peninsula , which points toward New Guinea, is the northernmost part of the state's mainland. West of the peninsula's tip, northern Queensland is bordered by the Gulf of Carpentaria . To the west, Queensland is bordered by the Northern Territory , at

1690-643: The White Australia policy came into effect, which saw most foreign workers in Australia deported under the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 , which saw the Pacific Islander population of the state decrease rapidly. A public meeting was held in 1851 to consider the proposed separation of Queensland from New South Wales. On 6 June 1859, Queen Victoria signed letters patent to form the separate colony of Queensland as

1755-482: The White Australia policy in 1973 saw the beginning of a wave of immigration from around the world, and most prominently from Asia, which continues to the present. In 1981 the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland's northeast coast, one of the world's largest coral reef systems, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In 2003 Queensland adopted maroon as the state's official colour. The announcement

1820-534: The semi-arid and desert climatic regions of its interior . Queensland has a population of over 5.5 million, concentrated along the east coast, particularly in South East Queensland . The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane , Australia's third-largest city . Ten of Australia's thirty largest cities are located in Queensland, the largest outside Brisbane being the Gold Coast ,

1885-653: The Brisbane penal settlement. In 1842 free settlement, which had already commenced, was officially permitted. In 1847, the Port of Maryborough was opened as a wool port. While most early immigrants came from New South Wales, the first free immigrant ship to arrive in Moreton Bay from Europe was the Artemisia , in 1848. Earlier than this immigrant ship was the arrival of the Irish famine orphan girls to Queensland. Devised by

1950-742: The Challenge Realty Group in New Zealand and in 1998 they rebranded it as LJ Hooker. In 2003, LJ Hooker purchased the real estate franchise group Olsen & Everson. In 2002, LJ Hooker opened its first offices in Indonesia , and in 2004, LJ Hooker opened offices in Mumbai , India , and Shanghai . In October 2004, Grahame Cooke stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Warren McCarthy. In October 2009, Suncorp confirmed it sold its LJ Hooker real estate chain business to Janusz Hooker ,

2015-673: The Depression, the company expanded and opened offices in Sydney , Kensington , Kingsford and Randwick . In 1936, LJ Hooker purchased the real estate business and offices of Woods & Co. in Kensington and Kingsford. In 1938, Rex Investments is registered and purchased real-estate agencies and hotels around Australia. The following year, LJ Hooker established its headquarters in Pitt Street , Sydney by buying H. L. Cross & Co.,

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2080-604: The Feisty Colleens, never set foot on Sydney soil, and instead sailed up to Brisbane (then Moreton Bay) on 21 October 1848 on board the Ann Mary . This scheme continued until 1852. In 1857, Queensland's first lighthouse was built at Cape Moreton . The frontier wars fought between European settlers and Aboriginal tribes in Queensland were the bloodiest and most brutal in colonial Australia. Many of these conflicts are now seen as acts of genocide. The wars featured

2145-1077: The Great Barrier Reef along the Coral Sea coast, K'gari (Fraser Island) on the Wide Bay–Burnett region's coastline, the wet tropics in Far North Queensland including the Daintree Rainforest , Lamington National Park in South East Queensland , the Riversleigh fossil sites in North West Queensland , and the Gondwana Rainforests in South East Queensland. The state is divided into several unofficial regions which are commonly used to refer to large areas of

2210-533: The Hooker Finance company was established. In 1960, LJ Hooker became Australia's first national real estate agency network. The following year, Hooker Projects began developing nursing homes, motels and other projects. In 1963, Hooker House was opened in Sydney. Hooker Project offices were opened in Melbourne in 1966, Brisbane in 1967, Perth in 1968, and Townsville and Canberra in 1969. In 1968,

2275-666: The Native Police between 1859 and 1897. The military force of the Queensland Government in this war was the Native Police , who operated from 1849 to the 1920s. The Native Police was a body of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander troopers that operated under the command of white officers. The Native Police were often recruited forcefully from far-away communities. Conflict spread quickly with free settlement in 1838, with settlement rapidly expanding in

2340-761: The United States. Sir Arthur Fadden and Sir Neil O'Sullivan were directors of some of his companies. With a vision and persistence Hooker survived bankruptcy, the Great Depression, World War II and the 1960s credit squeeze to build an empire. When Hooker retired from the company in 1974, the Hooker Group had more than 2300 staff and assets of almost $ 200 million. On 23 June 1934, Hooker married Madeline Adella Price. They had three children: Annette Price Hooker, Leslie Ross Hooker, and David Price Hooker. David married Urszula Tomaszewska, and they had two children, Leslie Janusz Hooker and Natalia Hooker. Janusz

2405-408: The age of sixteen. In total, approximately 15,000 South Sea Islander slaves died while working in Queensland, a figure which does not include those who died in transit or who were killed in the recruitment process. This represents a mortality rate of at least 30%, which is high considering most were only on three year contracts. It is also similar to the estimated 33% death rate of enslaved Africans in

2470-463: The closure of the state borders. With a total area of 1,729,742 square kilometres (715,309 square miles), Queensland is an expansive state with a highly diverse range of climates and geographical features. If Queensland were an independent nation, it would be the world's 16th largest. Queensland's eastern coastline borders the Coral Sea , an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The state is bordered by

2535-660: The colony's agricultural plantations through a process known as blackbirding . This trade in what were then known as Kanakas was in operation from 1863 to 1908, a period of 45 years. Some 55,000 to 62,500 were brought to Australia, most being recruited or blackbirded from islands in Melanesia , such as the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu ), the Solomon Islands and the islands around New Guinea . The majority of those taken were male and around one quarter were under

2600-406: The company's name changed to Hooker Corporation Ltd. In 1969, Hooker Home Units was established, which specialised in building home units and town houses. Leslie Joseph Hooker died in 1976. In 1985, George Herscu bought the Hooker Group for $ 450 million. In 1989, LJ Hooker owed $ 1.77 billion, and was purchased by Suncorp Metway . In 2009, Janusz Hooker, Leslie Hooker's grandson, formed

2665-546: The complex operations required to run retail department stores, this venture proved deeply flawed and plunged LJ Hooker, the department stores and its various development holdings into bankruptcy. Most of the department store chains were liquidated with large economic and employment losses. The one mall complex that was constructed during Herscu's tenure, the Forest Fair Mall in suburban Cincinnati , Ohio, went through numerous changes in ownership and operations. Today

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2730-517: The first Premier of Queensland . In 1865, the first rail line in the state opened between Ipswich and Grandchester . Queensland's economy expanded rapidly in 1867 after James Nash discovered gold on the Mary River near the town of Gympie , sparking a gold rush and saving the State of Freddy-Mercury-land from near economic collapse. While still significant, they were on a much smaller scale than

2795-780: The first appeal fund for the Foundation for the Research and Treatment of Alcoholism. He was on a committee to raise funds for the Olympic games of 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972 and a committee to raise funds for the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal. He also supported churches. He died on 29 April 1976 at St Vincent's Hospital , Darlinghurst , Sydney , New South Wales aged 72. Queensland Queensland ( locally / ˈ k w iː n z l æ n d / KWEENZ -land , commonly abbreviated as Qld )

2860-712: The first commercial production of oil in Queensland and Australia began at Moonie . During World War II Brisbane became central to the Allied campaign when the AMP Building (now called MacArthur Central ) was used as the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur , chief of the Allied Pacific forces, until his headquarters were moved to Hollandia in August 1944. In 1942, during

2925-458: The first three years of being taken to America. The trade was legally sanctioned and regulated under Queensland law, and prominent men such as Robert Towns made massive fortunes off of exploitation of slave labour, helping to establish some of the major cities in Queensland today. Towns' agent claimed that blackbirded labourers were "savages who did not know the use of money" and therefore did not deserve cash wages. Following Federation in 1901,

2990-422: The gold rushes of Victoria and New South Wales. Immigration to Australia and Queensland, in particular, began in the 1850s to support the state economy. During the period from the 1860s until the early 20th century, many labourers, known at the time as Kanakas , were brought to Queensland from neighbouring Pacific Island nations to work in the state's sugar cane fields. Some of these people had been kidnapped under

3055-407: The grandson of founder Sir Leslie Hooker, for $ 67 million. In July 2015, he also bought out the investors to take full control of the group. In November 2010, LJ Hooker acquired Harveys Real Estate Group in New Zealand. Hooker Corporation Limited is the holding company , and LJ Hooker Limited is the trading entity. Hooker Corporation Limited's ACN is 003 890 444 and the ACN of L.J. Hooker Limited

3120-469: The iconic red and yellow signage. From this beginning LJ Hooker greatly expanded and by 1953 the agency was the largest real estate agency in Australia. In 1963 Hooker House with all the various Hooker enterprises opened in Sydney. Through various companies Hooker's interests expanded to include property investment, new home development, projects, takeovers, finance, trusts, pastoral activities and franchising. He also had interests outside Australia such as in

3185-479: The ill-fated mall is still struggling, having gone through three name changes. This period, although brief in its history, was deeply tumultuous and troubling and led to LJ Hooker Limited being purchased by the Queensland based Suncorp-Metway , in January 1989. LJ Hooker was liquidated in the late 1980s, but the name continued through the franchise arrangement that continues. In 1997, it opened offices in Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea . In 1996, LJ Hooker purchased

3250-424: The last ice age , Queensland's landscape became more arid and largely desolate, making food and other supplies scarce. The people developed the world's first seed-grinding technology. The end of the glacial period brought about a warming climate, making the land more hospitable. It brought high rainfall along the eastern coast, stimulating the growth of the state's tropical rainforests. The Torres Strait Islands

3315-490: The later decades of the 20th century, the humid subtropical climate —regulated by the availability of air conditioning—saw Queensland become a popular destination for migrants from interstate. Since that time, Queensland has continuously seen high levels of migration from the other states and territories of Australia. In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson became the first U.S. president to visit Queensland. During his visit, he met with Australia prime minister Harold Holt . The end of

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3380-452: The most frequent massacres of First Nations people, the three deadliest massacres on white settlers, the most disreputable frontier police force, and the highest number of white victims to frontier violence on record in any Australian colony. Across at least 644 collisions at least 66,680 were killed — with Aboriginal fatalities alone comprising no less than 65,180. Of these deaths, around 24,000 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed by

3445-399: The only Australian state with a unicameral parliament . In 1935 cane toads were deliberately introduced to Queensland from Hawaii in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the number of French's cane and greyback cane beetles that were destroying the roots of sugar cane plants, which are integral to Queensland's economy. The toads have remained an environmental pest since that time. In 1962,

3510-402: The retail real estate group for Merrill Lynch Commercial Real estate. This move proved ill-conceived, with such ventures as the purchase and operation of several storied American department store chains as B. Altman & Co. , Bonwit Teller , Sakowitz and Parisian stores, to be used as anchors for a number of large shopping malls in the United States. Having no track record in understanding

3575-439: The then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, The Earl Grey Scheme established a special emigration scheme which was designed to resettle destitute girls from the workhouses of Ireland during the Great Famine. The first ship, the "Earl Grey", departed Ireland for a 124-day sail to Sydney. After controversy developed upon their arrival in Australia, a small group of 37 young orphans, sometimes referred to as The Belfast Girls or

3640-428: The war, Brisbane was the site of a violent clash between visiting US military personnel and Australian servicemen and civilians, which resulted in one death and hundreds of injuries. This incident became known colloquially as the Battle of Brisbane . The end of World War II saw a wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe than in previous decades. In

3705-403: The west coast of the Cape York Peninsula in 1606. In 1770, James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain . In 1788, Arthur Phillip founded the colony of New South Wales, which included all of what is now Queensland. Queensland was explored in subsequent decades, and the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was established at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley . During

3770-410: The world today. World War I had a major impact on Queensland . Over 58,000 Queenslanders fought in World War I and over 10,000 of them died. Australia's first major airline, Qantas (originally standing for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services"), was founded in Winton in 1920 to serve outback Queensland. In 1922 Queensland abolished the Queensland Legislative Council , becoming

3835-523: Was among the six colonies which became the founding states of Australia with Federation on 1 January 1901. Since the Bjelke-Petersen era of the late 20th century, Queensland has received a high level of internal migration from the other states and territories of Australia and remains a popular destination for interstate migration. Queensland has the third-largest economy among Australian states, with strengths in mining, agriculture, transportation, international education , insurance, and banking. Nicknamed

3900-404: Was because it was an Anglicised version of his step father's name Hookin. Hooker's Chinese heritage remained a secret until some years after his death. By the age of 16, Hooker had purchased two blocks of land in Blacktown. In the mid-1920s he opened his first real estate business in Martin Place in Sydney but it failed. In 1928 he tried again and opened L J Hooker Real Estate in Maroubra using

3965-520: Was made as a result of an informal tradition to use maroon to represent the state in association with sporting events. After three decades of record population growth, Queensland was impacted by major floods between late 2010 and early 2011 , causing extensive damage and disruption across the state. In 2020 Queensland was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic . Despite a low number and abrupt decline in cases from April 2020 onward, social distancing requirements were implemented from March 2020 including

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4030-400: Was opened after the purchase of Thorn Coleman & Co. LJ Hooker's expansion continued, and by 1953 the agency was the largest real estate agency in Australia. In 1955 Hooker Rex was established for the development of new homes in Batemans Bay , Kogarah and the Gold Coast through Hooker Rex Pty Ltd. In 1958, the company's name was changed to L. J. Hooker Investment Corporation Ltd. In 1959,

4095-442: Was particularly hard hit during the 1860s and 1870s, several contemporary writers mention the Skull Hole, Bladensburg, or Mistake Creek massacre on Bladensburg Station near Winton , which in 1901 was said to have taken up to 200 Aboriginal lives. First Nations warriors killed 19 settlers during the Cullin-La-Ringo massacre on 17 October 1861. In the weeks afterwards, police, native police and civilians killed up to 370 members of

4160-459: Was raised by his extended family and attended public schools in Canterbury and Beecroft . He began working at 13 years of age, initially with a Japanese import and export company and later as a ship's purser. Leslie changed his surname from Tingyou to Hooker in February 1925. He did so to circumvent the White Australia Policy and to be more acceptable to Australians with whom he hoped to do business. The mostly likely reason he selected "Hooker"

4225-442: Was the first recorded landing of a European in Australia , and it also marked the first reported contact between Europeans and the Aboriginal people of Australia . The region was also explored by French and Spanish explorers (commanded by Louis Antoine de Bougainville and Luís Vaez de Torres , respectively) before the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of

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