Norman Hunter first bought real estate in Avoca Beach in the 1930's and visited the area frequently. Brothers Norman and Mervyn Hunter then moved to Avoca Beach in 1945 from their orange orchards at Emu Plains (foot of the Blue Mountains). Developers, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists; the brothers went about planning and assisting to build the Avoca Beach community. In 1948, they opened the Avoca Beach Garden Theatre. Norman and Mervyn's father had operated a real estate agency throughout the late 1930’s and his experience benefited them greatly in establishing a ’service’ focused company in an industry not well understood at that time. In 1951, Avoca Estate Agency was started to specialise in land and houses in the holiday area. The first office was in Avoca Beach on the site where they built the Avoca Beach Theatre (The Theatre is still owned and operated by the Hunter family, and in 2001 received a heritage listing from the NSW Government). By 1960, their organisation was renowned for creating subdivisions which best utilised the available area while not requiring large volumes of tree removal. Large ’lifestyle blocks of land’ was their goal - an attitude which has served the community well over the years. During 1965 Terry Hunter and then in 1968 Michael Hunter (both Sons of Mervyn), became partnering principals of the company and opened a second office in Terrigal in 1983. Michael and Terry expanded the operations of the company to include a full range of real estate services; Sales & Auctions, Property Management, Strata Management, and Holiday Property Management. These four key business units remain today as the fundamentals of the HUNTERS real estate services.