Eighty one years ago a young man started a long journey. A journey that would take him from a small shop front in Maroubra to the heights of corporate Australia. This young man founded a company that today dominates the real estate industry throughout Australasia.
Any story about people within LJ Hooker must begin with Leslie Joseph Hooker – or simply “LJ” as he was known. He was born in 1903 to an Australian mother and a Chinese father. He was christened Leslie Joseph Tingyou, however he changed his name by deed poll to Hooker (his father was employed on the railroad as a hooker) in 1925. Three years later the Company that still bears his name was born.
It was 20 September 1928 when a young Les Hooker opened the doors of the first LJ Hooker office in Maroubra, a beachside suburb in Sydney’s East.
When LJ opened his Maroubra real estate office all he owned was a second hand car and a burning ambition ‘to have the biggest real estate agency in Australia.’
As Sir Leslie Hooker said;
“Real Estate is not about houses, it’s about people.”
True to his philosophy Les Hooker spent his time much like LJ Hooker agents do today – meeting people, talking to them, developing relationships and gaining trust.
In the beginning …
In those early days there was a lot of hard ground work to be done. Les and his friend Heck Adams shared the responsibility, with Les scouting for business (much as our salespeople do when they focus market in their area today) while Heck attended to dressing the windows, preparing circulars and marketing.
Things went well for a few years then the Great Depression hit. With money at a minimum Les Hooker set about developing a ‘state of the art’ promotional system to maximize the impact of signboards, giving birth for the now famous Red and Yellow colours.
By the mid 1930’s business was improving and many of Les and Heck’s friends had joined the business; people like Peter Lightfoot and Nelson Henwood – two early ‘Hooker Heroes’. With success came growth and in 1935 the first city office of LJ Hooker opened at 12 O’Connell Street, Sydney. Not only did LJ Hooker move in as tenants but also managing agents!
The first of many buyouts came in 1938 when LJ Hooker purchased HL Cross and Co. This brought with it a relocation to the prestigious ES&A Bank building on the corner of Martin Place and Pitt Street Sydney – albeit in the basement.
Breaking into Sydney
The time in the basement was a key period in LJ Hooker’s history as it was a period when the dedicated staff often worked through the night to ensure the company broke into the Sydney market. Indeed, their little office become known as ‘the lighthouse’. No matter what time of the day or night there were people working. This time also saw the Company working with a skeleton staff as men headed off to war.
Just like today, auctions were key to the growing Company’s success. The first LJ Hooker auction rooms were opened in the late 1930’s; ten years late the Company began to challenge the established auctioneers in the city. It was time to float!
LJ Hooker Limited was successfully floated on the Australian Stock Exchange on July 1, 1947 and during the 1940’s returned dividends of up to 24%. Not surprisingly the share value began to increase! By 1956 a staggering 50% dividend was paid to shareholders.
Expanding horizons
By 1958 LJ Hooker Limited had 22 offices, but Les Hooker wanted more – he wanted to expand the Company’s horizons, so he established LJ Hooker Investment Corporation Limited. Through this entity the Company diversified into areas such as the hotel and leisure industry, land and building trusts, pastoral holdings, retail and housing and land subdivisions
Meanwhile George Newell, General Manager of LJ Hooker Limited, was expanding the agency business horizons with the first interstate office opening in Palm Beach Queensland in 1958. This expansion continued and in 1960 Neville Price opened the first Perth office, creating a National Network.
Franchising comes to Australia
In 1966 Len Tosh became General Manager of LJ Hooker Limited and decided that real estate franchising, a concept not yet introduced in Australia, was the way for the agency business to go. The first franchise offices were opened in the Sydney suburbs of Bankstown, Miranda and Newport in 1968.
Knighted
In 1973 Les Hooker became Sir Leslie Hooker, knighted for his services to business and commerce. The following year Sir Leslie retired as Chairman in favour of Keith Campbell but he remained on the Board as Founder Chairman until his death in 1976.
The Recent Era
Since Sir Leslie’s death the company has gone through some challenging times, especially when the focus was taken off the agency business. But in the spirit of our founder, the company has grown by placing its focus squarely on what we do best – helping people reach their real estate goals.
In 1989 the real estate agency business was purchased by the Queensland financial institution, Suncorp.
1996 was an historic year in the LJ Hooker story, as the company reached out internationally, purchasing the Challenge Realty Group in New Zealand. In 1998, the entire group was re-branded LJ Hooker.
In 2002, LJ Hooker opened its first offices in Indonesia - strengthening our Asia Pacific network with LJ Hooker offices already in Papua New Guinea and China.
In recent times, the company continues to expand further internationally, with new operations established in Shanghai and China during 2004 then to Vanuatu and in India in 2007. In addition, LJ Hooker now also boasts in excess of 20 offices throughout Indonesia.
LJ Hooker Returns Home in 2009
More than 80 years after Leslie Joseph Hooker opened his first real estate office in Maroubra, the company that bears his name returned to the Hooker family on October 15th.
And the man who has engineered the return of the company into the family fold is none other than Sir Leslie’s grandson, L. Janusz Hooker.
Better known to family and friends simply as LJ, the 40 year old financial executive who won a bronze medal for Australia in rowing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, readily admits to having “the blood and custard” in his veins.
“The LJ Hooker story has come full circle, and I am proud that the family will once again be leading the company in this next chapter of what has been a great Australian business success stories,” Mr Hooker said.
“More than 80 years after my grandfather established the business and over three decades since the family departed, we are looking at working closely again with the Network and investing more money into the company to ensure it continues to grow, not just locally but internationally. It’s a way to deliver further on the legacies of my grandfather.”
