Hunter was born in Banffshire, Scotland in 1821. He was the eldest son of George Hunter, the first Mayor of Wellington. He worked in his father"s business as a general merchant and shipping agent.
His father died in 1843, his father"s business partner Kenneth Bethune died in 1855, and Hunter became sole proprietor of the business.
Hunter was appointed to the Legislative Council of the Province of New Munster in 1848. He was first elected to the Wellington Provincial Council on 5 November 1857 for the City of Wellington electorate, and served until the abolition of provincial government in October 1876. He represented the City of Wellington electorate from 1871 to 1879, when he was defeated by William Hutchison.
He also sat on the Wellington City Council until 1879, and was defeated by Hutchison when he stood for the Wellington mayoralty.
"In the early days of the settlement Georgia Hunter II was the chief proprietor of the Island Bay estate and on his stud farm at the bay bred stock and exhibited successfully.
The Island Bay portion was subdivided by the partners and offered for sale by auction by Messrs. Bethune & Company, in March, 1879.."
Hunter also had a farm in Te Aro, which is now part of the Wellington central business district.
The central part of his land is now covered by Upper Dixon Street, Percival Street, and Macdonald Crescent.
Hunter had a further 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) farm in Porangahau in the Hawke"s Bay Region, which he took up in circa 1854. Through purchasing neighbouring land, he increased the size to 32,000 acres (13,000 ha). Sheep numbers increased rapidly, from an initial flock of 500 to 27,000 by 1875.
A new shearing shed was built in 1876, and with 30 stands, it is one of the largest ever built in the North Island.
Now known as the woolshed, it is listed as a Category I heritage structure by Heritage New Zealand. A chapel built by Hunter in the 1870s near the homestead is registered as a Category II heritage structure.
Hunter was married to a sister of Major James Paul, who was later Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives (1877–1880). Hunter died after a short illness at his home in Wellington"s Dixon Street on 6 August 1880.
He was buried at Bolton Street Cemetery.
He was a member of the Wellington Executive Council in 1858, in 1871, and in 1873. His funeral was attended by nearly 100 members of both Houses of Parliament.
