Hunter first performed in public in 1988 during a festival at Bondi Pavilion in Sydney, where she performed "Proud, Proud Woman," the first song she had written. In 1990, she wrote the autobiographical "Down City Streets", which was performed by Roach on his debut solo album "Charcoal Lane". In 1994, Hunter became the first Indigenous Australian woman to record a solo "rock" album, and the first Aboriginal woman signed to a major record label, when she released her debut album "Thoughts Within".