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War Memorial
Australia

Harry was the eldest son born on the 1st June, and according to his headstone, in the year 1901. (His enlistment papers indicate 1906, suggesting he was 34 when he enlisted to serve on the 4th July 1940, rather than being 39 years of age.) Harry’s parents were Alfred William and Lillian Maud Ethel Hill, and his siblings included Lancelot Leonard and two sisters, Nellie Francis and Eileen Winifred.
Aged 21, Harry married Stella Awilda Hansen in the Baptist Church at Norwood in September ’22 with Stella’s brother acting in her deceased father’s role. Harry’s sister Eileen Hill was one of the bridesmaids. The young couple honeymooned in the Blue Mountains before returning to live in Glenunga. Harry was then employed as a Process Engraver with Adelaide Art Engravers.
With the outbreak of WWII, Harry was one of the early enlistees at Wayville on the 4th July 1940 where he was given the number SX7795 and allocated to the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. His early days were spent in the close confines and cold of the Pavilions, now part of the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds, before he and other new enlistees headed to Woodside for their preliminary training.
Just prior to Christmas, Harry had precious time at home with Stella on a week’s pre-embarkation leave. Soon after, he and his fellow 2/48th Battalion, boarded the Stratheden for the Middle East, on the 7th November 1940 and disembarked on the 17th December. The next stop was to Tobruk at the start of April 1941 where the dust, flies, heat, minimal water supplies and constant bombardment were quite a challenge to these fresh new enlistees. Once there, they completed a few months training in Cyrenaica. Harry was to become one of the famed Rats of Tobruk. However conditions in the Middle East were totally different to life in suburban Adelaide.
Unwelcome news was received by Stella in October ‘42 that Harry was wounded in action in Egypt. ‘Mrs. H. A. Hill, of Bevington road, Glenunga, has been informed that her husband, Dvr. H. A. Hill, A.I.F., has been wounded in action in Egypt. He joined the A.I.F. in 1940, and served in Tobruk and Syria. Before enlisting he was employed by Adelaide Art Engravers, describing his work as a Process Engraver.
Conditions at that time marked a massive assault to ambitiously take the strategic position of Trig 29. In his book, ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’, John Glenn describes events: ‘the 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ nest.’ On just one night alone 9 of the Battalion were killed and 20 wounded in action. Of these 16 were from South Australia and the remainder from Western Australia. Glenn described the conditions where arrangements were made for ‘mines, wire ammunition, food, water, overhead cover, sandbags, tools, anti-tank guns, and all the rest, and holding the present position while preparing to launch another attack. And while all this was being done, the battalion was subjected to murderous fire from artillery and mortars.’ It says much for the battle-drill of the battalion and supporting arms that everything worked out smoothly, going off without a hitch.
‘The suddenness of this attack when it came, and the devastation caused by the artillery fire, created tremendous confusion in the enemy lines, leaving them no option but to make every effort to locate our exact position and try to seal off the penetration. Patrols of both sides were active; a number of clashes occurred in No Man’s Land.’ Harry had been wounded with a gunshot wound to his back and was evacuated to hospital.
Harry was finally able to re-join his battalion in December and in time to return to Australia via Melbourne in February ’43 and thence to Adelaide where he was able to have welcome leave in March. The local News proudly announced ‘With 2½ years of history-making fighting behind it, the 9th Division A.I.F. received a warm welcome on its return to Australia. One of its South Australian battalions has won three Victoria Crosses and 60 other decorations and awards-more than any other A.I.F. unit.’ Harry’s injuries to his left calf and shoulder plus his forehead meant the he was then classed as ‘medically fit to carry out certain duties which require only restricted medical fitness.‘ He was soon on his way to Cairns.
Harry’s 39-year-old brother Lancelot (Lance) also enlisted in October ’42. He was allocated to the General Details Depot as SX25726 where he became a Staff Sergeant.
By January ’44 Harry was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and soon after granted leave before He was finally discharged in March ’44. His brother Lance was discharged from the General Details Depot in August ’45.
Post war, Harry was a joint licensee of the Hotel Grenfell in Hindmarsh Square with William Harrison (SX28660 who served in the Supply Depot Companies). It was a time of strict drinking rules, including the infamous ‘six o’clock swill’. On several occasions, Harry and William faced charges in the Adelaide Police Courts for allowing ‘non-excepted persons, on the hotel premises during prohibited hours. namely 9.40 p.m. on October 21’ ‘44 ‘having unlawfully had a bar room door open at their premises at 9.45 p.m. on June 7 ‘46’ and ‘unlawfully supplied liquor at the hotel at 6.8 p.m. on October 22’ in 1949.
Harry and Lance were part of the Hills family, famous for the development of the iconic Hills Hoist which featured on advertising posters for the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1996 and memorably, in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Legend has it that Harry’s brother Lance, on returning from WWII created the adjustable height, rotary clothes line in South Australia for his wife. The square framed device was space-economical for back yards compared with the traditional linear lines propped on wooden ‘legs’ which impacted on the domestic lemon tree in Lance’s garden. Lance, who was unemployed at the time, and Harold Ling, (Harold Eustace Hill Ling SX22030) his brother-in-law began manufacturing. Harold and Lance financed the initial purchase of stock from their savings and deferred army pay, with father, Alfred Hill also contributing as did Harry, to enable to fledgling business to expand.
With the post war housing boom driven by returned servicemen, the device was so popular that it quickly moved to being produced in a factory. Lateral thinking, honed by their overseas service, led the two men to purchase tubing for the ‘arms’ from tubing salvaged designed to form underwater booms created to prevent submarines entering Sydney Harbour. The young men utilised surplus army trucks for deliveries. An extensive article carried in the Port Lincoln Times in December ’93 added ‘So successful was the idea that Hills Hoists are now in virtually every backyard in Australia, as well as New Zealand and the United Kingdom. But the hoist, like the Aussie backyard, has changed with the years. By the 1970s, the chicken shed had all but disappeared and cooking was no longer confined to the kitchen as men donned aprons to cook the weekend barbecue. Hills was quick to recognise the trend of families spending more time out of doors playing and entertaining and in 1973 developed a hoist that could dry the family wash, then be folded and removed from the ground to give the family more backyard space. This was called the Foldaline and was Australia's first folding hoist. Since 1946, well over four million hoists have been manufactured and they have passed into Australian folklore alongside Vegemite and Holdens — but they are just one product in a diverse range of business that now makes up the Edwardstown (SA) based company. Hills Industries' range includes such products as playtime and leisure equipment, television and communications antennae, household consumer products ; wheelbarrows, hand trucks, and ladders, and cold form precision tubes. It also provides a television and audio repair and rental service, colour and general printing, and commercial and domestic security systems. Chairman and managing director, Mr Bob Ling, says: 'Our growth is made possible by the creativity, dedication, and productivity of all our employees." This approach has stood Hills Industries in good stead over the years and enabled the company to build on the ingenuity and drive of Lance Hill and Harold Ling.
As with so many creative inventions, the brand was sold in 2006.
Aged 86, Harry died on the 16th March ’87 and is buried in the Catholic section of Centennial Park Cemetery, Path 10 Grave 704B. Resting with him are his wife Stella, Neil Barry Michael Hansen and Ada Doreen Hansen.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.