Hills Hoist

plural Hills Hoists · alternative Hills hoist

1. AustraliaA rotary clothes line with adjustable height by means of a rotating handle.

   2002, Meanjin, Volume 61, Melbourne University Press, page 165, I watched them glistening over the tiled rooftops and Hills hoists and waited, in awe, for the shadow to reach our Lower Templestowe back yard.

   3 more examples

   A Hills Hoist was set into the concrete. It was covered with a lush choko vine. Hazel always claimed the Hills Hoist was the perfect plant support. “If you want to do some pruning, you just wind it up and spin it round.”

   1989, Helen Townsend, Miranda′s Album, page 52

   Like most Australians I have spent much of my life in the suburbs. I was raised in the Perth suburb of Karrinyup. A quarter acre, a terracotta roof, a facade knocked out by some bored government architect, a Hills Hoist in the back yard and picket fences between us and the neighbours.

   1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, page 8

   Even the sight of a Hills Hoist still gave her a Pavlovian response of calm and comfort.[…]There were no Hills Hoists here in the caravan park, just bright cords pulled tight between caravans and trees, easily extended and retracted.

   2010, Emma Hardman, Nine Parts Water, page 119

plural Hills hoists

1. alternativeAlternative form of Hills Hoist.

   From there he had a view over the sodden sloping gardens and the Hills hoists of the neighbours.[…]Next door there were rows of nappies on the line, dripping rain, and overhead was the Storey Bridge, like a bigger, flatter Hills hoist.

   1996, Margaret Simons, The Truth Teller, page 176

   2 more examples

   Indeed, her Hills hoist may have made her backyard the object of envy for others. Clotheslines feature prominently in the letters of correspondents to the Museum of Australia′s ‘Backyards’ project, and not just the Hills hoist but also the earlier lines.

   2008, Katie Holmes, Sue Martin, Susan K. Martin, Kylie Mirmohamadi, Reading the Garden: The Settlement of Australia, page 177

   I had spent the afternoon with Mal sitting under the Hills hoist.[…]On the end of one of the arms of the Hills hoist we hung a cask of wine. Both Mal and I had a glass. We would swing the Hills hoist around and if the arm that was loaded stopped above either one of us we would pour a glass and drink the wine.

   2010, William McInnes, That'd be Right: A Fairly True History of Modern Australia, unumbered page