It is easy to reach up and spin the lines around to find an empty space, then extend them vertically as needed to hang longer things (like sheets). Stephens recently decorated her family’s Hoist for a birthday party, but also finds it useful for its original purpose: hanging laundry. Whoever finishes first wins (although, with donuts, everyone wins, right?).” kind of felt like flying.” She also played a doughnut-eating game at birthdays with pastries hanging on the lines: “hold your hands behind your back and eat as fast as you can. “As a kid,” she recalls, “my dad would lift me up and let me hold onto an arm and would walk me around, spinning the clothesline as he held me around the waist. Her grandparents maintained a carefully cultivated vegetable garden and manicured lawn in their quarter-acre lot’s yard, yet “smack bang in the middle of the lawn, with a concrete path leading up to it, was their rotary clothesline.” Hills Hoists were also visible in neighboring yards on all sides. At Home & OnlineĪustralian Hills Hoist owner (and 99% Invisible fan) Alisa Stephens grew up surrounded by these contraptions. The Hammersmith Hills Hoists (RFLC) went so far as to add an abstracted image of the rotary clothesline to their official emblem. In England, an expat-founded rugby team took more than just its name from the Hills Hoist. The icon’s reach also extends beyond Australia. The edge is spun and people standing around it drink when a bag comes to a stop in front of them. Kids, for instance, hang from and spin around on their sturdy rotating beams (with or without water slides augmenting the experience).Īn entire drinking game has evolved around Hills Hoists: Goon of Fortune (inspired by Wheel of Fortune) involves hanging “goon sacks” (bags of cheap wine) on the lines. Much More Along Those LinesĪs dominant fixtures of Australian backyards, these pervasive clotheslines have evolved uses well beyond their designer’s intent. But it is more than just a point of pride or everyday design object - the Hills Hoist has shaped the culture and activities of a nation. The National Museum of Australia also had a Hills Hoist on display for a time. The device went on to become an icon of the country over the decades and is listed as a National Treasure by the National Library of Australia. Inventive Australia postage stamp series from 2009 Modern models have extra features, too, able to be folded down and lifted out of the ground. Today, over 5 million Hills Hoists are sold per year worldwide. His first batch was made from tubing salvaged from under the Sydney Harbor Bridge, originally hung to catch enemy subs in WWII. Vintage Hills Hoist advertisement shows alternative use as shade structure (lower left)Īfter overhearing some neighbors talking about his device, Hill decided to go into business building and selling clotheslines. It wasn’t the first of its kind, but it became a household name, well-timed to take off in an era of post-war growth. The line could also be hoisted up to catch breezes after being loaded with wet laundry.
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