Henry Hugh Hill was born in Sheffield in about 1827 and perhaps emigrated to Australia when he was about 14. He found work with a large Sydney ironmonger, and 4 years later married Bridget Holmes, adopted daughter of William Holmes a police inspector from Ireland. Henry and Bridget had a number of children together, Henry Hugh Hill, Ellen Mary Hill and Eliza Holmes Hill, and the family moved to take up a job opportunity in Melbourne where Henry seemed to manage the Melbourne branch.

However, there were hard times to come. Bridget and Henry lost a young son, Henry no longer worked for his employer and five years after the move, Bridget died.

Henry left for the town of Bowen in Queensland and within 18 months had married Bridget's sister Maria Holmes, perhaps as a practical solution to the three young children that he was now saddled with. Henry is remembered as one of the pioneers of Bowen, involved in setting up both the church and a school. However, he wasn't to remain in Bowen for long; he left for Rockhampton but didn't take his older children. With a few years, Henry had a two further children with Maria, Joseph William Hill and Alice Grace Hill. Henry had a number of businesses as an ironmonger in Bowen and Rockhampton but he became insolvent. Not long after this he seems to have left his second family as well, and he died at the age of fifty three. His wife had mental health issues and died in her nineties in a Sydney mental institution.

Of the older children, Ellen married a Charles William Alexander Keys in Brisbane and had a large number of children. Henry junior made his life in Rockhampton, dying 50 years after his father had, and having at least four children. However, very little is known of the youngest daughter of this marriage, Eliza Holmes Hill.

Of the younger children, Alice Grace Hill never married and lived most of her life around the Gold Coast in Queensland, dying in 1950. The youngest child, Joseph, moved to Sydney and became an accountant, and married Marie Albert Bourke, daugther of a publican. They lived in Manly for 25 years, and Joe rose to the position of General Manager of the NSW Mont de Piete Deposit and Investment Company. Joe and Maria had two surviving sons including G. John Hill who married Marjorie Jean Smith, the daughter of a salesman, in 1929. John Hill, unlike his grandfather, made good by coming to Melbourne and had a very successful management career with General Motors Holden, dying in South Yarra in 1978.

East Coast of Australia
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