Hills Limited, the company that pioneered the Hills Hoist washing line, is in administration after losing an expensive court battle.
Aussies will sigh in collective relief that the iconic Hills Hoist is not in danger of disappearing and has been owned by overseas manufacturing giant Ames Australasia since 2017.
"We're not going anywhere!" Ames Australasia said.
"Their availability, their warranty, and customers of our iconic brand will not be affected at all by this unrelated organisation going into administration," it said.
Since it's founding in 1945, Hills Limited has expanded into health technology for homes, hospitals, aged care facilities in Australia and New Zealand and other electronics.
Hills Limited chief executive David Clarke said they were unable to meet the significant costs of an historic legal matter related to Hills Health, a subsidiary wholly-owned by the company.
The company was ordered by a court on May 18 to pay almost $5.5 million to Stellar Vision Operations.
"This is not an outcome we ever envisaged, particularly following our successful capital raising in April, which brought on board a new cornerstone investor and, we believed, set up Hills for long-term success," Mr Clarke said.
The company's shares will be suspended indefinitely and the consequences for Hills shareholders remain uncertain at this time, Mr Clarke said.
Hills was founded by Lance Hill in Adelaide after he built the hoist with spare pipes and the invention took off internationally.
The Hills Hoist clothesline has since become synonymous with the hot Australian sun and our love of games like "Goon of Fortune".
