Hill was educated at a part-time school in Stradbroke before joining the clerical division of Victorian Railways. He served as stationmaster at Elphinstone, during which time he would walk several miles to Castlemaine to attend evening classes. He married Lucy Shields in 1892; her father Edward Shields was mayor of Chewton. Following the death of his father-in-law, Hill left the railways to manage the family's tannery in Chewton. He served on the Chewton Borough Council from 1900 to 1906 and was secretary of the Castlemaine Rifle Clubs' Union.
