In 1925, Bill Hillocks refereed a football match between a Toowoomba representative team and the visiting English. He also presided over the banquet after the match, which England had won 6-0. Hillocks was a long-term player and referee in Toowoomba and was often referred to as W. Hillocks to differentiate from his father, also named Ernest William.
Before the war he played for Caledonians in the Toowoomba league. Hillocks was also a member of the Caledonian and Burns society, a social group for Scottish immigrants. In April 1917 the society presented Hillocks with a pocket wallet prior to his departure to England to work in a munitions factory. This work saw him added to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board as W. Hillocks, alongside others who gave service in non-combat roles. His brother Edward William Hillocks and cousin Douglas Watson also appeared on the board, both surviving the war with the 49th Battalion.
After the war, Hillocks continued refereeing, and spent several years on the Toowoomba British Football Association committee. He later became the president of the Caledonian society until 1930. Hillocks worked as a car driver until his death in 1937.