Simon Hickey (politician)

Simon Hickey (6 June 1878 – 18 May 1958) was an Australian politician.

He was born at Botobolar near Mudgee to agricultural labourer Patrick Hickey, an Irish-American, and Mary, née Swift. His family moved to Menah in 1882 and to Auburn in 1890. Hickey received a primary education but at the age of thirteen left school to work as a drayman's assistant, eventually being apprenticed to a Mudgee saddler in 1893. He worked in Sydney for the saddler's firm, which failed. Around 1909 he married Hilda Ellen Dacey, daughter of Labor MP John Dacey.

In 1912 he entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Alexandria; he moved to the multi-member seat of Botany in 1920. On 13 December 1921 he was elected Speaker, but eight days later the Dooley Labor Government fell and Hickey was ousted. His term remains the shortest in the history of the Assembly. He was defeated in 1922 but in 1925 was given a life appointment to the New South Wales Legislative Council, which he held until the Council's reconstitution in 1934.

Hickey died in 1958 at Bellevue Hill.^[1]

His son was Sir Justin Hickey.

References