Simon Hickey (6 June 1878 – 18 May 1958) was an Australian politician. He was born at Botobolar near

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council Local gover ...

to agricultural labourer Patrick Hickey, an Irish-American, and Mary, ''née'' Swift. His family moved to Menah in 1882 and to

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

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 Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

for the saddler's firm, which failed. In 1911 he married Hilda Ellen Dacey, daughter of

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP John Dacey. In 1912 he entered the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

as the Labor member for

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

on the death of his father-in-law; he moved to the multi-member seat of

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

in 1920. The 1920 election was evenly divided with Labor only able to govern due to

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

Daniel Levy controversially accepting re-election as

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

. Levy resigned as speaker and on 13 December 1921 Hickey was elected

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

. This left the Dooley Labor Government without a majority in parliament. Eight days later the government was defeated on the floor and resigned. Hickey resigned as speaker, replaced by Levy which enabled Labor to regain government. 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 The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

, which he held until the Council's reconstitution in 1934. Simon Hickey (1878-1958) c1927

Hickey's memoir, ''Travelled Roads'', was published in 1951. Hickey died at Bellevue Hill on . His son was Sir

Justin Hickey Sir Justin Hickey (5 April 1920 – 21 August 2005) was an Australian businessman, insurance executive and philanthropist. His father Simon Hickey was a New South Wales Labor politician. Early life and education Hickey was born in a working clas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hickey, Simon 1878 births 1958 deaths Speakers of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales