Career
Born at Waimea South, near Nelson in 1882, Hickey rose to prominence as Secretary of the New Zealand Federation of Miners and a leader in the Blackball Miners" Union in 1908. In 1915, Hickey was the organizer for the Queensland Railways Union and opposed conscription during World War I. He became President of the Melbourne Labor Party in 1926 and was selected for the safe seat of Dandenong, Victoria in 1930 but died in the same year before the election. Hickey was only 48 years old.