James Hickey
James Timothy Hickey (Jim) was born in 1946 at Yarrawonga, Victoria, but the family later moved to Melbourne. It was after this that Jim developed an interest in driving trucks which would last for 45 years.
In 1963, at the age of 17, Jim started working for family friend and business owner Joe Cahill (Joe Cahill Transport). He was given a Bedford tray truck to drive, carting flour out of Hutchison Flour Mill in Glenroy. During Jim’s first week on the job, he drove the truck a little too close to a tram which clipped the ears of the loaded flour bags, sending a huge flour cloud out over Sydney Road. Jim worked a number years for Joe Cahill and still maintains a very close relationship with the family to this day.
Jim then moved on to Harley Transport in Finley, New South Wales, transporting groceries from Melbourne. In 1969, he met and married Anne and in 1972 they started a family and also moved from Finley to Albury, New South Wales.
Jim then purchased his first truck, a 1924 Mercedes, and carted general freight for various companies. He upgraded to a Volvo N12 and worked as a subcontractor for Brambles, carting fuel for many years. After entering the Volvo in a few truck shows, Jim sold it to Joe Cahill and started working for Knights Transport in Kilmore, Victoria.
Jim was approached in 1984 by Safety Clean in Albury, New South Wales, with an offer he could not refuse. He drove their only prime mover and for the next 24 years, helped build the company. Jim was highly regarded by his employer and won the company’s ‘Safest Driver Award’ which led to a write up in the ‘Truckin’ Life’ magazine in 1988.
Jim finished up with Safety Clean in 2008 and started driving buses part time for Martins Travel Group in Albury, before hanging up the keys at 70 years of age in 2016.
Jim and his wife, Anne, have been married for 52 years and raised a family of six. Unfortunately, Jim now suffers from progressive dementia and lives full time in assisted living in Albury, New South Wales.
Inducted in 2021
