Olive Annie Hicken (1884-1965)

Olive Hicken, 1958. Image courtesy Shepparton Heritage Centre.

Olive Annie Hicken (1884-1965) HSV member. Orchardist, JP and CWA member.

Olive Hicken (nee Greives) overcame a difficult early life and disastrous marriage to become a JP, a key member of the Country Women’s Association, a magistrate at the Children’s Court and a probation officer.

She was born in 1884 in Kyneton and as a child was adopted by her aunt and uncle, Annie and William MacDermott who were storekeepers in Shepparton. She worked as a saleswoman and in 1906 married railway employee Abe Hunter Hicken. They lived in Richmond and had no children.

In 1912 she divorced Abe Hicken. Her divorce petition tells a harrowing tale of domestic violence, drunkenness and infidelity. She left him then returned in 1909, but by 1912 he was living with another woman so she returned to Shepparton to live with her aunt and uncle.

Olive remained in Shepparton and became involved in the local community. In 1927 she became the third country woman in Victoria to be appointed as JP. She was a magistrate in the Children’s Court and a probation officer. Unusually perhaps for a woman of her time, she was also an orchardist, growing apples and oranges in the Shepparton area.

During the 1940s, she joined the Historical Society of Victoria and remained a member during the war years. At that time she was an orchardist living at ‘The Fields’, Shepparton. Her HSV membership did not continue after the war, possibly because of her increased commitment to the Country Women’s Association (Victoria).

In 1928 she had played a key role in the foundation of the Victorian CWA and is credited with drawing up its rules and objectives. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the organisation, travelling widely throughout the state as a demonstrator as well as helping women to form branches in their own local areas. In the immediate post war period she travelled to Europe several times to attend international CWA conferences. She held many positions within the CWA and was State President from 1938 to 1940 and again from 1945 to 1947.

She also supported her local CWA branch by donating a parcel of land with a building on it for use as a meeting room. In recognition of her community work she was awarded an OBE in 1951 and Hicken Crescent in Shepparton is named after her.

Olive Hicken remained in Shepparton until the early 1960s when she moved to Moreland Road, Brunswick. She died there in October 1965.

Elisabeth Jackson

November 2021

Sources

Ordinary women, extraordinary lives, Victorian Women’s Trust, 2001

Victorian birth, marriage and death indexes

Victorian electoral rolls

Victorian divorce petitions

Herald, 17 May 1912

Shepparton Heritage Centre