From lunchtime casino kid to martial arts master: meet our Citizen of the Year

But it's not just his business savvy that stands out. It's his dedication to empowering young people in the Bathurst community to fight, in more ways than one.

All those traits have combined to see Mr Hickey named Bathurst's Citizen of the Year in 2024.

Unfortunately, Mr Hickey was unable to deliver his address on Australia Day, as he was losing his voice, but his wife, Chris, stepped in to read the speech he had written for the occasion.

In it, Mr Hickey reflected on his youth in western Sydney, a time when his teachers thought he was the child most likely to end up in jail.

That little revelation came after his lunchtime casino operation, and other money-making schemes, were thwarted.

"I wasn't a particularly promising student, due to a processing issue, so I found it difficult to copy notes from the blackboard. Being very poor at spelling and having appalling handwriting didn't help," Mr Hickey said.

"I did, however, possess a certain entrepreneurial creative flair that unfortunately wasn't appreciated or encouraged by my teachers.

"In third form, year 9, I came up with an idea to teach younger students to play games of chance - pontoon, poker, 31 were the games of choice. I then taught them how to gamble.

"My father was a professional gambler, who ran a baccarat school in Kalgoorlie in the 70s. I had watched my dad separate clients from large sums of their hard-earned cash.

"I thought this was a great idea that I could emulate. A few parents, however, complained, resulting in the closing of the lunchtime casino."

Around the same time he learnt of his teachers' predictions for his future, Mr Hickey was learning karate and his teacher saw a great deal of potential in him.

He continued to attend lessons and, after a year, won the purple belt sparring division at the national tournament.

Soon, he was learning to impart his karate knowledge and skills on others, and by the age of 17 he was teaching beginner and advanced classes on his own.

Mr Hickey came to Bathurst in 1976 at the age of 19 to study teaching at Mitchell College of Advanced Education.

Eventually, he opened his own business in Bathurst, Precision Martial Arts, which has continued to grow ever since.

"Our family business has grown and our programs have developed thanks to the creativity, work and support of my amazing family, and our amazing, dedicated staff, who I now consider as part of my family," Mr Hickey said.

"We now operate six days a week, sometimes seven."

The business caters to both children and adults, with programs offered in the areas of karate, Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing.

School groups and NDIS groups also visit the centre to use its facilities.

He has helped children through his business, but also in his time as a casual teacher at Bathurst High, where he would often ask students what they wanted to do with their life in the short term, mid term and long term.

He would discuss with them topics such as resilience, goal-setting and consistent positive action, and then witnessed them go on to create businesses and achieve the things they had set out to do.

Mr Hickey's impact on his community earned him not only the honour of Citizen of the Year, but also saw him named a Living Legend on Australia Day.

He thanked his friends and family for nominating him for the awards, saying his parents would be "so proud".

Reflecting on the honours and the experience, he said he was "surprised, grateful, humbled and overwhelmed".