The following messages of condolence and symbols
have been added in memory of William.

My deepest sympathy and condolences to Sharon and the boys.
I have know Bill for over 20 years and in our time working together he took me under his wing. I will always appreciate all the lessons and advice Bill shared with me, his mentorship has been a priceless gift.

Dear Sharon, Stephen and Alex my deepest sympathy and condolences for your loss. Bill was and will always be a mayor influence in our lives. A kind person who always gave without expectation, a great advisor, teacher, friend and most importantly a brother. Bill will be forever in my heart as i loved him dearly.

My Tribute to Bill
Every acquaintance, every sympathetic encounter is a win.
I met Bill during my time as a hydrotester in Australia in the 1980’s Our Base was located at Mt. Kuring Gai, North of Sydney. First time, we worked together on the Pipeline Project Sydney – Newcastle. In the following years on many other projects. For example, in Queensland, Moomba, Melbourne, Adelaide, Western Australia, New Zealand. Bill and Sharon also visited us during their Germany adventure in Lingen. Our last meeting done in Brisbane with Bill and Sharon. Bill worked on Australian Pipelines an myself on the PNG Pipeline Project. These encounters will never be forgotten.
Altogether, Bill was a sympathetic colleague with a very positive attitude to life. A grounded person and very reliable as we say. Bill had a great skill in mechanical understanding and organizing the work. Never mind, there was also a life beside the work. With a smile still remember the barbeque times, boat drives on the Hawkesbury River, the times at the Sydney beaches.
The joy of creating was evident in his eyes. Through his courageous hands-on and beloved hard work, he generated a positive energy that affected the folks around him. As greater the challenge, the more he loved it to get it right. Due to his great expertise and good leadership, he was very good at training and guiding Expat. We always had fun at work, were joking and laughing. With his good attitude of life, I found it a pleasure to work with him.
The great variety of tasks at work appealed to him very much. He was always interested and focused on the tasks, far-sighted in planning, interested in solutions when there were problems. If necessary, he could also make clear announcements, but always fair and competent. Analyzing work by project was one of his favourite subjects with the aim of doing it even better in the next work. Due to his professional competence, social skills and as a hard worker, he was very popular and respected by everyone.
The message of Bill's death has hit us completely unexpectedly and deeply. It will take time to grasp it. We often speak at home about our “Adventure” in Australia and Bill is always a great part of it. We will miss him.
We all meet many people along life’s journey. To meet Bill has definitely made our life richer. Memory is a form of encounter.
Our deepest sympathy to Sharon and his sons Steve and Alex.
Florenz & Elisabeth

I have known Bill Hickling for 41 years.
In 1983 I met Bill on the Sydney - Newcastle project .
He was the go to / do everything man even then, even to scuba diving on a flooded test header near Wyong.
As test inspector for the project engineer I stood back a bit in the first few months, but soon I began to get closer to the people, particularly to Bill as the work progressed. It was always professional but always cooperative, and without conflict.
We continued this work association throughout the early 1980’s, on projects that my company was involved in. Then I joined Bill's company Kopp Australia, until about 1986.
But Bill was still always there, and in later years “ borrowed” the company Unimog to load the engine in two boats I had built.
In 1986 I had rejoined AGL and was involved in Australian Standards for pipelines, so it was natural for me to ring Bill more that occasionally with a “ what if …” or a “is this right”. Until in the 2000s when he was more formally involved.
In the subsequent years after I left AGL in 2003, we came together on a South African project, and there commenced a long distance phone contact on everything testing, particulary as it had become increasingly technical. But Bill always had the practical on the ground approach.
These phone calls always lengthened into a multi subject discussion, always pulling at my memory cells and what did I think. I always enjoyed and valued the calls.
Bill was subjected to some “testing” times and events during his career, but always his integrity, endurance, and inner strength came through. A great example to us all.
In the years 2012-14, I worked directly for Bill on the Queensland LNG Project pipelines. We had to redevelop some of the technical procedures and data sets, and with Awais (Wasser) Ashraf, Bills No 2 test engineer, we had some interesting and sometimes intense discussions, but always came to agreement. All in all , as far as my experience went, none of the pipelines Bill had been involved in had any operational problem related to the testing he managed.
From Bill's ability to get projects up and going, with the right gear and the right people, and to see the big picture, he also had an ability to see the detail. He could always see and plan about four steps in advance. These I learned from him, and on quite a few occasions his eye for detail saw the small things I had missed.
I retired in 2014, but we maintained the phone calls two to three times every year, on past and present projects, and I always finished with a good feeling of time well spent with Bill. This year 2024, I think one one call, a sign of our time perhaps.
I, together with others, shall miss him, a wise colleague, a good friend, he went to soon. Who ever replaces him will have big shoes to fill.
My thoughts are for Sharon, and his sons, Steven and Alex, who had to patiently put up with his long absences, and travel to far places .
They have lost a partner and a father, a good man.