Judith Ngaire Maud Pickard (; 19 June 1921 – 10 March 2016) was a New Zealand abstract painter, librarian and advocate for women's rights.

Early life and family

Pickard was born in the New Zealand city of

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

on 19 June 1921. She was the youngest of five children, and her father imported textiles. After the family moved to Wadestown,

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, she attended

Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Samuel Marsden Collegiate School is a private girls school located in the Wellington suburb of Karori in New Zealand. It has a socio-economic decile of 10 – on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 reflecting the highest proportion of students from high ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Pickard and her mother travelled to England to join her brother, Edgar Kain, a fighter pilot with the RAF who had recently become engaged, but he died before their arrival. Pickard and her mother were presented by

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...

with her brother's DFC medal on his behalf at Buckingham Palace, and Pickard joined the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during the World War II, Second World War. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak ...

. She had attained the rank of

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

by the end of the war and was working as an instructor. After the war, Pickard returned to New Zealand, where she completed a bachelor of arts degree at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

and obtained a diploma from the New Zealand Library School, becoming a librarian. In 1952, she married schoolteacher and writer Alexander Pickard, best-known by his literary pseudonym AP Gaskell, and they had three children.

Career

The early years of Pickard's marriage were mainly spent in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

, where her husband worked as a schoolteacher and Pickard worked at the public library; in 1960 the family moved to

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. In 1961 her poem "A Long Sea Voyage" was published in the New Zealand literary journal ''

Landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

''. The family's home in Hamilton was designed by architect

Ernst Plischke Ernst Anton Plischke (June 26, 1903 – 23 May, 1992) was an Austrian-New Zealand modernist architect, town planner and furniture designer whose work is well known throughout Europe and New Zealand. Early years Plischke was born in the town ...

and completed in 1964. In the same year, she began working at the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

library. In 1970 Pickard was appointed as the City Librarian for Hamilton. She was the first woman in the role, and the first person in that role to have a professional qualification. In this role she reorganised, relocated and expanded the library, increased the intellectual quality of its holdings, and developed a

mobile library A bookmobile, or mobile library, is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Boo ...

to support outer areas of the city. She retired from the position in 1981. In retirement, Pickard had more time to spend on her abstract painting (for which she was well-known in the

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

region), and held several exhibitions of her work including through the Waikato Society of Arts. She also engaged in political advocacy. She and her husband participated in political protests against the 1981 Springbok tour and advocated for electoral reform in New Zealand. She supported the Labour Party and was a long-time friend of Dianne Yates, who said of her, "any campaign for liberty, honesty and justice, Judy would be there". Pickard was an active member of the Women's Electoral Lobby, serving as its Waikato co-ordinator in the 1980s and as the national co-ordinator from 1991 to 1993. She advocated for women's rights in a range of areas including abortion, rape law and school curriculums, assisted with organising the centennial of

women's suffrage in New Zealand Women's suffrage was an important political issue in the late-nineteenth-century New Zealand. In early colonial New Zealand, as in European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change in the ...

in 1993 and co-edited a book of essays by New Zealand women called ''Walking Backwards to the Future''. Pickard also served as a referee on New Zealand's Small Claims Tribunal, a member of the Hamilton Civic Trust, and as a member of the council of the University of Waikato. In the

2001 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2001 was announced on 16 June 2001 for the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland), New Zealand (4 June), Australia (11 June), Barbados, Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Sa ...

, she was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The King's Service Medal (created as the Queen's Service Medal in 1975 and renamed in 2024) is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or app ...

for public services. In 2003, the ''

Waikato Times The ''Waikato Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Hamilton, New Zealand, and owned by media business Stuff Ltd. It has a circulation to the greater Waikato region and became a tabloid paper in 2018. The newspaper has won the title of N ...

'' listed her as one of 125 people who had contributed to the development of the city of Hamilton.

Later life and death

Pickard was predeceased by her husband in 2006. She died at her home in Hamilton on 10 March 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickard, Judy 1921 births 2016 deaths People from Hastings, New Zealand People educated at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School New Zealand abstract painters Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal Women's Auxiliary Air Force officers 21st-century New Zealand painters 20th-century New Zealand painters 20th-century New Zealand women artists 21st-century New Zealand women artists New Zealand librarians New Zealand women librarians New Zealand women's rights activists