Queen honours Sarjeant director

Sarjeant Gallery director Bill Milbank had a massive smile on his face yesterday after learning he had been awarded the Queen's Service Order.
The award, announced in the Queen's Birthday honours, could be seen as a vindication of Mr Milbank and his last board of trustees after a gruelling eight months under public attack over funding for a planned extension to Wanganui's Sarjeant Gallery.
While Mr Milbank declined to comment on this aspect in regard to himself, he said he saw the award "as a sort of public acknowledgement" of the Sarjeant Gallery's importance locally and nationally, of its staff ? board members, particularly the last one, who have been treated quite harshly over recent months."
It was also an acknowledgement of the public and Friends of the Gallery who over the years had supported the institution in all sorts of ways, he said.
The citation states: Mr Milbank "has given 28 years of exemplary service to Wanganui and the arts in New Zealand in his role as director of the Sarjeant Gallery."
It notes he built a team of dedicated professionals "whose commitment to the Sarjeant is formidable,'' and also mentions the role he played in having the Sarjeant recognised as one of the country's leading galleries and the support given to artists.
"The Sarjeant's ability to stage and tour ambitious exhibitions and produce publications of the highest standard is testament to Mr Milbank's inspirational role, both within the staff and with directors and curators from other galleries," the citation says.
Mr Milbank, who has had "a passion for art since a young child," grew up on a Waimarino farm and attended Ruapehu College. He left school intending to become a draughtsman and worked for the Wanganui City Council's town planning department before going overseas.
In 1975 he became the Sarjeant's exhibitions officer, working under the gallery's first professional director, Gordon Brown.
"I learned a lot from Gordon, New Zealand's leading modern art historian. He did all the hard work in getting the then city council to understand the need for the gallery to be run on professional lines. He started cataloguing the collection, opening the gallery up so it could attract exhibitions of national standards and the acquisition policy.
"Gordon broke the back of the then council's amateur attitude to the Sarjeant and bought the gallery's practice into line with other regional galleries. He left the gallery in 1977, and in 1978 I was appointed director. "I have been fortunate to have been able to consolidate what Gordon began."
This has included creating a touring programme. The Sarjeant has toured more exhibitions than any other gallery/institution ? major ones being Seven Maori Artists in 1980,which went to Australia, and Distance Looks Our Way for the 1992 World Expo in Seville.
The Sarjeant's support of artists has also seen it given a number of works by painters such as Gretchen Albrecht, Philip Trusttum, Rodney Frumpston, and photographers Wayne Barrar, Anne Noble and Peter Preyer.
Its collection and exhibitions of photographs have gained it national recognition as the foremost gallery for this medium.
Over the years Mr Milbank has served on a number of national boards. In 1978 he became chairman of the New Zealand Art Gallery Directors' Guild, and the following year vice-president of the Art Galleries and Museum Association, later becoming its chairman. He has been a Government appointee to the Cultural Conservation Advisory Council and to the professional advisory committee responsible for the planning of Te Papa.
Since 1996 he has been on the Quay School of the Arts advisory committee for its Fine Arts Degree.