By Roger Childs
Any place you are Priscilla – you’re a star! –David Pine
A regular Raumati resident
Priscilla Jane Williams was born on 17 June 1940 and she passed away exactly 84 years later – the sort of precision she would have liked. After being educated at St Stephens and Nga Tawa Schools she gained an MA in History from Victoria University. Priscilla never married and this allowed her to pursue a diplomatic career without interruption.
Her first posting was to Malaysia as Third Secretary in 1964 and twenty-five years later, she was appointed High Commissioner to India which also involved accreditation to Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. In between, she held posts in the US, Thailand, Tonga and Australia.
Back in New Zealand she was at various times:
- Head of the Information Division,
- Director of the Environmental Division,
- Director of the United Nations and Commonwealth Division.
Her last posting was in Sydney as Consul-General for New South Wales and Queensland. She has unquestionably been New Zealand’s most distinguished female diplomat to date.
Priscilla was a very talented, articulate, hard-working and determined person, and some of her male bosses sometimes found her difficult to handle!
She lived her retirement in Wellington, close to her beloved Bolton St Cemetery.
She and her sister Sheila owned a wonderful beach home in Kohutuhutu Road, Raumati Beach, looking out to Kapiti and the South Island. During the summer the two of them enjoyed swimming in the evenings after traversing the track through the John Murray Reserve onto the beach.
A wide range of interests
Priscilla had an intense interest in history and as a direct descendant of the first Bishop of Waiapu William Williams, based in Napier, she was enthusiastic about her New Zealand heritage. She was a key figure in the organization of the 2023 Williams Family Bicentennial Reunion in the Bay of Islands and wrote much of the booklet which was printed for the occasion. The Henry and William Williams Trust also occupied some of her time and she was involved with Sheila and others in the restoration of Henry and Marianna Williams’ home at Pakaraka.
Last year she spoke to the Kapiti Historical Society about the Bicentennial.
Devoted to the Bolton St Cemetery
She was a passionate advocate for the maintenance of this historic Wellington cemetery and lived nearby. As President of the Friends of The Bolton Street Cemetery, she was regularly involved in restoring graves and headstones, and became a national authority on wooden grave markers. Not surprisingly, she was involved with Historic Places Wellington and was a strong advocate for preserving heritage properties and buildings throughout New Zealand.
Priscilla had a wide range of acquaintances and friends, and will be greatly missed especially by her devoted sister Sheila. The two were great mates but were not afraid to keep each other up to the mark. When Sheila gave a talk to the Kapiti Historical Society a few years ago on Octavius Hadfield’s wife Kate, Priscilla regularly interrupted to keep her sister on the subject and asked her to speak up, much to the amusement of other members of the audience!
Priscilla Jane Williams will live long in the memories of those who knew her and she leaves behind a legacy of distinguished and pioneering service in the diplomatic corps; devotion and commitment to the Bolton St Cemetery; as well as qualities of friendship, helpfulness, support, generosity, companionship and good-humour.