Dame Augusta Wallace, DBE (11 October 1929 - 12 April 2008) was the first woman in New Zealand to be appointed as a judge to the District Court in 1976; she served for eighteen years.
Georgina Catriona Pamela Augusta Dunlop[1] was educated in Howick School, Epsom Girls' Grammar School, and Auckland University where she graduated and was admitted to the bar in 1954. She practiced on her own account as a sole practitioner in Papatoetoe for 11 years. In September 1975 she became the first woman to become a judge when she was appointed to the District Court bench.[2][3] She sat at the Auckland District Court for nearly fifteen years, transferred to the Otahuhu District Court for a short time, and finally was based at the Papakura District Court.[4]
Wallace had a long record of community service and extensive judicial experience. In 1990 Wallace was at the centre of a review into courtroom security after she was attacked by a 16 year-old with a machete while serving at the Otahuhu District Court and was seriously injured.
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In 1993 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1996 she was appointed as a member of the Waitangi Tribunal by then Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon John Luxton.[5]
Dame Augusta was Patron to a number of community organisations including Age Concern New Zealand, the Hope Foundation, and Victim Support. She was also a Trustee of the Child Development Foundation of New Zealand.[6]
She died in Manukau, Auckland on 4 April 2008, aged 78, following a long illness.[7]
She married Neville Alan Wallace, a career Army officer, in 1955; he retired from the Army in the 1970s, and qualified as a lawyer in 1976. [4]They are survived by a daughter and five grandchildren.