Augusta Wallace (judge)
Encyclopedia
Dame Augusta Wallace, DBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (11 October 1929 - 12 April 2008) was the first woman in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 to be appointed as a judge to the District Court
District Courts of New Zealand
The District Courts of New Zealand are low-level trial courts in New Zealand. The District Courts can hear civil claims up to $200,000 and criminal cases involving relatively minor offences...

 in 1976; she served for eighteen years.

Georgina Catriona Pamela Augusta Dunlop was educated in Howick School, Epsom Girls' Grammar School
Epsom Girls' Grammar School
Epsom Girls Grammar School is a girls school located in Epsom, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It was established in 1917.The principal is Madeleine Gunn...

, 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
Papatoetoe
Papatoetoe is a suburb in the Auckland conurbation in northern New Zealand. One of the larger suburbs of the area commonly known as South Auckland, it is located to the northwest of central Manukau, and 18 kilometres southeast of Auckland city centre....

 for 11 years. In September 1975 she became the first woman to become a judge when she was appointed to the District Court bench. 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.

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.

Honours

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
John Luxton
Murray John Finlay Luxton, QSO is a former New Zealand National Party politician, and a son of Jack Luxton who had previously held the same seat of Matamata...

.

Affiliations

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.

Family

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. They are survived by a daughter and five grandchildren.
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