KEY POINTS:
Dame Augusta Wallace, the first woman to be appointed a district court judge, has died after a long illness.
Dame Augusta, 78, served as a judge for 18 years from 1975 and survived a machete attack when a 16-year-old accused lunged at her and slashed her face open in Otahuhu Youth Court in 1990.
The attack prompted a review of court security but Dame Augusta told NZPA in 2006 that the incident played no part in her decision to retire from the bench three years later.
"I could have retired before I did, but I didn't because I was going to make darn sure that I didn't retire just because I had been hit on the head," she said.
Dame Augusta said she had tucked the incident well away in the past but recalled she had plenty to say about court security after the attack.
Made a dame in 1993, she has served in many judicial and community organisations.
She sat on the Waitangi Tribunal for three years, chaired the Abortion Supervisory Committee and investigated allegations of bullying at Cambridge High School.
Dame Augusta, who died on Saturday, leaves a daughter and five grandchildren.
- NZPA
