Ms Mathews was appointed as a District Court judge in 1980, at the age of 39. She duly took up a role in 1985 on the Equal Opportunity Tribunal and then became NSW's first female Supreme Court judge in 1987.

She rose in 1994 to become a justice on the Federal Court and assumed the presidency of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, before returning in 2001 to the NSW Supreme Court bench until her 2018 retirement.

She also founded the Australian Association of Women Judges.

"I am saddened to hear of the death of the Hon Jane Mathews AO, a renowned jurist and trailblazer for women in the law both in Australia and internationally," NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said in a statement.

"Ms Mathews decided to pursue law as a profession in an era when very few women made that choice. When she was called to the NSW Bar in 1969, there were around only a dozen women in active practice as barristers.

"I offer my condolences and those of the NSW government to Ms Mathews' family."

A NSW Bar Association statement said Ms Mathews' career was "pioneering in the true sense of the word" and marked by a string of firsts.

She was made an officer in the Order of Australia in 2005.

Australian Associated Press