In a presentation at the Supreme Court of NSW, ANU Arts-Law student Archie Horneman-Wren was announced as the winner of the 2023 Australian Legal History Competition. The prize was presented by the Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice of NSW.

Archie won in the Tertiary category which consists of a certificate and $1000 in prize money. This award is offered annually by the Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History to ‘recognise excellence in the study of Australian legal history’. Archie’s winning essay is titled 'The facts as we know them today': Law, narrative, and the Mabo decision as an exercise in Australian historiography’. The judges noted that it rose to the top in an especially strong round of entries.

Archie’s essay, which draws from both his legal and historical studies, began as his major project for Making History (HIST3007), the capstone course for a History Major, which requires students to write an original essay using primary sources on a topic of their choosing. Professor Martin Thomas, who taught Archie in Making History, described the essay as “a penetrating meditation on history, the law, and the nexus between the two”.

The School of History extends its congratulations to Archie on this exciting result.