After a record 24 years of service as General Editor of The Australian Law Journal, Justice Peter Wolstenholme Young retired from his post with his final issue in April 2016.

The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG pens a tribute to the achievements of the seventh General Editor of the ALJ, who has overseen many changes in the legal profession, the law and in Australia as a whole, and has faithfully recorded them in the ALJ, bringing his encyclopaedic knowledge and whimsical sense of humour to the journal while doing so.

‘Although it is a word that Peter Young would never himself use, the ALJ is truly “iconic”. It was born in 1927 just as the building of that other Australian icon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, got underway. It has witnessed enormous changes in our country, the world and the legal system. Through it all, Peter Young, as our helmsman, has steered us through the tempestuous seas. He now hands the bridge of the vessel over to his colleague, Justice François Kunc, of whom we have great expectations. Peter Young’s editorship of the ALJ has been an extraordinary service which has greatly benefited the Australian judiciary, the legal profession and the community. On behalf of the publishers, his co-workers, the readers and the broader legal profession of Australia, I express a sense of gratitude and profound admiration.’

The full tribute can be found in Australian Law Journal Vol 90 Pt 5 available now.