Richard Weir

Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade

In 1982 I was flown to Darwin for a job interview as a technical 1. This proved to be unsuccessful, but I was asked if I would be interested in a higher position that was to be open in the coming months. Success this time which ultimately led to gaining an undergraduate degree from the University of Canberra in 1991 and a PhD in 2000.

In the ensuing years our team at the AL Rose Virology laboratory section of the Berrimah Veterinary Laboratories have isolated more that 11,000 viruses from our sentinel herds that are scattered across the Northern Territory, and provided an integral part of the Australian biosecurity network detecting viruses that are being blown into Australia from South East Asia on the north west monsoon winds each year.