Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Richard Gary Wilson, AO (born 16 January 1955) is a retired senior officer of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

. He served as Director of the

Defence Intelligence Organisation The Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) is an Australian government military intelligence agency responsible for strategic intelligence and technical intelligence assessments, advising defence and government decision-making on national sec ...

from 2009 to 2011, and Chairman of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority in the wake of the

2010–11 Queensland floods 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Early life

Richard Gary Wilson was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Queensland, on 16 January 1955.

Military career

A 1977 Infantry graduate of the

Royal Military College, Duntroon lit: Learning promotes strength , established = , type = Military college , chancellor = , head_label = Commandant , head = Brigadier Ana Duncan , principal = , city = Campbell , state ...

, Wilson has extensive command experience in the Royal Australian Regiment. He served as: * (1978–1980) Platoon Commander in the 6th Battalion * (1986) Adjutant, 2nd/4th Battalion * (1987–88) Company Commander, 2nd/4th Battalion * (1994) Commanding Officer, 2nd/4th Battalion * (1995–96) Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion * (2002–03) Commander, 7th Brigade * (2004) Director General Military Strategy * (2005) Promoted to Major General and assumed the position of Commander, Training Command — Army. * (2007) Commander 1st Division * (2009) Director of the

He has held a wide range of staff appointments: * (1981–82) Aide de Camp to the Chief of Defence Force Staff, Admiral Sir Anthony Synnot * (1982) Operations Officer in the Army's Directorate of Operations * (1989) Plans Officer (Land) on the Joint Exercise Planning Staff Following

Staff College Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For ...

, Wilson spent two years on exchange with the United States Army as an Operations Officer on the G3 staff of the 7th Infantry Division (Light), an element of the Rapid Deployment Force, based at Fort Ord in California. In 1993, Wilson was seconded to the Office of National Assessments as a Defence Liaison Officer and Military Analyst. This was followed by an appointment as the Army representative on the Writing Team for the 1994 Defence White Paper 'Defending Australia'. From August 1997 until January 2000, Wilson served as the first Chief Staff Officer Plans, or J5, at Headquarters Australian Theatre (HQAST), the Australian Defence Force's newly formed operational level headquarters. Of particular note during this period were the planning for the peace monitoring operations on Bougainville and the peace enforcement operations conducted in East Timor by an Australian-led international coalition force. For his services as the J5 at HQAST, Wilson was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2000 Australia Day Honours List. Wilson served with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor as Commander of the Peacekeeping Forces in Sector West from July 2001 until March 2002. His overseas experience also includes two three-month tours of duty in Malaysia with Rifle Company Butterworth (1978 & 1988) and an exchange posting with the United States Army's 7th Infantry Division (Light) (1991–92) which included training deployments to Honduras, Panama and Colombia. Wilson was responsible for "The Wilson Report" which examined C2 arrangements in the ADF and recommended the formation of a co-located Joint Headquarters. Located in NSW between Queanbeyan and Bungendore to the east of Canberra, this establishment is known as HQJOC(B). On 6 July 2007, Wilson was appointed Commander, 1st Division. He was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia in the Australia Day 2009 Honours List.It's an Honour
– Officer of the Order of Australia – 26 January 2009
Citation: ''For distinguished service to the Australian Army in the fields of force structure, personnel training and operations, particularly as Commander Training Command — Army and as the Commander of the 1st Division.'' Wilson succeeded Major General Mick Slater as Chair of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority on 1 September 2011.

Qualifications

* 1977 Graduate of the

* 1977 Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

* 1983 Master of Letters from the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 18,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 3,000 students See also *New England Colle ...

* 1986 Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New South Wales. His doctoral thesis examined aspects of Australia's coastal surveillance regime. * 1990 Graduate of the Australian

Army Command and Staff College The Australian Defence College (ADC) comprises three joint education and training organisations operated by the Australian Defence Force in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: * the War College, * the Australian Defence Force Training Cent ...

, Fort Queenscliff * 2001 Graduate of the U.S. Army War College * 2001 Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College

Personal

Richard Wilson and his wife have three children. He is keenly interested in sports, particularly rugby, enjoys reading military history and has a strong interest in environmental matters, strategic geography and international relations.

References

External links

Photo of MAJGEN Wilson
(Copyright). Caption: ''Maj-Gen Richard Wilson and Prof Marie Bashir, NSW Governor, cut the ribbon at the opening of the Sir Roden Cutler Display at the National Artillery Museum.'' Photo by AB Yuri Ramsey {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Richard 1955 births Military personnel from Brisbane Australian generals Graduates of the Joint Services Command and Staff College Living people Officers of the Order of Australia People from Brisbane Recipients of the Commendation for Distinguished Service Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates United States Army War College alumni University of New South Wales alumni