Australasian Plant Pathology Society

History of Plant Pathology in Australasia

Thomas Knight
1759-1838

Mordecai Cooke
1825-1914

Joseph Bancroft
1836-1894

Thomas Kirk
1828-1898

Henry Tryon
1856-1943

Nathan Cobb
1859-1932

Ethel Irene McLennan
1891–1983

Daniel Mc Alpine
1849-1932

Lilian Fraser
1908-1987

Joan Dingley
1916-2008

Lionel Stubbs
1916-2003

Compiled by Peter Williamson

Attempts to co-ordinate plant pathology throughout Australia can be traced as far back as the conferences on rust in wheat held in Melbourne in 1890, Sydney in 1891, Adelaide in 1892, Brisbane in 1894 and Melbourne in 1896. These meetings were also a most significant step in establishing Australian plant pathology on the world scene.

In New Zealand, the pioneer of plant pathology was Gordon Herriot Cunningham. In 1928 he lead a team of four mycologists at the new Plant Research Station. By 1935 the team had increased to eight scientists. The Plant Diseases Division was formed in 1935 and was responsible for plant pathology, entomology and pomology, with Cunningham as Director.

Background References
The following references and publications provide background to the development of plant pathology in Australasia.
Banks and Knight(1806) First Rust Report from Australia
Board of Agriculture(1892) Rust or Mildew on Wheat Plants
Cooke M (1872) Rust, Smut, Mildew, & Mould. An Introduction to the study of Microscopic Fungi
Margaret Senior (1964) Plant Disease Illustrations
Fish S (1970) The History of Plant Pathology in Australia
Fish S (1970) Daniel McAlpine - A Pioneer Plant Pathologist of Australia
Lilian Fraser (1976) Diseases of Citrus Trees in Australia - The First Hundred Years
White NH (1981) A history of plant pathology in Australia
Teakle DS (1985) Significant Plant Virus Work at the University of Queensland
Simmonds J (1986) A short history of the early years of plant pathology in Queensland
May (1990) History of the Study of Australian Agaricales
Parbery I and Sheather (1990) Aspects of Australian Mycology: 1800-1900
Pascoe (1990) History of Systemic Mycology in Australasia
Close R (1994) History of Plant Pathology in New Zealand
Close R. (1995) The ever-changing challenges of plant pathology
May and Pascoe (1996) Fungi of Australia - History of the taxonomic study of Australian fungi
Shaw D. (1998) Early years in Papua New Guinea
Stirling et al. (2008) The history of plant and soil nematology in Australia and New Zealand
Parbery D (2015) Daniel McAlpine and The Bitter Pit
Parbery D (2015) Daniel McAlpine - Father of Australian Plant Pathology
Plant and Soil Nematology in Australia and New Zealand during the period 1975 to 2008
Encyclopedia of Australian Science
Disaster knocking at the door – the ongoing battle against plant disease in Australia.
Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Early Newspaper Clippings
Early Newspaper Reports in TROVE
History of Smut Fungi in Australia

Early Pathologists in Australia and New Zealand
Frederick Bailey 1827 - 1915
Joseph Bancroft 1836 - 1894
Flora Martin 1845 - 1923
Daniel McAlpine 1849 - 1932
Henry Tryon 1856 - 1943
Walter Mervyn Carne 1885 - 1952
Walter Waterhouse 1887 - 1969
Ethel McLennan 1891 - 1983
Jack Simmonds 1901 - 1992
Rupert Best 1903 - 1991
Neville White 1906 - 1991
Lilian Fraser 1908 - 1987
Olga May Goss 1916 - 1994
Gretna Weste 1916 - 2006
Dorothy Shaw 1920 - 2007
Lionel Stubbs 1916 - 2003

Formation and Early History of APPS
As indicated in Purss (1994) the belief that there should be a Society of Plant Pathologists in Australia evolved over a number of years and finally came to fruition in 1969. The references below provide details of its inception.

Flentje NT (1968) Preformation of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society.
Purss GS (1994) History of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society
Stubbs LL (1994) A discussion of past events in the development of Australian plant pathology
MacNish G (1994) Australasian Plant Pathology Society Inc
Purss GS (1994) Presidents of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society
Close RC (1994) Plant Pathology in New Zealand
Magarey R (2007) Early History
Magarey RC (2007) APPS: Stepping into the future – how far can we go?
Foundation Members of the Society
50th Anniversary Poster

Management Committees of APPS and Locations
APPS Past Committees and Locations

Australasian Conferences
APPS Conferences
Earlier Conferences

History of APPS Publications
Dr Bob Dodman a Foundation Member of the Society and Editor-in-Chief of Australasian Plant Pathology from 1988 to 1998 has prepared a Trilogy on the History of Australasian Plant Pathology Society publications. They are entitled History of Australasian Plant Pathology, History of APPS News and History of Australasian Plant Disease Notes (this corresponds with the chronology of the release of each publication).

As explained in the History of Australasian Plant Pathology, the first Society publication in 1972 was titled Australian Plant Pathology Society Newsletter. Articles published in this Newsletter could not be cited as they were not peer reviewed. This situation changed in June 1978 when the Newsletter became Australasian Plant Pathology and items submitted were processed by an Editorial Panel as in all other scientific journals. Issues of the Newsletter published between March 1972 and June 1978 may be found on the Springer website. APPS News followed on from APP in 1992 and Australasian Plant Disease Notes commenced in 2006.

History of Australasian Plant Pathology
History of APPS Newsletter
History of Australasian Plant Disease Notes
History of Pathogen of the Month

History of the APPS Website
1996 to 2009 (australasianplantpathologysociety.org.au)
2010 to present (appsnet.org)

Early Photographs
Early Photographs of Plant Pathology in Australasia
Walter Lawry Waterhouse Collection
Early Photographs from PNG

History of Plant Pathology in Japan
History of Plant Pathology
Exotic Plant Pathogens in Japan

History of Other Societies
American Phytopathology Society
British Society for Plant Pathology
Indian Phytopathological Society
International Society for Plant Pathology
Peruvian Association for Phytopathology