Stem rust of wheat in colonial Australia and the development of the plant pathology profession

Article


Ryley, Malcolm J. and Park, Robert F.. 2024. "Stem rust of wheat in colonial Australia and the development of the plant pathology profession." Historical Records of Australian Science. 35 (2), pp. 83-97. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23005
Article Title

Stem rust of wheat in colonial Australia and the development of the plant pathology profession

ERA Journal ID3482
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsRyley, Malcolm J. and Park, Robert F.
Journal TitleHistorical Records of Australian Science
Journal Citation35 (2), pp. 83-97
Number of Pages15
Year2024
PublisherCSIRO Publishing
Place of PublicationAustralia
ISSN0727-3061
1448-5508
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23005
Web Address (URL)https://www.publish.csiro.au/HR/HR23005
AbstractGrain production in the early years of the British colonisation of Australia was characterised by a lack of expertise of farmers, a paucity of farm animals and equipment and the poor work ethics of convicts. In 1803, just when wheat production was increasing and becoming less risky, stem rust of wheat caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici was discovered by an exiled Irish rebel Joseph Holt, on Captain William Cox's Brush Farm. Stem rust became an intermittent and often serious disease culminating in a series of epidemics in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Growing varieties less prone to rust was a key recommendation from a series of rust-in-wheat conferences held from 1891 to 1896. It was William Farrer who was the first in Australia to develop new wheat varieties that resisted the ravages of rust principally by maturing earlier. The rust outbreaks were also catalysts for the New South Wales and Victorian governments to employ Australia's first plant pathologists, Nathan Cobb and Daniel McAlpine, respectively. A year later, Henry Tryon was employed by the Queensland government as its first vegetable pathologist, although he had conducted plant disease investigations as early as 1889. Grain production in the early years of colonisation in Australia was hampered by poor farming practices, lack of livestock, and belligerent, unenthusiastic convict labour. In 1803, just when the situation began to improve, stem rust of wheat was discovered by the exiled Irish rebel 'General' Joseph Holt on Brush Farm, owned by Captain William Cox. The disease, which has remained a threat to wheat production ever since, found its way into ironic Australian literature, including Ned Kelly's Jerilderie letter. Photograph from an original picture in the possession of Sir William Bentham painted in 1798, Day & Haghe lithrs. to the Queen, Trove, https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22823177. Accessed August 2021.
KeywordsBrush Farm; Daniel McAlpine; Henry Tryon; Joseph Holt; Nathan Cobb; Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritic; stem rust; William Cox; William Farrer
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020300499. Crop and pasture production not elsewhere classified
Byline AffiliationsCentre for Crop Health
University of Sydney
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