Daniel McAlpine Lectures
The invitation to present the Daniel McAlpine Lecture to the Biennial Conference of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society is extended to an eminent scientist in recognition of their significant contribution to Australasian Plant Pathology. 
 
 
Daniel McAlpine 1849-1932

 
Stanislaus Fish (1976)
 
Daniel McAlpines contribution as the father of plant pathology in Australia was to attend to any disease that might form the subject of inquiry - a definition of the role of a plant pathologist which is still relevant. His most notable contributions were to study wheat rust following the 1889 epidemic, to classify and describe Australian smuts, and to recognise Ophiobolus graminis (now Gaeumannomyces graminis) as the cause of wheat take-all. He also collaborated with Farrer on resistance to rust in wheat. It has been written that he did a difficult pioneering job pushing down deeply the roots of plant pathology in his adopted country and preparing the way for Australian plant pathologists of the future  (Fish 1976).
John Randles (1994)
 
The lecture commemorates the life and work of Daniel McAlpine and his contribution to the science of plant pathology. He was born in Scotland, and arrived in Australia in 1884 at the age of 35. He had already received considerable training in biology, and became a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Six years later he became vegetable pathologist in the Department of Agriculture. At the time, plant pathology and plant breeding were facing the challenge of coping with the stem rust epidemics, so McAlpine, together with Farrer became involved. Over the next 26 years McAlpine published 226 papers, a monograph on rusts (1906), and books on the smuts (1910) and on the diseases of citrus (1889), stone fruit (1902), and potatoes (1911).
Ron Close (1996)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
LECTURES
1976 Diseases of Citrus Trees in Australia - the First Hundred Years
Dr Lilian Fraser, Biological and Chemical Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Rydalmere, NSW 
1978 Looking Ahead 
Dr David Griffin, Department of Forestry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
1980 Taxonomy, Specimens and Plant Diseases
Mr John Walker, Biological and Chemical Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Rydalmere, NSW 
1982 Relationships Between Plant Pathology and Molecular Biology
Professor Richard Matthews, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
1984 Wheat Rust Resistance -- The Continuing Challenge
Professor Bob McIntosh and Dr Colin Wellings, The University of Sydney, and The Department of Agriculture, NSW
1986 Agrobacterium: pathogen, genetic engineer and biological control agent
Dr Allen Kerr, Waite Agricultural Research Institute, Glen Osmond, SA
1988 Ecology, epidemiology and control of take-all, Rhizoctonia bare patch and cereal cyst nematode in wheat
Dr Albert Rovira, CSIRO Division of Soils, Glen Osmond, SA
1990 Plants, diseases and pathologists in Australasia – a personal view
Mr John Walker, Biological and Chemical Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Rydalmere, NSW
1992 Plant viruses, viroids and virologists of Australasia
Dr John Randles, Department of Crop Protection, The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, SA
1994 The ever-changing challenges of plant pathology
Dr Ron Close, recently retired from Plant Science Department, Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand
1996 Biology and management of Phytophthora spp. attacking field crops in Australia
Professor John Irwin, CRC for Tropical Plant Pathology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld
1998 Bees and fungi, with special reference to certain plant pathogens
Dr Dorothy Shaw, C/- Plant Pathology Unit, Department of Primary of Primary Industries, Queensland
2001 Long-term careers in plant pathology
Dr Alan Dube, South Australian Research and Development Institute, GPO Box 397, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
2003  Increasing threat of Diseases to Exotic Plantation Forests in the Southern Hemisphere: 
Dr MJ Wingfield, Forestry and Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
2005 A long and varied fungal foray
Dr Gretna Weste
2007 The impact of farming systems on soil biology and soil-borne diseases.
Dr Graham Stirling