Late Blight, also called Irish blight and brown rot, devastated potato crops in Ireland and countries in Europe in the 1840s, and led to famines, deaths, and the emigration of tens of thousands of poor farmworkers. The outbreaks were blamed on many factors, but finally it was demonstrated that the causal agent was an oomycete (water mould) Phytophthora infestans. The Queensland Government Entomologist and Vegetable Pathologist, Henry Tryon, claimed that he made the first discovery of Late Blight in Australia, on leaves and tubers of potato collected in May 1909 around Brisbane. Within three months, the disease was found in all Australian states. Tryon believed that the Queensland outbreak was caused by Phytophthora-infected planting tubers obtained from Tasmania, which growers and the government in that state initially refused to acknowledge. The Victorian Vegetable Pathologist, Daniel McAlpine, initially agreed with the Tasmanians, but later admitted that he had identified Ph. infestans in Tasmanian potato crops. A herbarium specimen of potato leaves collected in 1900 in Victoria, examined over a century later, was found to be infected with Phytophthora infestans. All the ruckus that ensued after Tryon’s discovery was unnecessary; it was really a matter of where and when.

晚疫病，也称为爱尔兰疫病和褐腐病，在 1840 年代摧毁了爱尔兰和欧洲国家的马铃薯作物，并导致饥荒、死亡和数万名贫困农场工人移民。这次疫情的爆发被归咎于多种因素，但最终证明致病菌是卵菌（水霉菌）致病疫霉。昆士兰州政府昆虫学家和蔬菜病理学家 Henry Tryon 声称，他在澳大利亚首次发现晚疫病，是在 1909 年 5 月在布里斯班周围收集的马铃薯叶子和块茎上发现的。三个月内，澳大利亚所有州都发现了这种疾病。特赖恩认为，昆士兰州的疫情是由从塔斯马尼亚州获得的受疫霉属感染的种植块茎引起的，但该州的种植者和政府最初拒绝承认这一点。维多利亚时代的蔬菜病理学家丹尼尔·麦卡尔平最初同意塔斯马尼亚人的观点，但后来承认他在塔斯马尼亚马铃薯作物中发现了致病菌。 1900 年在维多利亚收集的马铃薯叶子植物标本，一个多世纪后进行检查，发现感染了致病疫霉。特赖恩发现后发生的所有骚动都是不必要的；这实际上是一个地点和时间的问题。