Of all the plant diseases that occur in Australia, banana bunchy top disease would rank high on any list of those that have had the greatest impact on society. Bunchy top first became a major problem in Australia during World War 1 in the Tweed Valley in New South Wales, close to the border of Queensland. The Soldier Settlement Scheme was initiated to provide a livelihood for returned soldiers, and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales was chosen as the site for a new subtropical fruit industry. Physically and psychologically damaged men were encouraged to settle on the land to grow bananas, only to be left in ruins within two years because bunchy top had destroyed their plantations. Bunchy top did not discriminate, and many other well-established growers also ‘went broke’. The cries for assistance from the banana growers made it to the federal Parliament in Melbourne, and a Bunchy Top Investigation Committee was formed in 1924 with funding equally contributed by the New South Wales, Queensland, and Australian Governments. Charles Magee was the full-time plant pathologist appointed to the investigation, and he did most of the research. Most histories of the bunchy top research program follow the written accounts of Magee, but he only provided a narrow perspective. Several of the major hypotheses about the epidemiology of bunchy top disease, such as that it was spread in the plant’s suckers and was vectored by the banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa, were established by growers such as William John (aka Jack) Burton Marks well before the Bunchy Top Investigation Committee began. This paper describes the beginnings of the subtropical banana industry, the introduction of bunchy top disease, and efforts by the scientific and farming communities to find a preventative treatment or cure for the disease.

在澳大利亚发生的所有植物病害中，香蕉束顶病在对社会影响最大的病害列表中名列前茅。第一次世界大战期间，束顶首先在澳大利亚新南威尔士州靠近昆士兰州边界的特威德山谷成为一个主要问题。启动了士兵安置计划，为归国士兵提供生计，并选择新南威尔士州北部河流地区作为新的亚热带水果产业基地。身体和心理都受到伤害的人们被鼓励在这片土地上定居种植香蕉，但两年后却因为束顶毁坏了他们的种植园而变成了废墟。 Bunchy top 并没有歧视，许多其他知名种植者也“破产了”。香蕉种植者向墨尔本联邦议会发出了寻求援助的呼声，并于 1924 年成立了 Bunchy Top 调查委员会，新南威尔士州、昆士兰州和澳大利亚政府均提供了资金。查尔斯·马吉是被任命参与调查的全职植物病理学家，他完成了大部分研究。大多数顶级研究项目的历史都遵循马吉的书面记录，但他只提供了一个狭隘的视角。关于束顶病流行病学的几个主要假设，例如该病在植物的吸盘中传播并由香蕉蚜虫 Pentalonia nigronervosa 传播，这些假设是由威廉·约翰（又名杰克）·伯顿·马克斯等种植者早在Bunchy Top调查委员会开始了。 本文介绍了亚热带香蕉产业的起源、束顶病的引入以及科学界和农业界为寻找该病的预防性治疗或治疗方法所做的努力。