Over the summer of 1983–84, a fungus called Phragmidium violaceum was introduced to Australia. It was done secretly, deliberately and illegally. And it was done for one purpose: to kill blackberry plants.
I’m a historian, not a detective. My recent research on the illicit introduction of violaceum (also known as ‘blackberry rust’) doesn’t identify a culprit. But it does shed light on one of Australia’s most significant and mysterious breaches of biosecurity over the past half-century.
