Weste was noted for her many contributions to the fields of the plant pathology and mycology . For her Masters of Science research , she studied wood anatomy -- which proved useful in preserving the huge quantities of dead standing Mountain Ash timber which resulted as a consequence of the Black Friday bushfires of 1939 . Her Doctor of Philosophy degree was in agricultural plant pathology , on the root-rotting pathogen of wheat Gaeumannomyces graminis . After this she turned her research attention to Phytophthora cinnamomi , a root pathogen of Australian indigenous plants
Black Friday bushfires
Black Friday bushfires
Gretna Margaret Weste