The Immigrant Bees1788 to 1898:

Volume II

An Update on the Introduction of European Honeybees into Australia and New Zealand

Peter Barrett1

Published June 1999

Published by the Author. This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries regarding any form of reproduction beyond the above permissions, should be directed to the author:

Peter Barrett, “BanjoBee Books”. www.beebooks.com.au

1 Banjo Place, Springwood 2777, N.S.W., AustraliaPhone 02 47 515 721 or Overseas +61 2 47 515 721

Also by the author:The Immigrant Bees 1788 to 1898 (Volume I)

William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand, 1842-1847An Australian Beekeeping Bibliography (1st & 2nd editions)

Typeset in 11 point Times New Roman.

Spelling and punctuation of original material retained throughout.

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Copy number of 100.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Barrett, Peter, 1951-.

The Immigrant Bees, 1788 to 1898, Volume II: An update on the introduction of European honeybees into Australia and New Zealand.

Bibliography.Includes index.ISBN 0 9586146 0 1

1. Bees - Australia. 2 Bees - New Zealand. 3. Bee culture - New Zealand - History. I. Title.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................7PRE-PUBLICATION SUBSCRIBERS...............................................................9FOREWORD............................................................................................10“A HUNDRED WORDS” ON PETER BARRETT.............................................12

PART I - THE NATIVE BEES...............................................................14

SYDNEY, 1803 & 1805..........................................................................14QUEENSLAND, C1861.............................................................................15BLUE MOUNTAINS, N.S.W., C1861........................................................16UPPER GREGORY RIVER, QLD. N.T. BORDER, 1861................................17APIS AENIGMATICA, 1916 & 1925..........................................................18

PART II - THE DARK EUROPEAN HONEYBEE...............................21

NEW SOUTH WALES..............................................................................21William Parr, 1822...........................................................................21The Sydney Gazette, 1823.................................................................21The Phoenix 1824.............................................................................22Alexander & David Berry, 1837, 1849..............................................23

Commissary Miller, c1830......................................................................24Alexander Berry, October 1837...............................................................25William Bowman, Richmond, 1837.........................................................29

Norfolk Island, Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme & Captain Maconochie, 1840.................................................................................................30Elizabeth Macarthur, Gregory Blaxland, 1842..................................31Hannibal Macarthur, 1842...............................................................32John Carne Bidwill, 1842.................................................................33Major Archibald Clunes Innes, Port Macquarie, 1843......................34Maitland, 1845.................................................................................38Thomas Alison Scott, Brisbane Water, 1845......................................41An English Beemaster, Sydney, 1847................................................48James Kidd, Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 1847....................................48Albert Gale, c1851...........................................................................51Rev. John Ayling, 1825-1897, An Early Leader of N.S.W. Beekeepers......................................................................................................... 52

Obituary, Ebenzeer, N.S.W., 1897...........................................................52Beginnings..............................................................................................53Lyndoch, S.A., 1853................................................................................53Farmer & Headmaster in Goulburn, 1862................................................54Presbyterian Minister & Beekeeper, Port Macquarie, 1871......................55Ministry at Scone, 1873 to 1885..............................................................57Minister & Beekeeper, Ebenezer, 1885 to 1897.......................................58Leadership in N.S.W. Beekeeping...........................................................58

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Conclusion..............................................................................................60TASMANIA.............................................................................................61

William Kermode, April 1821...........................................................61Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson R. N., 1831.......................................62

Alexander Macleay, Sydney, 1832..........................................................63Revd. Steele, Cook’s River, 1843............................................................63Fanny Macleay, 1832..............................................................................64The ship John, 1831................................................................................64Irrefutable Corroboration, 1834...............................................................65Superintendent Davidson.........................................................................66Edward Markham, 1834..........................................................................67James Erskine Calder, c1870...................................................................68

Rev. R. R. Davies, 1832.....................................................................68Mr Clayton, O’Brien’s Bridge, 1835.................................................68Port Arthur, 1836 - Lempriere, Booth, Simpson & Carte.....................70A Correspondent, 1836......................................................................71Francis Cotton & Dr. Ross, c1840......................................................72Dr Joseph Milligan, Flinder’s Island, 1845......................................72Hugh Munro Hull, 1864....................................................................73

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.............................................................................74Captain John Molloy, 1830...............................................................74William Hardey, c1830.....................................................................75Mary Bussell, 1834...........................................................................75King George’s Sound, c1835............................................................77Lieutenant Helpman R.N., 1841........................................................78Mr Welch, Fremantle, 1848..............................................................80Unknown, 1866.................................................................................80

SOUTH AUSTRALIA................................................................................81Nutt hives, Adelaide, 1845-1846.......................................................82Bees from Launceston, V.D.L., 1846.................................................82

VICTORIA..............................................................................................83Edward Henty & Henry Camfield, 1834...........................................83

QUEENSLAND........................................................................................83South Brisbane, 1854........................................................................83c1861...............................................................................................84John Campbell, Laidley Creek, c1866...............................................84

NORTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND............................................................87William Brown, Brown’s Island, Auckland, 1840.................................87St. Matthew’s Windsor, N.S.W., & Fr. Petitjean, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, July 1842...........................................................................87Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842 to 1847........................................91

SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND.............................................................94Mrs. Mary Ann Allom, April 1842.....................................................94Lady Barker, 1866............................................................................95

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Chatham Islands, October, 1890.......................................................96

PART III - THE ITALIAN OR LIGURIAN, ‘APIS LIGUSTICA’........96

NEW SOUTH WALES..............................................................................96Angus Mackay, S. MacDonnell, 1880................................................96E. Garrett, 1881...............................................................................96Wilhelm Abram, Parramatta, 1883...................................................97

TASMANIA.............................................................................................98Thos. Lloyd Hood, Hobart, 1884.......................................................98

SOUTH AUSTRALIA................................................................................99Charles Rake, Enfield, 1883.............................................................99Ligurians for Sale, 1885...................................................................99Ligurians at Fairfield Apiary, Mount Barker, 1885.........................101W. Stevens, 1886.............................................................................101Another Twelve Queens from Italy, September 1886.......................101One Surviving Queen from U.S.A., August 1886..............................101Kangaroo Island.............................................................................102

August Fiebig, c1881.............................................................................102A. E. Bonney, December 1883...............................................................103Mr. Buick, American River, K.I., April 1884.........................................104Mr. Turner, Smith’s Bay, K.I., June 1884..............................................104K.I. Bee Act Foreshadowed, 1884.........................................................105Another 20 Queens from Italy on the Cuzco, 1885.................................105K.I. Confirmed “Black Bee Free”, 1886................................................106Eight More Ligurian Queens to K.I., 1886.............................................108

VICTORIA............................................................................................109Edward Wilson, Alfred Neighbour, T.W. Woodbury, 1862...............109

QUEENSLAND......................................................................................118James Carroll, Angus Mackay, M. Blasdall, 1866, 1872.................118Charles Fullwood, 1883..................................................................119

NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND...........................................................121Isaac Hopkins, 1922, abundance of “black bees”...........................121

SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND...........................................................121S. C. Farr, 1880..............................................................................121Otago, 1883....................................................................................124T. G. Bricknell, c1884, Le Levre & Robert Stewart 1886.................124Capt. Adam Blackwell & George Blackwell, c1866 to 1895............124

HOW WERE BEES SHIPPED UNTIL THE 1850S ?...........................126

A CLUE FROM 1959.............................................................................126NUTT’S HIVES TO NEW ZEALAND, C1846.............................................126ITALIAN BEES TO SOUTH AFRICA, 1875................................................127

CONCLUSION......................................................................................128

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BOOK REVIEWS.................................................................................129

THE IMMIGRANT BEES (VOLUME I)......................................................129The New Zealand Beekeeper, June 1996........................................129The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1996.........................................132NSW Apiarists’ Association News, January 1996............................134

WILLIAM CHARLES COTTON, GRAND BEE MASTER OF NEW ZEALAND, 1842 TO 1847......................................................................................135

The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1998.........................................135New Zealand Beekeeper, July 1998.................................................136Bee Craft, October 1998.................................................................138New Zealand Historic Places, March 1999.....................................139Some Reader Comments..................................................................142

Elizabeth Mocatta, aged 82, Springwood, N.S.W...................................142Chris Dawson, aged in his 80s, Rangiora, New Zealand.........................142Sue Ellison, Editor, The Beekeeper: Quarterly Newsletter of the North Shore Beekeepers..................................................................................142Bill Ringin, Moe, Victoria.....................................................................142

BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................143

BOOKS.................................................................................................143JOURNALS & NEWSPAPERS...................................................................148DIARIES, LETTERS, ARTICLES & NOTES................................................149

INDEX...................................................................................................151

c1885

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have pleasure in acknowledging the support and assistance of the following for their replies and/or contributions in support of this second edition. In addition, thanks to all subscribers to the first edition which extended to six printings.

Alan Clark Shoalhaven Historical Society, N.S.W.Anne Every Secretary, Historical Society of South

AustraliaB Robins Port Macquarie Historical SocietyB. J. Stoddard Secretary, Linnean Society of New South

WalesBetty McAdam Hog Bay Apiary, Kangaroo IslandBob Ayling Florida, U.S.A.Br. T.A. Hall C.F.C. Archivist, Sydney Archdiocesan Archives,

St. Mary’s CathedralBruce Barr State Library of TasmaniaBruce Stevenson Kerikeri, New ZealandChris Coggin State Archives of Western AustraliaDavid Clifford Clifford’s Honey Farm, Kingscote,

Kangaroo Island, South AustraliaDianne Byrne Librarian, Reference Service, State Library of

QueenslandDr. Eva Crane Scientific Consultant to the International

Bee Research Association.Dr. Francis G. Smith Nedlands, Western AustraliaEllen Randva Waite Librarian, University of AdelaideFr. John Hosie S.M. Author, Challenge, The Marists in Colonial

AustraliaFr. M. McNamara St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, Windsor,

N.S.W.Geoff Manning Grange, South AustraliaGeoff Potter Local Studies Librarian, Gosford, N.S.W.Gillian Winter Librarian, State Library of TasmaniaGordon Thompson Goulburn & District Historical SocietyGreg Bishop Coolangatta Estate, ShoalhavenJan Cameron Scone & Upper Hunter Historical Society

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Jane Kelso Curator, Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta, N.S.W.

Jenny Drenkhahn Secretary, Eden Killer Whale Museum & Historical Society

Jinty Rorke New Zealand librarian, Tauranga District Council, New Zealand

Jocelyn M. de Saxe Merimbula-Imlay Historical SocietyJoe Bray New Haven, CT, USAJohn Edmonds Mount Duneed, VictoriaJohn Robson Berry, NSWJohn Webster Auckland, New ZealandKaren Ziegler Conservation Planner, Forestry TasmaniaKevin Gates Royal Historical Society of VictoriaKylie Carman-Brown Royal Western Australian Historical

SocietyLibrarian Cornell University, Ithaca, New YorkLois Komai Steenbock Memorial Library, University of

Wisconsin, USAMark Appleton Winmalee, N.S.W.P. J. Moore State Library of South AustraliaPatrick James Patrick James & Associates, Environmental

& Resource Consultants, Sydney Rev. Bruce Bolland Archives Manager, Catholic Diocese of

AucklandRob Manning Research Officer, Dept. of Agriculture, W.A.Ruth Wynyard Auckland Research Centre, New ZealandSecretary Australasian Pioneers’ AssociationSecretary Tasmanian Beekeepers’ AssociationSusan Bennett Archivist, The Royal Society for the

Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, London

Toge S. K. Johansson East Berne, N.Y., U.S.A.Tony Marshall Librarian, State Library of Tasmania

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PRE-PUBLICATION SUBSCRIBERS

Bill Ringin Moe VictoriaBob Perkins Oyster Bay New South WalesC & R Ciphery Narooma New South WalesD & T Parker Blayney New South WalesDavid Biggs Taree New South WalesDavid Clifford Kingscote, Kangaroo Is. South AustraliaDavid Hoey Townsville & District

Beekeeper’s AssociationQueensland

Doug Somerville Goulburn New South WalesEric Whitby Engadine New South WalesFred Benecke Turramurra, New South WalesGeoff Cotton Keith South AustraliaGeorge Godman Nth. West Branch, TBA TasmaniaGlenn Sunderland(1966 to 1999)

Dubbo New South Wales

Heinrich Brug Napier New ZealandHelen Bissland Stewart Island New ZealandIan Fenselau White Hills VictoriaIan Savins North Shore Beekeepers New South WalesJames Bennett P/L Belrose New South WalesJoe Bray New Haven, CT U.S.A.John Edmonds Mt. Duneed VictoriaJohn Low Blue Mountains Library New South WalesJohn McCosker Glenbrook New South WalesJohn Rosendahl Dharruk New South WalesJohn Ryan Nth. West Branch, TBA TasmaniaJohn Schauble Ferny Creek VictoriaKarl Showler Hay-on-Wye EnglandLaurie Braybrook Hamlyn Heights VictoriaLesley Larkin Canterbury Public

LibraryNew Zealand

Librarian National Library of N.Z. New ZealandLibrarian Victorian Apiarists’ Ass. VictoriaLibrarian Dunedin Public Library New ZealandLibrarian New Plymouth Public New Zealand

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LibraryLibrarian Nth. West Branch, TBA TasmaniaMargaret Gardiner Kambah Village A.C.T.Mary Patton CSIRO, Black Mountain

LibraryCanberra, A.C.T.

Mrs Frances Brazier Nth. West Branch, TBA TasmaniaPat Gardner Nth. West Branch, Tas.

Beekeepers’ Ass. (TBA)Tasmania

Paul Yarker Springwood New South WalesRob Manning Dept. of Agriculture Western AustraliaRobert Steel-Wilson Red Cliffs VictoriaRobyn Gosper Hawkesbury City

Library, WindsorNew South Wales

Robyn Murphy Hamilton Public Library New ZealandRoger Buttermore Tasmanian Museum &

Art GalleryTasmania

Rosemary Doherty Mudgee New South WalesSecretary North Shore Beekeepers New South WalesStephen McGrath Weethalle New South WalesSue Ellison Lower Mangrove New South WalesSue Mossman Macarthur Beekeepers New South WalesTerry Western Macquarie Fields New South Wales

Note: hard cover edition subscribers shown in bold

Cover illustration from Angus Mackay (1875):The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist and Colonists’ Guide

FOREWORD

The predecessor to this work was inspired by the question “How were bees shipped to Australasia on a voyage that could take as long as six months or more?” Having satisfactorily answered that as well as the “when” and “who” aspects, this update was born from the additional material I’ve collected over the last three and a half years. Volume II adopts the same format ie., chronological sequence within each state or territory and country. This work is not a novel. I’ve concentrated on the presentation of primary (eg., diaries, autobiographies and reminiscences) and secondary (eg., newspaper accounts) source material, its collation and analysis, always attempting to retain the flavour of the time in which the herein reported events occurred. Those interested in the

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solution to the mystery of whether or not William Charles Cottonmanaged to bring bees with him from England to New Zealand should refer to my second book, William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand, 1842-1847. I consider this second volume warranted not only because of the additional weight of material presented, but particularly by:

the first person 1834 contribution of Thomas Braidwood Wilson, which, among other gems of detail, tells how he shipped his bees to Van Diemen’s Land in 1831

Mary Bussell’s records of bee hives aboard the James Pattison, 1834

Mr Clayton of Hobart Town, exported 50 or 60 hives to Sydney, 1837

T. J. Lempriere and Charles O’hara Booth, the ‘Honey Jar’, Port Arthur, Van Diemen’s Land, 1836

Captain Maconochie and Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme, introducer of bees into Norfolk Island, 1840

Lieutenant Helpman R.N., Swan River colony, 1841 St Matthew’s Windsor, N.S.W., & Fr. Petitjean, Bay of Islands,

N.Z., 1842 Elizabeth Macarthur, pioneer beekeeper, Parramatta, 1842 Gregory Blaxland, explorer/pastoralist, confirmed as a beekeeper,

1842 Thomas Alison Scott, detailed letter on the management of bees at

Brisbane Water, N.S.W., 1842-1845 James Kidd, superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, absconding

bees from six hives, Sydney, 1847 Introduction of the Ligurian bee

Edward Wilson, Victoria, 1862 S. C. Farr, Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand, 1880 Charles Rake, Adelaide, South Australia, 1883 A.E. Bonney, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 1884

“A HUNDRED WORDS” ON PETER BARRETT

Valerie Chesterfield of Caringbah wrote to me in June 1997 after hearing me interviewed on radio 2BL. Valerie grew up in Tasmaniaso found my discussion of its place in beekeeping history “absorbing”. Valerie subsequently hunted down a copy of my book. She wrote “If you do a follow-up, I think you should do a hundred

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words on Peter Barrett, as it, the book, does lack warmth regarding your own activities.” Valerie, as you can see I have done a follow-up and taken your advice, though I’ve exceeded 100 words.

I’m aged 49, married 21 years. Marjorie and I have four children, Michael (19), Ria (17), Gemma (14) and Zoe (10). We moved to the Blue Mountains in 1985 and resided at Warrimoo for seven years. We now live two towns uphill at Springwood. That first year in the mountains I began looking for a hobby. An advertisement in the Blue Mountains Gazette quickly provided the answer “two hives of bees for sale.” Without any knowledge of bees or beekeeping I bought the hives and began a largely self taught journey as a hobbyist beekeeper.

Keeping bees soon became a passion. I’d been infected with the “bee disease”, an addiction which introduced me to new and lasting friends. Beginning with two hives was an ideal way to start for one was weak, the other strong. This invited the question “why is it so?” Over the years I’ve given talks about bees to a family history society, pre-school groups and beekeepers’ associations, attended beekeeping field days where I promoted my books, met interesting people and many of my subscribers. An educational film on the beekeeping industry is currently in production and I appear in a short segment. I’ve researched as well as given talks on my findings in both Australia and New Zealand. I’ve been interviewed three times on radio, including once with Macca on Australia All Over.

I’ve been stung innumerable times, harvested honey, located queens and queen cells, caught swarms, split colonies, joined colonies, manufactured my own boxes, moved hives “over 3 miles or under 3 feet”. Early on I found it beneficial to attend a beekeeping course at Hawkesbury Agricultural College. My first season was a bumper for the bloodwood eucalypts were heavily in flower. After a few seasons I had 30 hives spread around sites at my backyard at Warrimoo, an apple orchard at Kurrajong and at Emu Plains Prison Farm.

For a couple of years I sold honey at a craft market in Springwood. My supporting display included posters, beekeeping equipment, frames of empty and full honeycomb and a frame of bees in a glass sided observatory hive that I’d made. Each market day I borrowed a frame of bees from a hive about 7:30am and on the cooler mornings the bees were not impressed. I provided more than one honey variety for sale and offered my customers the opportunity to taste before they

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bought. No way to make a million but it was fun. After talking bees for hours each market day my voice often showed the strain.

To help my understanding of bees and beekeeping I acquired and studied as many relevant books as I could. Secondhand bookshops became my regular haunt. I took an interest in the historical content of these books when it was to be found, snippets about early beekeepers and the introduction of bees into Australasia. Trained as a computer analyst programmer I began to see discrepancies, errors and contradictions hiding what might be the facts. Following the gift of an old 1904 Isaac Hopkins bee book, The Illustrated Australasian Bee Manual, and around a year later, the purchase of Albert Gale’s 1912 Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture, I was hooked on the task of accurately reporting how and when honeybees reached Australia and New Zealand. Little did I know that a weekend dedicated to research and note taking would extend to many such weekends of extensive reading, cross referencing and checking of available sources, questioning, compiling and writing. Many thousands of words and eleven months later I had a book. I also had to learn about marketing my product and all aspects of self publishing. That was in 1995. In 1999 you see this, my fourth book about bee related topics.

I still keep bees, a modest four hives. In December 1997 I acquired a native hive of Trigona carbonaria. This was split in December 1998. I performed the operation as quick as I could to minimise disruption to the bees. They can’t sting but they bite. Tender skin areas such as around ones mouth, eyes, nose and ears can be attacked with a vengeance. A veil is a must but overalls aren’t needed. Rather than the order and structure of the honeybee hive there is an ordered chaos. So little is known about these tiny bees but they are a delight to have in the backyard.

Valerie, I hope I’ve added some “warmth” about myself. Please enjoy this second edition, most certainly one of the last 1900’s bee books.

Part I - The Native Bees

SYDNEY, 1803 & 1805Though this book deals primarily with the people, places and dates surrounding the introductions of honeybees, and a focus on early

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colonial beekeepers, I also wanted to collate any observations I found on native bees. This early reference comes from the Sydney Gazette of 4 September 1803 “Some days ago a small Hive was found in the hollow of a Tree that had been brought into Town as fuel. When taken out a prodigious swarm of small Bees flew out upon the bye-standers, and nearly covered the person who held it in his hand, but without stinging him or any other person. About a pint of honey was taken from it, and the hive afterwards presented to a Gentleman.” (p.2b)

The non-stinging behaviour of the bees and the small amount of honey gained, “about a pint”, is consistent with them being a native bee, although it must have been a large colony. This is supported by their description being “small Bees”, which is an accurate one when comparing the size of the native social bee to the European honeybee.

In the Sydney Gazette of 5 May 1805 an enigmatic reference appeared “About a fortnight since a baker on the Rocks found a bee hive in a hollow tree which he was cutting up as fuel, and extracted from it upwards of half a gallon of fine honey, the comb producing several pounds of wax. Intent at the same time on securing the little artificers who had surprised him with the present, he found means to draw many of them off into a small case, in which the deserving insects have resumed their labours, and appeared not in the least discouraged by the transposal.” (p.3a)

The ‘Rocks’ is a precinct surrounding the southern approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The mention of “comb” is interesting. Was this a generic word for the wax structures of the native bee or an accurate description of a honeybee comb? No mention is made of the bees having stung him. If the tree had been felled the bees may have been stunned and therefore not in a mood to attack the wood gatherer. If the bee was native, both the volume of wax “several pounds” and honey “upwards of half a gallon” seem excessive. The baker / beekeeper was able to transfer the bees as well! Note the date, May 1805, which was before Gregory Blaxland’s September 1805 attempt to bring bees out.

From The Coming of the British to Australia, 1788 to 1829, (Lee, 1906) “Of all the natural produce of the forest there was nothing the natives liked better than wild honey, and in traversing the woods, their eyes were always looking up into the trees in search

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of it. This almost black honey was the produce of a small stingless bee which made its hive in the hollow trees. It was obtained in much the same fashion as the opossums, but when the bees made their hives in the slender branches, the gin (or woman), being the lighter climber usually did the work. She would wind her left arm round the body of the trunk, holding the hatchet between her teeth, and would, if she could reach the hive, place the honeycomb in a sort of calabash1 slung round her neck, but if not she would lop off the branch, letting it fall at her husband’s feet. The natives ate the honey as they found it and made a beverage of the refuse comb called bull which possessed intoxicating properties.” (p.31)

QUEENSLAND, C1861From John Dunmore Lang’s 1861 Queensland, Australia; A Highly Eligible Field for Emigration and the Future Cotton-Field of Great Britain; with a Disquisition on the Origin, Manners, and Customs of the Aborigines “The following is an extract of one of the interesting letters of that gentleman2 to his friend Mr. Lynd, of Sydney, on the aborigines:-

Their resources for obtaining food are extremely various. They seem to have tasted everything, from the highest top of the Bunya tree and the Seaforthia and cabbage palm, to the grub which lies in the rotten tree of the brush, or feeds on the lower stem or root of the Xanthorrhaea.

Particularly agreeable to them is the honey with which the little stingless native bee provides them amply. You have no idea of the number of bees’ nests which exist in this country. My black fellow, who accompanies me at present, finds generally three or four of them daily, and would find many more if I gave him full time to look for them. They do not find these nests as the black fellows in Liverpool Plains; they do not attach a down to the legs of the little animal; but their sharp eye discovers the little animals flying in and out the opening - even sixty and more feet high. ‘Me millmill bull’ (I see a bee’s nest), he exclaims, and, so saying, he

1 The calabash belongs to the gourd family, a squash like growth with a tough outer shell2 Dr Leichhardt

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puts off his shirt, takes the tomahawk, and up he goes. If in a branch, he cuts it off the tree and enjoys the honey on the ground. Is it in the body of the tree, he taps at first with the tomahawk to know the real position, and then he opens the nest. The honey is sweet, but a little pungent. There is, besides the honey, a kind of dry bee-bread, like gingerbread, which is very nourishing. The part in which the grub lives is very acid. The black fellow destroys every swarm of which he takes the honey. It is impossible for him to save the young brood.

The practice in regard to catching bees, alluded to by Dr. Leichhardt, is thus described by Sir Thomas Mitchell:- 3

BLUE MOUNTAINS, N.S.W., C1861We were now (in the valley of the Bogan River, to the westward of the Blue Mountains) in a ‘land flowing with honey,’ for the natives with their new tomahawks extracted it in abundance from the hollow branches of the trees, and it seemed that in the season they could find it almost everywhere. To such inexpert clowns, as they probably thought us, the honey and the bees were inaccessible, and indeed invisible, save only when the natives cut it out, and brought it to us in little sheets of bark, thus displaying a degree of ingenuity and skill in supplying their wants, which we, with all our science, could not hope to attain. They would catch one of the bees, and attach to it, with some resin or gum, the light down of the swan or owl; thus laden, the bee would make for the branch of some lofty tree, and so betray its home of sweets to its keen-eyed pursuers, whose bee-chase presented a laughable scene.” - Vol. i. p.171.

3 the following extract about the Blue Mountains was taken from Three Expeditions into the Interior of Australia (1861, pp.327-8) by Sir T. L. Mitchell, Surveyor-General of New South Wales

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The Bee Hunter, a 19th Century drawing by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880) of an aboriginal and his quarry. Two other related drawings are held in the

Dixson Collection, State Library of New South Wales.

UPPER GREGORY RIVER, QLD. N.T. BORDER, 1861A diary entry for 8 December 1861 made by expeditioner W. Landsborough, at a place named Pratt Creek on the upper Gregory River, Barkly Table Land, during his expedition towards Mount Stuart, states “Our only halts were for the purpose of stalking a kangaroo, in which we were unsuccessful, and of procuring a honeycomb from a hollow tree. Wild honey is common in the bush: the pasturage is abundant and the bees find a convenient domicile in hollow trees. The English domestic bee is rapidly spreading over Australia and has already, in many places, practically displaced the indigenous one; for the simple reason, that the former yields a honey harvest twenty times in excess of that of the latter. The blacks are marvelously cunning in tracing the flight of the bee to its hive. Sometimes they adopt the expedient of catching one, and loading him with as much down as he can carry, so as to follow his homeward track with the greatest ease.”

I can’t agree that the introduced bee was replacing the indigenous bee just because of the observation that the former produced a larger

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honey yield. A large and increasing number of European honeybee colonies does not necessarily mean a reduction in the number of native hives. No scientifically validated evidence in support of the displacement of the native bee has been documented to date.

Given this 1861 evidence I asked myself “Where did these honeybees come from?” The upper Gregory river straddles the Queensland / Northern Territory border. Could bees have spread across the land from Brisbane this far? After the convict settlement period, land sales in Moreton Bay began in 1842, and in December of that year the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company, via the steamer Shamrock opened communication between Sydney and Brisbane. Regular services that commenced in 1843 would have allowed easy movement of bee hives into the area from Sydney. It’s known that at least two people possessed bee hives in Brisbane in 1851. Could swarms from these hives have spread such a considerable distance north west within ten years, from 1851, or nineteen years, from 1842? They could not have originated in Townsville, on the eastern seaboard, for it was first occupied in 1864, three years after the expedition. As well, Townsville is more than 900 kilometres east of the place where the honeycomb was harvested. Brisbane is over 1300 kilometres south of Townsville. Even allowing the bees 20 years to move north west from Brisbane, a distance of around 1500 kilometres, could bees have spread via successive swarms some 75 kilometres a year, every year, drought or no? I think not.

One candidate for the source of the honeybees is Port Essington, a failed attempt to establish a settlement on the northern coast of Australia in 1838. Lasting only 11 years under Commandant Captain John McArthur, repeated contact by ship provided opportunities for interested parties to introduce bees.

APIS AENIGMATICA, 1916 & 1925Rayment’s 1935 claim was not the first time he had documented his knowledge of the native Apis. In The Australasian Beekeeper of October 1925. “Like many other writers on the insects of Australia, I had always thought the genus Apis, the Hive or Honey-bee, to be not represented in the Commonwealth by a single indigenous species. However, I am now in a position to state definitely that the genus is native to Australia, for I am acquainted with one species that up to present has never been described by any entomologist.

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About 1916, I had been told by old settlers, who were also experienced bushman, that in the early days they occasionally saw tiny nests of some ‘Wild-bee’, and they described three small combs, built under any shelter, and of about a man’s hand in size. ” (p.67). On being taken by E. Garrett to an old bushman’s hut, he “drew my attention to a swarm of miniature bees. I recognised them at once as an unrecorded species of Apis, for in every respect, except stature, they are replicas of the Hive-bee. ... The bees are black in colour, and with much hair; they are as small as house flies, but more slender in the body. Though we had neither smoker nor veils, the insects made no attempt to fly at us to either attack or defend. They remained quiet on the combs, which were suspended from a rafter on the verandah roof.” (pp.67-68) “... a few days ago I had a letter from a Gippsland beekeeper telling me about a tiny swarm - about a cupful, he said, clustered on a young wattle tree. The bees were black and had started the foundation of their small-celled comb ... from the reports of other observers three is the usual number.” (p.69)

In Rayment’s unpublished 1947 manuscript The Commercial Bee Farm. A Manual on the Cultivation of the Hive-bee and the Profitable Production of Honey and Beeswax, in the chapter titled ‘Introduction of the Hive-bee’ “There is, or was, a very small native Apis, which the author described as A. aenigmatica, but its three combs, suspended from the underneath of a tree limb, are too small for commercial purposes.”

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that such a small bee existed in Australia. Its three small combs not so strange when compared to Apis florea, the dwarf bee of India. Rayment observed in 1935 that the cells of Apis florea measure ten to the inch. At a slightly larger size he stated that Apis aenigmatica measured nine to the inch.4 Root (1903) states “The tiny East-Indian Honey-Bee ... is the smallest known species of the genus. It builds in the open air, attaching a single comb to a twig of a shrub, or small tree. This comb is only about the size of a man’s hand, and is exceedingly delicate, there being on each side 100 worker-cells to the square inch of surface. The workers, more slender than house-flies, though longer-

4 Apis indica measure six to the inch, Apis mellifera five to the inch and the giant bee of India, Apis dorsata, four to the inch.

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bodied, are blue-black in color, with the anterior third of the abdomen bright orange. Colonies of these bees accumulate so little surplus honey as to give no hope that their cultivation would be profitable.” (p.54).

In The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture (1947) is a description of Apis florea “The colonies build a single comb, usually in bushes, hedges, hung down from branches of trees, eaves of huts, corners of buildings and in house chimneys. … The comb is as large as the palm of the hand and sometimes larger. They are not prone to sting, nor is their sting very painful. They are so gentle that sometimes they are called stingless bees. They shun captivity and love open life and generally make combs at high and well-lighted places. They are more prone to swarming and also migrate. The colonies gather vary small quantities of honey, a single comb yielding a pound or so.” (p.561) Note the similarities to Rayment’s 1925 description.

The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture (1983) adds a little more “This bee builds a single comb in an unprotected or semi-sheltered area, not in a hollow tree, a cave, or some other cavity. Consequently, it is vulnerable to predation from many animals – other bees, other insects such as moths, as well as larger animals.” Apis florea is also found on some of the Philippine Islands. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Beekeeping (1985) adds “They are found eastwards from Iran across tropical Asia, except that in the Philippines they are found on Palawan only.” (p.27) “Because they do not nest in cavities and have no way of protecting their nests, they are found in the tropics only.” (p.26)

But does this preclude such a honeybee ever having been present in Australia. The unfortunate introduction of the wax moth c1872 and its predations upon the feral honeybee swarms could have also signalled the demise of Apis aenigmatica. In an article by Charles Fullwood within The New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal for July 1883 “A few years ago … a great change came over the land. A moth, unknown previously, commenced its ravages. The bees succumbed before it, and were rapidly swept away. The farmers owning, from 50 to 200 stock, lost all. The bees in the bush gave way also before the terrible onslaught, leaving the invader all but master of the field.”

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More of the story may yet be discovered. John Edmonds of Mount Duneed, Victoria, wrote to me in December 1995 “I was interested in a claim made by Aboriginals during negotiations over beekeeper access to the Barhsah forest ... that honeybees have always existed in the Red Gum forest. Old beekeepers in the Grampians region claim their fathers talked of a honey bee that was smaller, and built a single finer honeycomb to that of the European honeybee.” John subsequently wrote to the Australian Bee Journal, seeking more information from its readers.

Part II - The Dark European Honeybee

NEW SOUTH WALES

William Parr, 1822In the first edition of The Immigrant Bees I noted that it was one William Parr who bought five of Captain Wallace’s hives at auction in 1822. I’ve found subsequent reference to a Mr Parr in Gilbert’s 1986 work The Royal Botanic Gardens, A History 1816-1985. Parr is referred to as a mineralogist, and again in 1817 where he performed the role of botanist in association with Allan Cunningham. Parr’s acquisition of bees combined with his some time role of botanist makes sense.

The Sydney Gazette, 1823A letter to the Editor of the Sydney Gazette for 23 January 1823 and signed “R.H.” offered “Sir, As bees have lately been introduced into the Colony, it may be important to the possessors to know, that it is not necessary to kill them, in order to obtain the honey; I therefore send you the following extract from a London paper. ‘Our cruel mode of taking honey, by destroying the innocent and somewhat beautiful insects that produce it, can no longer be defended, by the plea of necessity.’ ” William Charles Cotton would have resoundingly supported this advice. Given that skep beekeeping was the predominant (but not universal) method used by British beekeepers, it’s unlikely that the following suggestion was adopted by the few Sydney people that had bees at the time:

“A late traveler in the northern part of India, describes the following easy method, by which the honey-gatherers there effect their purpose: - a hollow tree, or an earthen pot, is built into the

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wall of a house, or out-house, with apertures externally, through which the bees enter and go out. The internal end of the hive can be opened and shut at pleasure, by various simple contrivances; a sliding door is one. In the centre of the hive, there is a valve. When the hive is full, and the honey is to be taken, a great noise is made at the inner extremity; this drives the bees out; the valve is then closed, and the honey is taken out by the sliding door.’ ” There are similarities between this method and that used by those utilising Nuttcollateral hives in New Zealand in 1842, and Adelaide in 1846, where honey was removed without killing the bees.

The Phoenix 1824Gale (1912) quoted from an issue of the Sydney Morning Herald published some time after August 1863 “Bees were brought from England to Sydney in the year 1824, in the ship ’Phoenix,’ which sailed from Portsmouth in March of that year.” (After repeated attempts I’ve been unable to locate this newspaper report.) Three convictships carried the name Phoenix. One of these, under Captain Robert White and surgeon-superintendent Charles Queade departed Portsmouth on 29 March 1824, arriving Hobart 21 July 1824, a crossing of 114 days by way of Teneriffe. “The Phoenix, after disembarking her convicts at Hobart, sailed for Sydney, and early in August arrived off the entrance to Port Jackson.” (Bateson, 1969, p.230) Several searches of the Sydney Morning Herald from August 1863 have failed to locate the item referred to by Gale.

F. R. Beuhne at the time of writing Beekeeping in Victoria in 1916 was a former bee expert of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. He wrote “The Black Bee, it has been stated, was first brought to Tasmania from Great Britain in 1824. From Tasmania some hives were taken to Sydney and from thence the variety has spread pretty well over the whole of Australia.” (p.13) No primary reference was supplied in support of the 1824 date.

Alexander & David Berry, 1837, 1849The following report appeared in the Australian Bee Bulletin of April 1897 “In 1897 a Mr. George Ashby of Mudgee writing to the South Coast Herald stated - I noticed that a paragraph has lately been published in the press to the effect that the bee (miss-called English) was introduced into N.S.W. by Captain Wallace in 1822,

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now, as my great grandfather (James Ashby) collected no less than two tons of honey within the same number of months in the year 1814, from trees in the bush near Windsor, it is my opinion, Mr. Ashby contended, that the common Black Bee was not imported at all but is indigenous to this continent. Mr. Ashby said he could find any amount of testimony that these bees were far more plentiful in the bush in the earliest days of the colony than they are at the present time. The only bee imported to the colony in the early days about 1830 was a species of Ligurian introduced by the late Commissary Miller and which was known as Miller bees Mr. Ashby said, I can remember seeing a colony of these bees at work on the estate of the late Alexander Berry, at Crows Nest, near Sydney early in 1830.” (p.205).

Trevor Weatherhead in Boxes to Bar Hives (1986, p.7) also made comment upon this item (which last appeared in a series titled ‘The History of Australian Beekeeping’ by F. L. Morgan, The Australasian Beekeeper, February 1972). If George Ashby’s recollections were true then they refute the accepted earliest date for the introduction of European honeybees. The lower population of bush bees in 1897 was most probably a result of land clearing with fewer suitable trees available for occupation by feral swarms. This process continues today. The destructive wax moth, introduced prior to 1883, wreaked severe damage upon both managed and feral hives.

The year 1830 given by Ashby for the importation into Sydney of Ligurian bees, as distinct from dark European bees, must be seriously questioned. The Italian bee was rediscovered at Piedmont by the Marquis de Spinola in 1805. (Neighbour, 1878, The Apiary, pp.34-35) According to A. I. Root in The ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping (1947), it wasn’t until 1843 that the Italian bee began to gain limited international notice when a Swiss apiarist acquired some colonies. Later, in 1853, Dzierzon brought them to his home in Silesia, Germany. The existence of the Italian bee thus became known to the beekeeping community via Dzierzon’s writings in the USA around 1855.

Cheshire (1886) supplied the following on the introduction of the Italian honeybee into Britain “M. Hermann a bee-cultivator, Canton Grison Switzerland, transmitted the first consignment of living Italians that reached our shores to Mr. A. Neighbour - the

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late Mr. Woodbury the ‘Devonshire Beekeeper’ receiving in the same package, a queen and her attendants. These arrived July 19th, 1859.” Neighbour (1878, p.37) corroborates the 1859 date for it was himself who arranged the importation. He identified these as “the first imported into England. … Prior to this the Italian, or, as many have called it, the ‘Ligurian’ bee, was UNKNOWN IN THIS COUNTRY, except to a few naturalists.”

Significant documentation exists for their first importation into Australia by Edward Wilson of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria in 1862, only three years after their introduction into England. What credence then can be given to the 1814 Windsor date? However, the 1830 date I thought was worthy of further investigation.

Commissary Miller, c1830The World Book Dictionary defines ‘commissary’ as “an army officer in charge of food and daily supplies for soldiers” (1984, p.417). The most likely candidate for the Commissary in Ashby’s 1897 report is Captain Henry Miller of the 40th Regiment of Foot who came to Sydney in 1823 “in charge of convicts and who was later stationed at Moreton Bay (Queensland) and in Tasmania, where he died in 1866.” (Australian Encyclopaedia, Vol. 6, p85b). Commissary Miller may have acquired bees c1830 but they could not have been Ligurians. Ashby’s recollection of events over 65 years later was, remarkably, not too faulty once the Berry reference was substantiated. As coincidence, Miller’s name appears within the journals of William Charles Cotton between 1842 and 1847, with Miller, in effect, acting as paymaster to the missionaries.

Alexander Berry, October 1837Alexander Berry owned land at what is today known as Crows Nest, originally the name of his house on his estate. Berry is described as a pioneer merchant by The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958). He had been a ship’s surgeon with the East India Company. He arrived in Australia in 1808, part owner of the City of Edinburgh.

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After making several trading voyages his ship foundered in the Atlantic; he escaped by boat and finally made his way to Cadiz, Spain. Here he met Edward Wollstonecraft, later his agent and partner. They settled in Sydney in 1819, carrying on the trade of general merchants. Berry died at the age of 92 in 1873.

Alexander was a correspondent with, and later a good friend of James Busby, having edited Busby’s first book on viticulture. It was Busby who brought hives of bees back for himself and William Cotton at the Bay of Islands in August 1843, although I’m unaware if Berry assisted Cotton’s acquisition of bees. Busby also visited Berry at his property Coolangatta on the Illawarra (South Coast Register, 18 June 1997), however I’ve not been able to discover when this occurred.

From a letter written by Alexander Berry at Sydney to his brother John Berry, then in charge at Coolangatta, Shoalhaven, dated 6 October 1837 “Last time I wrote Mr Holden I enclosed a letter for you amongst other things requesting you to send me up some sheaves of the threshed rye to make bee hives, as I have got some - & I shall send you a hive by and bye – but as you have neither sent the rye nor noticed the letter I apprehend it has not reached you.”

Alexander Berry’s use of rye straw is the first mention I’ve come across where hives were made in Australia using this traditional British material. I originally had a picture of colonial beekeepers putting to use any available box like container to serve as a hive. Making them up from straw was not an occurrence I’d expected to discover.

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James Busby >>Beekeeper from 1843, friend to both Alexander Berry and William Charles Cotton (the latter from 1842)

Alexander Berry wrote the following letter dated 9 July 1849 from the “Priory”, North Sydney, to his youngest brother William Berry at Coolangatta “I wonder you have any difficulty in writing Barbara – of course you would say nothing which David did not like – certainly he would not be angry by you telling her

that he liked bees and how many black beeherds he kept and what kind of honey the bees made – I am sure you could tell her that the cocks crow – and the hens laid eggs the same as in Scotland – You could tell her how many quarts of milk a cow gave and that you fed the pigs on fat brose5.” Black beeherds! Had David Berry trained aborigines as beekeepers?

The next letter from Alexander Berry, written at Sydney to his sister, Barbara Armit, of Fife, Scotland, dated 15 October 1850 “The English bee has been introduced into the Colony – David6 has hundreds of hives in front of his house in a bee garden – when I was last there. There were regularly 5 or 6 new swarms daily besides many which escaped into the forest and made their hives in hollow trees – so that the whole country is getting filled with them – in this mild climate they work all the year round – they do not kill them as you used to do in Scotland,7 but take away the

5 From the Oxford English Dictionary, a Scottish word, a pottage made by pouring some boiling liquid (eg., water, broth, milk) on meal (esp. oatmeal), and stirring it.6 his brother David Berry, in charge at Coolangatta after the death of John Berry in 18487 destruction of all the bees was performed by the burning of sulphured rags beneath the hive

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comb and give the bees a new house to work in8 – A native boy who acted as bee master said that they killed the native bees and stole their honey – that they were the same as the white men who were becoming master over all – your sisters strengthen their wine made of fruits with the honey - & also make mead – David also sent a good deal to Sydney – part of which was sold at 2 1/2d per lb – and about 2 tons were sent to London as an experiment. Moses persuaded his countrymen to leave Egypt for the land of Canaan by praising it as overflowing with milk & honey. I do not believe that milk & honey were so abundant there as at Shoalhaven.”

This letter leaves no doubt that aborigines were employed as beekeepers. As well, Lang’s 1861 observation (see page 83) upon an Illawarra beekeeper who harvested one and a quarter tons of honey in one season which he sold for £359 points to none other than David Berry. If each hive contributed on average 10 pounds of honey then he would have needed some 280 hives to produce such a crop, consistent with Alexander Berry’s count of “hundreds of hives”. David Berry must rate as one of Australasia’a first commercial beekeepers.

One other item which demands comment is the native beekeeper’s belief that the European bees “killed the native bees and stole their honey”. In apparent support of this contention is this contemporary extract from the Sydney Gazette of 12 April 1822 (p.2b) This issue celebrated Captain Wallis’s introduction of a number of hives into Sydney “… As soon as the dawn appears the little animals issue forth from the rest they have enjoyed during the night, and commence their aerial journey over their newly acquired land; and one squadron no sooner returns heavily laden with spoil, than another troop may be viewed winging away for some favored spot that seems perfectly congenial to their prosperity and nature. The flies of the territory have had several serious consultations upon their introduction, as their race are threatened with extinction – not the least quarter being afforded, but steady death ever follows upon the shortest encounter, and the invaders,

8 the bees must have been “drummed” from the hive9 see page 83 for Lang’s 1861 observation

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savage-like, feast themselves upon the remains. …”10 In dispute of the above, I have a hive of the stingless native social bee Trigona carbonaria located in my suburban backyard. This small hive sits but three metres away from a very strong hive of Ligurian honeybees. The latter have never attempted to trouble the native bees. Additionally, from The Amateur Beekeeper of March 1997, the news bulletin of the Amateur Beekeepers’ Association of NSW, is the following fascinating story headed “Honey Bees ‘vs’ Native Bees”.

“Some hardline environmental freaks claim native bees are threatened by feral honey bees. They claim native bees and honey bees cannot share “the same space”. There are several examples that demonstrate how well they can and do share ‘the same space’. The best example is at Taronga Park.

Last spring a tree surgeon contacted the ABA11 about 2 colonies he had been watching for several years. These colonies were both in the same limb of a large tree. One was a colony of honeybees and the other that of native bees. The limb had fallen down in a recent storm. Both colonies survived the crash and he took the limb home. He contacted the ABA looking for a beekeeper to take the honeybees. About the same time the ABA also heard that Taronga Park Zoo wanted a colony of native bees for exhibition. Peter Bond went to see the colonies (in Gordon) and was staggered by their size. The limb was very large and the entrances were only a few feet apart. The colonies probably shared the same cavity and were still prospering.

Bruce White at NSW Agriculture was quickly informed. He made a special effort to see that the example of happy coexistence was scientifically recorded. Photos and other data were taken. The limb was then moved to Taronga Park. They were delighted with it and have set it up for display. The display is apparently off the beaten track so you may have to ask for directions if you want to see it.

One of our members, who lives in Sydney, also has a colony of native bees in his apiary. He has kept bees at his home (and bred his own queens) for many years. For a lot of that time he has also

10 italics are mine11 Amateur Beekeepers’ Association

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had a colony of native bees. When the season permits, this colony thrives. The lucky member who has this colony does not actively manage it. He has just lets them look after themselves. He is reluctant to tell too many people about the colony for fear of too much interference from curious observers.

Several years ago, I visited an apiary in the northern suburbs which also had a colony of native bees. The colony was in a short log on the ground. Once again this colony was not actively managed although a box was built around the log to provide shelter from the weather. In this case, I believe the local council tried to resume that site for a rubbish tip so the colony may not be there any more. These examples clearly demonstrate that if the hardline environmentalists would only look for it, they can see native bees and honey bees ‘sharing the same space’”

The following diary extract dated 22 March 1889 was entered in evidence in the Supreme Court of NSW in May 1890 to support the granting of probate to the Will of the late David Berry. David apparently maintained his interest in beekeeping from 1837 almost up to his death in September 1889. “John Simpson arrived by Meeinderry on his way to Ulladulla – he assisted Mr Berry to take a hive of bees – Mr Berry did the work.”

William Bowman, Richmond, 1837Richmond is the sister town to Windsor on the Hawkesbury River, N.S.W. An extract from The Hawkesbury Herald for 20 January 1905 was supplied to me (I’ve not yet been able to locate an original copy) “With the arrival of the Marlin’s there came also the first hive of English bees to Richmond. Mr Bowman brought them on a return visit to the old country.” Following his return to England in 1836 to encourage immigrant workers for his requirements, as the supply of convict labour had tapered off, William Bowman sponsored twelve married couples, among them was George Marlin, a carpenter, who was to complete the woodwork c1842 at Toxana, Richmond. These sponsored immigrants left Plymouth, arriving 31 August 1837 on the City of Edinburgh. In Hawkesbury Journey (1986) Bowman is reported to have returned with his new wife in 1838. Therefore the hive of bees appears to have been sent on by Bowman in the care of someone else.

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Norfolk Island, Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme & Captain Maconochie, 1840

Norfolk Island was a penal settlement from March 1788 until August 1804. The island was abandoned in 1813 and it was not until 6 June 1825 that the penal settlement was re-established when Captain Richard Turton of the 40th Regiment arrived along with “fifty soldiers, fifty-seven convicts, six women and six children” at Cascade Bay (Britts, p.79). A succession of Commandants followed: Donaldson, Wright, Hunt, Wakefield, Morisset, Anderson, Bunbury,Ryan, Maconochie, Childs, Price, Deering and Day. During the second settlement up to 2000 convicts endured until the removal of the last prisoners in May 1856. The following month, the Pitcairnersarrived, descendants of the Bounty mutineers.

This notorious convict settlement where the policy of all Commandants save one was “punishment short of death” (Hazzard, p.164) had a period of enlightened prison management under Captain Maconochie. Along with his family and five civil officers, Alexander Maconochie departed Sydney on 23 February 1840 aboard the Nautilus, arriving Norfolk Island on 6 March.

Maconochie allowed the prisoners to earn merit ‘marks’ aimed at achieving their release and possibly a ‘ticket of leave’. By permission from Governor Gipps, Maconochie introduced £100 of musical instruments, music sheets to the value of £43 15s and £50 worth of books. (Hazzard, p.164) He allowed the convicts to “cultivate small plots allocated to them, and rear pigs and poultry. He designed various other activities to affect their rehabilitation and revive their self-respect” (Britts, p.124).

Governor Gipps arrived unannounced aboard the Hazard on 11 March 1843 for a six day tour of inspection. This ship was later to make another appearance in the journals of William Charles Cotton which contain two references to Norfolk Island. Cotton, a beekeeper and an Anglican missionary in New Zealand, noted Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme (written as ‘Holmes’) in his journal for 26 August 1844 on the page headed “A Veteran Apiarian” and described him as “a very fine looking old soldier, and the introducer moreover of Bees into Norfolk Island where I believe they have multiplied amazyingly.” (Vol. 8, p.3). William Hulme of the 96th Regiment was on board the

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Hazard at the Bay of Islands with His Excellency, the Governor of New Zealand, Captain Fitzroy, R.N., at the time of Cotton’s visit.

Holmes and Maconochie receive mention by Cotton in his journal entry for Wednesday 11 September 1844 in the account of a conversation between Bishop Selwyn’s son William with his mother “Today Willie said to Mrs S ‘Tell me about that Eternal Hum’, ‘About what, child’, ‘That Eternal Hum what came here with the Governor, Mama’. He meant Coln Holmes. Tho when she knew what he meant she had not much to tell him tho Eternal Hum is a better name than might at first be imagined, for he is very fond of Bees, and reports that 50 stocks have sprung from one which Capt McConochie introduced some little time ago into Norfolk Island. I must give the old veteran a swarm as soon as possible.” (p.41)

Elizabeth Macarthur, Gregory Blaxland, 1842Elizabeth Macarthur of merino sheep fame was also a beekeeper. A catalogue of furniture for Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta, compiled in May 1854 by H. C. Allport for Edward Macarthur after Elizabeth’s death, lists two bee hives located on the verandah. Also, among the catalogue of 479 books spread across three libraries was one book in the Drawing Room Library simply listed as “Apiary”. Another clue: indexed within the Macarthur papers, Dixson collection, State Library of New South Wales, is a newspaper cutting from The Sydney Morning Herald for 12 May 184512. The detailed description therein of top-bar box hives and the clear management advantages of these may have induced Elizabeth to adopt this advanced form of beekeeping.

In an April 1843 letter, William Charles Cotton wrote of his search for some bee hives at Sydney during his stopover in May 1842 “I paid a visit to Mrs McArthur at Parramatta who has a capital apiary, and to Mr Blaxland” Cotton, a top-bar hive proponent, noted in his journal for Friday 7 July 1843 that the Shamrock was to sail the following day for Sydney “I also sent a note to Mrs McArthur of Parramatta begging her to fulfil her promise of sending me some Bees.”

12 see page 41 for the complete extract31

Hannibal Macarthur, 1842

first nine-man Legislative Council. From The Recollections of Emmeline Maria Macarthur, Hannibal’s daughter recounted from the time when she was thirteen years old “In 1841 Bishop Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand, arrived with his chaplain Mr. Cotton, who was delighted to find my Father as enthusiastic about bees as he was. He wrote ‘My Bee Book’. I remember his putting a small star of tin foil on the Queen Bee’s back, so that he could watch her at work through the glass sides of the hive.” (p.21) Emmeline also recalled in 1909 that there was always a good supply of beeswax for use in making candles.

Hannibal’s home was Vineyard House, on the north bank of the Parramatta River, the area now known as Rydalmere. Emmeline described her home, a place Cotton would have appreciated “A large property 15 miles from Sydney bounded one side by a tidal river, navigable for small steamers & on the other side extensive forests, chiefly composed of gum trees, & a good sized farm house with cultivated fields, and outbuildings ¾ of a mile from the house. Large gardens & in the heart of the forest, a semi-circular terraced vineyard, with a stream at the foot, bordered with ferns & mimosa, a lovely spot.” Emmeline also recalled “in 1840, Sir William Hobson arriving en route to New Zealand”. Could it be that the bees landed by Mrs Hobson at the Bay of Islands in February 1840 had been acquired from the apiary of Hannibal Macarthur?

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<< Hannibal in 1855As well as his visit to Elizabeth Macarthur at Elizabeth Farm, Cotton, along with Bishop Selwyn, attended Hannibal Macarthur and family at Vineyard House. Hannibal was nephew to John and Elizabeth Macarthur. At the age of 26 Hannibal was made a magistrate by Governor Macquarie and by 1830 he was a member of the

The time of Cotton’s visit was one of wealth for Hannibal but years of drought and the disastrous 1840s financial recession culminating in a plague of bankruptcies in 1843, eventually brought him the same fate in 1848 when he was forced to sell Vineyard House. He subsequently took a salaried post as police magistrate at Ipswitch near Moreton Bay, Brisbane. He may well have taken his hives of bees with him.13

John Carne Bidwill, 1842In a photocopied extract from a book (that I’ve been unable to identify, possibly 19th Century) on the natural resources of New Zealand is this entry “The first bees actually landed alive at Wellington were brought from Sydney by Mr. John Carne Bidwill” (p.171) in 1842. The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958, Vol. 1, p.500) notes Bidwill as a horticultural botanist. The association of a botanist with bees is no surprise. Bidwill arrived in Sydney in September 1838 and “visited New Zealand early in 1839 and spent two months collecting botanical and other scientific specimens.” Contemporary quotes from The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, A History 1816-1985 has him referred to as “an accomplished botanist” (p.69) and by Governor Fitzroy as “a gentleman of superior qualifications” (p.72). William Macarthur described Bidwill as “an excellent botanist, & man of general science, a very skilled horticulturist - perfectly devoted to gardening in almost all of its branches.”

Connected with a Sydney mercantile firm, Bidwill likely had many opportunities to hop the schooners which habitually plied between Sydney and New Zealand. He returned to New Zealand in 1840 and spent some time near Port Nicholson. I found no supporting evidence of an 1842 visit across the Tasman but he visited England in 1843, returning to Australia in 1844. He also appears to have made another trip to New Zealand in 1844. Appointed by Governor Fitzroy as Government Botanist and Director of the Botanic Gardens from 1 September 1847, Bidwill’s short tenure to 1 February 1848 was the product of an overriding and parallel appointment of Charles Moore to the post by Earl Grey in England.

13 see page 83 for another reference to Moreton Bay33

Major Archibald Clunes Innes, Port Macquarie, 1843The most likely identity of the beekeeper whose bees receive two mentions in the journal of Annabella Boswell, his niece, is Archibald Innes of Lake Innes, just south Port Macquarie. Innes, as a twenty-three old army captain, arrived in Sydney in 1822 in charge of convicts. Eighteen months later he was sent to Van Diemen’s Land spending three years there, followed by a short term as Commandant at Port Macquarie in 1826. After retiring from the army in 1828 he was appointed superintendent of police at Parramatta. In 1829 he married Margaret Macleay, the third daughter of Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay. He took up land a few miles from Port Macquarie on leaving that post in 1830.

Port Macquarie was established as a penal settlement in 1821 but it was decided in 1830 to abandon it for this purpose and free settlers began to occupy land in the district. From The Australian Encyclopaedia “Innes achieved a rapid rise to wealth, and his lavish hospitality and his extravagance became well-known throughout the settlements. … (He) built himself a magnificent house on an estate named Lake Farm. … His organising ability and his fairmindedness earned him the esteem of all classes of people, and he was one of the best-known men of his day.” (Vol. 5, p.82) Interested in furthering the interests of Port Macquarie, Innes was instrumental in having a road constructed from New England to Port Macquarie and in 1842 he chartered the vessel Maitland to support trade with Sydney.

Annabella went to live in Port Macquarie in 1843 after the death of her father, George Innes. A steamer delivered Annabella, her mother, sister and their furniture via Newcastle, from Sydney. On arrival, her Uncle Archibald offered them a home with him at Lake Innes House, a large, rambling, Georgian residence. Such an isolated domestic establishment bordered by its gardens and orchard would have been largely self-supporting. Annabella wrote one day in January 1843 when approaching the house “walked up the wide approach … the air cool and fresh, laden with the sweet scent of roses and heliotrope, the leaves of the evergreens glittering in the sun, and a thousand gay flowers lending brightness to the scene.”

In her journal for November 1843, Annabella mentions a steamer from Clarence (River) waiting off the river bar for some of Innes’

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visitors to join it. Presumably, in this case, they had to row out across the bar in a small boat to get aboard. The availability of a weekly steamer for goods traffic would have made the movement of hives up and down the coast from Sydney relatively easy. Morton Herman, in the introduction to Annabella’s journal, places travel in the 1830s and 1840s in context “At that time Australia was a collection of loosely-knit settlements in New South Wales and Tasmania, with further embryo settlements in what were to become the States of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Queensland had only a few outposts. Communication with the interior was by rough roads, but between points on the coast the most economical and natural means of transport was by ship.”

The diary entry for 7 November 1843, written at Lake Innes when Annabella was aged seventeen “The new swarm of bees has already half-filled its box with beautiful white wax. One pursued Dido, who made her escape, but it stung Margaret. They never interfere with me. I gathered some ripe strawberries for my uncle.” (p.71) From Annabella’s observations the hives she saw (at least two) must have been top-bar box hives. (The moveable frame hive as we know it today was yet to be perfected by Revd Langstroth in the USA in 1852.) The new swarm may have been housed in a simple box hive, but it’s more likely it was in a top-bar hive.

Most beekeepers of this era, Revd Ayling14 included, would have used simple box hives, adopting any type of box that came to hand eg., a tea chest, candle box, hat box, butter box or kerosene case, indeed any available wooden container of adequate size. The problem with these was that there was no easy means of inspecting the interior of the hive. They were less useable than the straw skeps of Britain where one could tilt back the hive from its bottom board and view the stock of honey and bees. Single box hives had to have one side levered away to allow a look inside. But box hive beekeepers had no reason to inspect the hive interior. They could judge the amount of honey simply by lifting the box and opened such hives only once a year when honey was to be removed. This caused much damage to the combs within and probably resulted in the death of the hive.

In the illustration following the box hive in front of the beekeeper’s knee has had its roof removed and stands on its edge. The combs lay

14 refer page 55, his beekeeping at Port Macquarie c187135

exposed, soon to be crushed inside a bag so that the honey will drip into the drum below. From Albert Gale’s 1912 book, some comments on simple box hive methods “The bees had to be driven from their comb or smothered by sulphur fumes. In either case the destruction of the brood comb (young brood are always the most important part of the inhabitants of a bee community) was inevitable. For the humanitarian part of bee-keeping nothing was done. It did not appear to enter into their calculations that the destruction of the bees was killing the hen that laid the golden egg.”

Annabella’s diary entry for 30 September 1844 reads “We had strawberries and cream today; there is every prospect of a good crop this year. The bees which swarmed on my birthday have been most industrious. The honey looks beautiful, and the wax perfectly white.” (p.101) As with the previous diary entry, the ability to inspect the hive internals indicates this must have been a top-bar box hive. Along with Major Innes, other advanced top-bar box hive beekeepers I’ve identified for the same decade are Thomas A. Scott of Brisbane Water, 1842, (his 1845 top-bar specification appears after page 41), the anonymous donor of Scott’s first hive in 1842, Revd Steele of Cook’s River, Botany Bay, 1843, W.C. Cotton, Bay of Islands, N.Z., 1843, and possibly, Elizabeth Macarthur c1845.

To extract honey from this hive style a stout thin wire attached to two dowels was drawn between two boxes to cut the comb. A specially shaped knife was then used to separate the end of each comb from the opposing sides of the box. The top bar with comb suspended beneath could then be removed for close inspection, replaced or taken away for crude honey extraction or use as chunk comb honey. If necessary (when the lid did not have a clearance of one bee space, approximately 9 mm, above the top of the bars) the wire was also drawn between the top of the box and the lid. As well as crops of efficiently honeybee pollinated strawberries, Annabella’s family could look forward to easily harvested chunk comb honey.

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a box hive beekeeperfrom Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture, 1912

Note also: it was to Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay that T. B. Wilson had delivered a hive of bees from Tasmania in August 1832. Wilson brought his bees to Hobart in a box which was later a great source of interest for many years to visitors at his brother George’s house at Mt. Seymour (refer p.121, Volume I). Given the likely top-bar beekeeping methods of Major Innes, his link by marriage to Alexander Macleay and the Wilson/Macleay connection, it is possible that Wilson was also an advanced top-bar hive man.

Maitland, 1845In The Sydney Morning Herald for 1 January 1845 there appears a long article reprinted from the Maitland Mercury wherein the correspondent exhorted more locals to keep bees. It gives interesting insight into the prices to be obtained for honey and wax at that time in

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the Sydney market, the prospects for a honey income and possibilities for export. It’s also useful to compare this correspondent’s projections with those obtained by Thomas Alison Scott in the same year. ie., between 10 and 20 shillings for a hive in Maitland versus over 40 shillings for Scott at Brisbane Water. I suspect the reason for this differential was the additional cost of carpentry required for custom made top-bar hives as used by Scott, and the simple provision of common box hives of any availability and dimension, as used at Maitland.

From “BEES: We have noticed for some time past, with great pleasure, that a taste for keeping bees is spreading in the town and neighbourhood. As far as our observation goes, as yet, this is principally confined to persons who keep them mainly for pleasure; and those who have never tried the experiment can form no idea of the real pleasure derivable from watching the labours of the busy bee. But we should be well pleased to see the habit extending far and wide among the numerous persons living in cottages and huts in Maitland and its vicinity, to whom the profit arising from keeping bees would be an object of some importance.

We know that in the south of Devonshire, and many other parts of England, great numbers of cottagers are enabled to pay their rents, and live in comparative comfort, in times when employment is scarce, from the profits of their beehives; although in England bees require attention and care that here will be scarcely needed; and there they almost always require artificial food in the winter months, when they cannot get food for themselves, while in this country very few days occur in the whole year when they cannot get abroad, and bush flowers in plenty are to be found the whole year round. In this district the bees gather their honey almost entirely from the bush, rising into the air on leaving the hive, and making straight to some particular spot and returning when loaded in the same way.

Any man can make his own boxes to keep the bees in, and they appear to require little care except when swarming, if the simple precautions are used of raising them two or three feet above the ground, and of covering the boxes over with a sheet of bark to keep off the rain and sun. The only expense here would be the

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first purchase of a single hive, which may be got in the town for about twenty shillings, and we have heard that two or three parties in the vicinity are selling them at from ten to fifteen shillings. Supposing a man gets a young hive now in good condition, it will probably throw a swarm off before the summer is over, and these will again swarm so rapidly next summer, that by eighteen months from the first purchase, he may have eight, ten, or even twelve hives, besides getting 80 or 100 lbs of honey. This calculation is merely stating the actual success a neighbour of ours has met with. We suppose the bee-owner to sell none of his hives until he has ten or twelve of his own, but mean while he has for sale, say only 60lbs. of honey.

It is difficult to say what would be the market price for the honey, there having been yet no attempt at a regular trade in it, but the Maitland honey is excellent, and would, we think, command a regular sale in Sydney; and, supposing it only realised 8d. (pence) per lb. wholesale, the bee-owner would receive 40s. (shillings) for honey in the eighteen months; and in the next year, what with his honey and wax, and the numerous swarms he would have for sale, he would clear at least £5 and with good luck might double that sum. As far as we can ascertain, the wholesale price of honey in Sydney has varied in the last few years from 4d. to 1s. 6d., and even 2s. per lb.; that bought at 4d. having been very inferior. As a guess, we should expect 9d. or 10d. might now be obtained in Sydney for a considerable quantity of good honey, and that, as the production increases, the price will fall till it reaches 6d., or perhaps 5d., when it might become available for making fruit preserves for export, with a prospect of paying, or might possibly even pay as an export to England, provided it would keep on the voyage quite sound and sweet. The duty on colonial honey at home (ie., England) is 5s., (being 60 pence) and on foreign 10s., per cwt. (ie., one hundredweight being 112 lbs.)

The wholesale price of beeswax is more steady in Sydney, and has seldom, we understand, fallen below 2s. per lb. for good and unadulterated. As the duty on colonial unbleached wax in England is only 1s. per cwt., and on bleached 10s., and as it is an article of increasing consumption there, it would doubtless at once be a paying export, if produced in sufficient quantity. The

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duty on foreign unbleached wax is 2s., and on bleached, £1, per cwt. - Maitland Mercury.” (p.3a-b)

The author of this article had one thing in common with Thomas Scott and others who promoted the keeping of bees in the 1840s for the generation of an income. An economic depression was being endured. Even the wealthy and influential such as Major Innes felt its effects. Herman (1965) wrote of Innes “… having ready access to large quantities of convict labour, he was lavish in all his enterprises, which prospered for a number of years. … His prosperity began to wane after the transportation of convicts to New South Wales in 1840.”

The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958) gives more background “For about 30 years following 1820 the economic history of Australia can be written almost exclusively in terms of wool. The graziers, always searching for more lands for their rapidly growing flocks, stimulated the exploration of the continent, or turned explorers themselves. South, west, and north from the neighbourhood of Sydney they penetrated ... always seeking ‘better country farther out’ … After 1821 land was only to be granted to men of substance, who could develop it and would employ convicts. This was an attempt to keep in proportion the supply of land, of capital, and of labour.

By the early 1830s, however, it seemed that the attempt had been a failure. The Government had granted more land than could readily be cultivated with the available convict and emancipist labour. Settlement was too dispersed and there was an acute labour shortage. The remedy seemed to be to restrict land grants. In 1831 … land grants were prohibited and land sales were substituted. This, it was thought, would prevent settlers from taking up too much land, for they would now have to pay for it; also, if the land revenue were devoted to assisting immigration, the labour shortage would be relieved.

The land revenue made possible the first large scale scheme of assisted immigration. The free labourers brought to the colony, together with the free native-born, effectively diluted the convictelement, and helped to diversify the population and to stimulate the economy; between 1832 and 1842 nearly 70,000 immigrants arrived in New South Wales.

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Nevertheless, expansion of settlement was not checked because the pastoralists, when unable to get their land by grant, did not buy it but simply squatted on it. Thus expansion continued faster than immigration, and the labour shortage remained unabated.Drought, a fall in wool prices, the increasing costs of squatting farther out, and the higher cost of labour after the stopping of assignment in 184015 – all these causes combined to make wool-growing temporarily uneconomic and brought widespread bankruptcy to the colonies. The year of greatest panic was 1842 when pastoralists had recourse to boiling down carcasses of sheep and cattle in order to sell the hides and tallow. Recovery was not unduly long delayed … Though the economy was by no means stagnant, after 1844 it lost for a time the elan of the previous decade.” (Vol. 3, p.333)

Thomas Alison Scott, Brisbane Water, 1845Two entire broadsheet pages in The Adelaide Observer for 15 November 1845 were devoted to various articles on bees and honey. Among them was an extract from a letter attributed to The Sydney Morning Herald and dated 12 May 1845. The letter (complete version given below) was signed “T.H.S”. “My dear Sir, - I am this day in receipt of your letter of the 5th, and be assured it affords me much pleasure to furnish you with the information you request respecting the produce, management, and increase of the hive of bees with which Mr. ___ kindly presented me in 1842. In detailing these facts, I derive gratification in two ways – from the value I placed on them, arising from the sentiments I entertain towards the donor of my original stock; and, secondly, as I know their introduction will prove a source of great benefit to the rural inhabitants, and will, I hope, become a source of income to the colonists, by the export of honey and wax, as I assure you, from my own experience, honey can be produced, in a respectable export state, for 3d. per lb., if not less.16

I sold eight swarms for £17 10 0About 2000lbs honey, at 4d per lb 33 6 8

£50 16 8

15 assignment was the allocation of free convict labour16 it’s not known who was corresponding with Scott nor who was the donor of his first hive

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Eighty-seven lbs wax, at 1s 6d 7 10 6£58 7 2

As, from the time I got my original stock in April, 1842, I have been gradually improving in the culture and economy of the management of the bee (partly by history but principally by experience), being at first ignorant of these matters.”

Honey 736 lbsWax (estimated) 30 “Hives of bees 16

“In June, 1844, I had only three large and well-populated hives, and my produce from these has been truly marvelous; and, indeed, I must here remark, from my early knowledge of bees, I would not believe such a result to be possible. Produce of honey, wax, and hives, from three large and well populated hives, including their swarms and casts, for one season, viz.:-”

I will now, as an exemplification of this amazing produce, minutely detail the produce of one of these hives (the largest and most populated) viz. :-

Honey from the mother hive 136 lbsDitto from the first swarm therefrom 130Ditto from the second ditto ditto 60ditto from the first cast ditto ditto 50

376 lbs

“Also from the same hive, I got four swarms and three casts, but as above shown, I took no honey from the third and fourth swarms and the second and third casts. I shall now relate my management of the bees , &c., &c., &c.

HIVES

They are composed of segments, 9 inches deep and 18 inches square, at the upper part of which thin battens are let in 1 1/2 inches wide, and half an inch apart. Five of these, placed upon each other, compose one hive. There are doorways made in the whole of these segments, the two lower ones of which are open in the summer, and only one during the winter. In very warm weather, they are all opened to allow of ventilation, and to cool

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the hive. The tops and bottoms are loosely fitted with a lighting board, 5 inches wide, laid on an inclined plane.

HIVING A SWARM

Only two segments of a hive are used at hiving a swarm - those remain till the bees nearly fill them, or they show symptoms of swarming, then the hive is lifted by handles (nailed on every segment for the purpose) and another empty segment put under; the bees will then cease to cluster outside, recommence work, and this also keeps them from swarming. For the successful result of an apiarian’s labours consists not in the number of hives he may possess, but in the size of his hive and the quantity of bees that compose a community. The above operation of putting boxes under a hive is repeated as often as the symptoms stated appear, till the hive consists of five or even six segments; a month after the 5th, or last segment, is put under, the operation of taking honey may commence.

TAKING HONEY

A thin batten is tacked with two small tacks, round the upper edge of every segment (except the top one), to keep the segments steady and close the joint between them; these are removed; one person stands in front of the hive, another in the back with a small wire, which the party in front introduces into the joint between the segments, then he in the back, draws it through the hive, and thereby loosens or cuts the top segment from the one on which it rests. The top of the hive (being loosely fitted) is then taken off, the man in front instantly lifts off the segment, when the lid is put on the hive. The few bees that may be in the segment (for there are seldom many in it) immediately leave it, and fly to their hive.

Thus a pure box of honey, without any brood comb, or the destruction of young bees, is taken without even terrifying or disturbing the community: for the upper box or segment always contains honey only, and the bees have ceased to labour in it.

After extracting the honey from this box, it is put under the hive as before stated. The hive should always be kept to its size, and never to leave the bees with less than three full boxes out of the hive. I have found to leave them with less, injures and irritates them, moreover if more than the top box is taken at one time, you

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will rob the bees of their brood comb, and the honey is inferior (sic) in quality.

EXTRACTING HONEY FROM THE COMB

The pure or honey-comb is cut in the middle, and placed with the cut part downwards, upon open wood-work placed over and made to fit a trough set on an inclined plane; it remains thus, till all the honey has run out. This is the first quality of honey - the second quality is composed of honey out of comb, which once was used by the bees for brood; also that which is pressed out of the comb.

The season for taking honey is from November till April, it may be taken however as late as July, but in the winter it is difficult to extract from the comb, and in spring they ought not to be touched till after they have swarmed. Of all the hives from which I have taken honey, I have left the bees with three full boxes last month.

I fear I may have been too prolix upon the subject of these truly interesting and valuable little creatures. I could wish that the economy and treatment of them were improved upon and generally made known, for they are a boon to this colony, (the most congenial climate, I think, for them in the globe). You speak of publication, it is a duty we owe to one another to disseminate useful knowledge, it is the good man’s happiness to be engaged in so worthy an office, such has ever been the spirit which has actuated Mr. ____, and to assist him in so truly commendable an object, I have thus submitted my humble aid; the result of experience principally.

In this matter, the colonists require action – I have seen many bee-masters, all of whom are miserably defective of a proper knowledge of the management of them.

I have given the result of what little I know; I know at least the most essential points. Minor or general particulars I have now declined to trouble you upon. I shall, however, be most happy to afford you further information if it be acceptable.

At your convenience I would greatly thank you if you will inform me whether honey of first quality will answer for exportation; if so, its value here, as such on its probable net value at home; also of wax. There is a quantity of my honey for sale, at Mr. Griffith’s

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fruiterer, King and York streets. I have been told by many it is the best quality in the market.

Probably my extraordinary success in bee-culture, proceeds from my plantations of bananas being now very large; the blossoms of the fruit abounding in pure, rich, and transparent honey, each bud containing about a gill of honey. In these, the bees luxuriate, filling a box containing nearly 60 lbs of honey, in a month and five weeks - this is in large hives, containing, I suppose, from 60 to 80 thousand bees. My first swarms, in spring, contain upwards of 50,000 bees; this I know by weighing my hives before the bees are put in, and weighing it after, allowing 4000 to a pound. ... most decidedly the large hives are infinitely more profitable.

WAX

Of the preparation of this, I am still ignorant. I have been trying many experiments - my first was very crude. I have progressed as you will see by my samples. Since writing the first of the letter, I tried another experiment. No. 4, it is the best plan. I did it thus - I selected comb which had never been brood, after extracting the honey I washed it, then put it into a gauze bag, and hung it before the fire.”

<< Thomas Alison Scott

Sugar industry pioneer, tobacco grower, banana plantationer, beekeeper

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An anonymous Dixson (State Library of N.S.W.) librarian’s annotation on the back of an index card which refers to this 1845 newspaper cutting within the Macarthur Papers, shows in pencil the notation “T. A. Scott?” Even though the letter is signed “T.H.S.” (a possible typographical error), the author of the 12 May 1845 letter was T. A. Scott (1775-1881). The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958, Vol. 8, p.40a) adds conclusive proof, the key links being Scott’s home location at Brisbane Water and his successful banana plantation, banana honey being specifically mentioned in his letter.

Around 1829-1830 Scott received a land grant which he selected at Brisbane Water. After the land was resumed in 1830 to establish the township of Gosford (officially named by Governor Gipps in 1839), Scott moved to a spot nearby which he named Point Clare. At this location which also overlooks Brisbane Water, Scott lived the bulk of his 104 years until his death in 1881. He grew sugar cane and continued his long association with the sugar industry. He experimented with tropical and sub-tropical plants, including the establishment of a banana plantation that was quite successful. He wrote frequent letters to the press in order to awaken interest in the sugar industry. Not surprising then that via the press he also promoted productive beekeeping methods.

From The Brisbane Water Story by Charles Swancott “The introduction of a hive of English bees to Point Clare opened up a field of profitable activity. As a young man, Mr. Scott sent to Sydney by steamer many tons of honey, receiving from 5d. to 6d. a lb. for it. At one time there were 500 hives distributed in kerosene boxes and sheltered in caves from Point Clare to where Woy Woy tunnel is today. But when the railway line from Sydney was being put through, the navvies considered these stores legitimate spoil for the finder, and so the enterprise naturally languished.” One ship by which Scott may have forwarded his honey to Sydney for sale was the William the Fourth.

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P.S. William the Fourth, locally known as “The Billy”80 foot paddle steamer, built 1831, 104 tons burthen

With one deck, carvel hull, 15 foot beam, being a two masted schooner and the first seagoing paddle steamer to be built in Australia, The Billy, was launched late in 1831 at Clarence Town, Williams River, a tributary of the Hunter River which services Newcastle. In 1839 William the Fourth was under the control of the Illawarra Steam Packet Company. “The first regular steamship sailings to the Hawkesbury River began on 24 July 1832 when the William the Fourth, or the ‘Billy’ as the vessel was popularly known, commenced a weekly run from Sydney to the port of Windsor. … Stopping points along the river were not listed but would probably have been at any landing where there was an opportunity to pick up a passenger or cargo.” (Purtell, 1995, p.53) “The steamers not only transported enormous quantities of produce to the Sydney markets (they) provided a reliable link to the outside world for the isolated communities along the river.” (p.86) Ships servicing the Hawkesbury would likely have visited Brisbane Water (Gosford), both of which feed into Broken Bay. “The maiden voyage was made in mid-February, 1832, and she ran mostly to Newcastle for the next three years, occasionally making a few trips up the Hawkesbury River to Windsor and to the tiny settlement of Gosford. … she ran ‘as required’ to many ports between Eden and Grafton (until) 1857.” (Richards, 1996, p.4) If not the William the Fourth, then other ships of the type which serviced the area during Scott’s occupancy included the Sovereign from 1842 and Kangaroo from 1844.

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When Scott was given his first hive in 1842 he was aged 67! But then he lived to the age of 105 so at 67 he was indeed relatively young. Active too, for he married at the age of 52 and subsequently fathered 14 children. Scott’s last child, Anne Rebecca, was born 22 September 1857. Swancott wrote “When he registered this birth he was extremely annoyed when the official asked if he was acting on behalf of a son or grandson. He declared that he was the parent. He was only 82 and expected to make another call on the official at a later date. But his wife was then 44 and one can go only so often to the well.” (pp.16-17)

An English Beemaster, Sydney, 1847In The Sydney Morning Herald for 25 February 1847 ‘An English Beemaster’ noted “the absurd custom of making a variety of noises to (what is called) charm the bees from flying away.” The Beemaster described such noises as “ringing a bell or tinkling on a kettle or sauce pan”17 and noted the custom in England required the owner of stray bees to follow them, noisily making known his claim. (p.3a)

James Kidd, Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 1847On 25 February in The Sydney Morning Herald there also appeared this letter signed with the pseudonym of ‘Sic Vos non Vobis’ “Gentlemen, - A swarm of bees lodged the other day in my garden. With some trouble I hived them. Suppose they should hereafter be claimed, how should I act.” A respondent using the pseudonym of ‘Philo-mel’ commented in semi legal language upon the letter by ‘Sic Vos non Vobis’. (SMH, 26 February 1847 p.3a). This was followed the next day by a whimsical letter (p.2d) from ‘Hydromel’ (a pseudonym meaning an alcoholic drink brewed from a mixture of honey and water) who exhorted ‘Philo-Mel’ to “pursue, and make known the result of his enquiries, and allay a very general anxiety as soon as he has carefully consulted all the authorities.”

The final word from an unidentified author in this series of letters provides some interesting insight into the methods and knowledge of early colonial beekeepers. (SMH 16 March 1847, p.2d) “‘How doth

17 refer The Immigrant Bees (Volume I) for more detail on attracting bees with noises, from the Sydney Gazette of 30 January 1823

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the little busy bee?’ said we to Sic Vos non Vobis the other morning, as we came down in the steamer with the scanty awning, from Bedlam, after our inspection of the punt and pier.” (Bedlam Point is on the Parramatta River, appropriately below the Gladesville mental hospital.) “‘Not at all well,’ said our excellent friend, the managing man of the Floral, striking in before Sic Vos non Vobis had his answer ready. ‘The shining hours have been very few this summer. All my bees have deserted their hives.’ ‘What all?’ said we, ‘How many had you’. ‘Six or seven’ said the venerable horticulturist, ‘they’ve eat all the honey and made off’.

This “venerable horticulturist” must have been James Kidd who arrived in Sydney in December 1830, where he commenced working at the Botanic Gardens. Kidd had been convicted of forging notes, his occupation that of a gardener in Fifeshire. In July 1833 he was appointed overseer at the Gardens and gained a conditional Ticket of Leave, his pay being two shillings a day and occupation of a house and garden. His Ticket of Leave was granted on 21 December 1837 at which time he was appointed Assistant Superintendent. On 1 August 1844 he was appointed acting Superintendent and retained that position until he was replaced by John Carne Bidwill on 1 September 1847. Kidd was described by Governor Gipps in 1845 as “not a scientific Botanist, but simply a good practical Gardener”. So, a former convict, gardener, and acting Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at the time of the exchange of letters in the Sydney Morning Herald in February/March 1847, identified as “the managing man of the Floral”, was also a beekeeper.

The tale continued ‘Well, gentlemen’ said Sic Vos non Vobis ‘there can be little shame, after what the Sage of the Seven Hills has said, in acknowledging that my swarm has left me also. ... made a moonlight flitting - at least they were all there on Friday night, and away before breakfast time on Saturday morning, leaving their six days wax work behind them’

‘It is very unaccountable’ said our ancient oracle, thinking probably as much about his own as about Sic Vos’s, ‘very unaccountable. Do you think the ants had got to them?’ ‘I am sure they had not’ said Sic, ‘for the props of the hive were planted in cups filled with water. There was only one little insect of the fly tribe in the box when I examined it after their

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evacuation.’ ‘What kind of box was it - an old tea chest?’ ‘No, one of those light cedar boxes in which ladies hold caps and bonnets.’ ‘Perhaps somebody had been lifting the box, and prying rudely into it?’ ‘No, it was fastened to the bottom by a screw-nail which the children would not have known how to undo. ... I omitted to put sticks across it as I believe I ought to have done to support the combs.’

James Kidd >>

Gardener, Forger, Convict, Ticket-of-Leave Man, Beekeeper

‘I foresee’ said the manager of the Horticultural, there will be a demand for bee-labour the next summer, and honey will this winter be dear.’ The ‘President’ offered “ ... whatever may be the immediate motive by which the bees have been actuated in departing from their snug confinements, it cannot be doubted that it is somehow connected with the late extremely wet season. It may be thus: whenever a gleam of sunshine has drawn them out, perhaps to a considerable distance, they have during the last three or four months been almost always overtaken by a storm of rain, and perished, and so by little and little, the hives have dwindled away, and the internal operations, such as feeding the young, have been ill-performed, and so the queen may have got

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disgusted and taken to flight, or some other species of disorder have occurred. One thing is certain, that for the greater part of the summer the bees have been feeding on their previously acquired honey, perhaps feeding insufficiently; and at the same time the flowers have been destroyed by the wet weather. If under such circumstances, they are not fed with syrup, they will leave their hives in a body in a hope of finding some place where they can work to greater advantage. That’s my present view of the matter, but there are books on the subject which may instruct you more perfectly. ”

Albert Gale, c1851At the 1896 annual conference of the National Beekeepers’ Association held at Goulburn, Albert Gale stated he had studied the habits of bees for forty-five years. This dates his commencement of beekeeping to circa 1851. His place of residence was recorded as Stanmore. Along with W. Abram of Beecroft18, Gale was elected a vice-president, and Rev. J. Ayling re-elected president in absentia. Gale was interested in Australian beekeeping history, and went to some effort to gather historical references. One interviewee was Stewart Mowle, Usher of the Black Rod, of the Legislative Council, who had many years earlier married Mary Braidwood Wilson, the only daughter of the late Captain T. B. Wilson R.N. Gale’s research efforts on the introduction of honeybees first appeared in The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, 1901 (pp.213-217). He also mentioned asettler from Jervis Bay who bought two hives for £4 in 1840, then hired aboriginals to carry them over 40 miles to his home. Unfortunately, the original source for this story was not provided.

Gale’s series of articles on bees and beekeeping, many of which were first uttered from public platforms, also appeared in various issues of The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales through the 1890s and into the early 1900s. These were posthumously published in 1912 in the book titled Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture, the title page naming him as “Late Bee Expert and Lecturer on Apiculture to N.S.W. Government”. In the book’s preface Gale wrote “In this volume I have collected together some of my published articles, chiefly those that appeared from time to time in the N.S.W. Agricultural Gazette. …

18 see Immigrant Bees, (Volume I) for biographical notes on Wilhelm Abram

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(my knowledge) was obtained by research and of life-long observation; not as Wisdom learned, but as knowledge gained from the book of Nature.” Albert Gale was an instructor in Apiculture at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, now the Hawkesbury campus of the University of Western Sydney. Copies of his book, now rare, which contain some sparkling gems of magic, particularly within its illustrations, are keenly sought after by discerning beekeepers and book collectors.

Rev. John Ayling, 1825-1897, An Early Leader of N.S.W. Beekeepers

Research for the following contribution was jointly performed by Bob Ayling (Rev. Ayling’s grandson) and I. Bob wrote the base article which I edited, therefore any errors fall to me. There are similarities between William Charles Cotton’s efforts to introduce beekeeping into the ranks of “cottagers”, and Rev. Ayling’s attempts to initiate beekeeping as an income supplement for the members of his congregations. Bob paints a sympathetic and heartfelt biography of his clergyman/beekeeper ancestor.

Obituary, Ebenzeer, N.S.W., 1897Rev. John Ayling was minister of the historic Ebenezer Presbyterian Church near Sydney and three-time president of the National Beekeepers’ Association of N.S.W. when the news of his death on a visit to his brother in New Zealand reached Sydney in February 1897. Both the beekeeping and the religious communities paid affectionate tribute to his long years of service and to the personal qualities of faithfulness and dedication. The Presbyterian of 12 March 1897 reported the crowded memorial service at the Ebenezer Church and noted in its obituary that “Mr. Ayling was a man of warm hearted, even impulsive, nature; a staunch advocate of temperance, and faithful and zealous in the performance of his pastoral duties.” It noted “He was a public spirited man, and did his best to promote the interest of his people - material as well as spiritual”.

In its 27 March 1897 issue, The Australian Bee Bulletin briefly recapped Rev. Ayling’s career in the church and his interest in beekeeping, noting that “He was a beekeeper of many years standing, having at one time as many as seventy hives, and has always taken a deep interest in the industry”. It noted “His quiet

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unassuming manner rendered him thoroughly popular and liked by all”, and recalled the golden wedding anniversary Rev. Ayling and his wife of 50 years had enjoyed with their six children a month earlier.19 Rev. Ayling’s religious ministry and beekeeping activities both reflect his life-long concern for his fellow man as it developed in the context of his Australian experience.

BeginningsJohn Ayling was born at Wandsworth in urban London in 1825, one of eight children of a boot and shoe maker. The family were members of the Independent Chapel, a small Congregational Chapel across a courtyard some thirty yards from their door. The Ayling family were devoted members, George, the head of the family, being a deacon. John began preaching in his late teens. When he was 21 years of age in 1846 he married Mary Ann Dalton and three years later migrated to South Australia with his wife and small son.

Lyndoch, S.A., 1853A month after arriving in Port Adelaide, John Ayling and three other young men began training for the ministry within the Congregational Church of South Australia. John’s training included providing preaching services to small chapels. It was to one of these in the Village of Lyndoch in the Barossa region that John went as its first minister in 1853.

In his ministry in Lyndoch, Rev. Ayling quickly demonstrated traits that remained constant throughout his life. He proclaimed the Gospel placing particular emphasis on the spiritual danger posed by material things. Associated with this message was a practical concern to establish a civil and cultured society. He procured land for cemeteries, taught music and singing, fostered education, acted as a school examiner, served on the Barossa West Council, and supported the Lyndoch Volunteer Rifles Company. In public speeches he promoted independence, and was known for both his fearlessness and his kindness.

The first indication of Rev. Ayling’s agricultural interests and capabilities occurs in the purchase of eighty acres of land which was named “Wandsworth Farm”, after his English home. He was also

19 three of his sons also present at the anniversary were also beekeepers!53

called on by the organizing committee to serve as judge in agricultural shows.

Economic circumstances in the new colony were such that many independent churches were unable to support their clergy. Some ministers resorted to farming to lighten the burden on their congregations. Similarly, John Ayling took on the responsibility of teaching the students in the Chapel school in addition to his pastoral duties in an attempt to maintain a level of support, adequate to his family’s needs and within the capability of his congregation. The move was unsuccessful and he left Lyndoch in May 1862.

The South Australian Register of 28 May 1862 reported the farewell meeting in moving terms, indicating that the meeting was crowded and filled with expressions of love and affection. The situation was summed up “Mr. Ayling left them, not because they loved him not, but because they could not support him as he ought to be supported. As man and as a minister, they had always found him in his place. They all knew him to be a straightforward man, too honest to swerve from the right course … a man who by his fearless independence … had impoverished himself.”

Rev. Ayling was now 36 years of age with a wife and five children, one child having died at nineteen months, but he left Lyndoch with the main elements of his character and life fixed. He preached an independent view of the Gospel, he cared deeply for the lives of his people, he believed strongly in social justice and political equity, he believed in education and the arts that enriched lives, and he spoke strongly for what he believed, asking no favors for himself. He could be hurt by those who opposed him but he had learned not to listen to others but to act on his own counsel.

Farmer & Headmaster in Goulburn, 1862Early Presbyterians in Goulburn made several unsuccessful attempts to provide for the education of their children. At least three schools were started and failed between 1837 and 1846, but a school opened in 1850 which is variously referred to at the time and later as the Presbyterian Church School, “conducted in the old St. Andrews school room … in the immediate vicinity of the Scots Kirk … opposite the Royal Hotel”. The leaders felt confident enough of its survivability in 1862 to invite Rev. Ayling to be its headmaster and

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he was inducted into his new position at a gathering to open the new school building in September 1862.

Rev. Ayling’s response to the address of welcome reveals his broad and farsighted vision. After appropriate expressions of gratitude and hope for the task he was about to begin, and thanks to the ladies for the supper they had provided, he launched into a discussion on the nature and importance of education. He noted the benefits that were likely to accrue to a new nation from a properly educated population, being careful to point out that not all education occurred in the classroom and that education alone did not make a gentleman. He stressed the importance of education by noting that the present generation would pass away and reminded his listeners “There was not reason why some future prime minister should not be one who had received his education in a Goulburn school.” He saw education as playing an essential role in preparing for the inevitable separation of Australia from the mother country, and in ensuring that individuals in Australia, who claimed freedom, asserted the same freedoms equally for others

John’s work and diligence won high praise from school inspectors, especially for the progress the students had made in grammar and arithmetic, in the elements of natural history and the first principles of astronomy, and in geography, particularly Australian geography.

We do not know why or when his association with the school ended but the reasons may have again been economic. By 1867 he had three more children and another deceased, and had begun preaching again in addition to his school responsibilities. It is possible that the assumption of the dual duties may have been related to his financial needs. We do know that for “some years” prior to 1870 when he left Goulburn, he was farming in the district.

Presbyterian Minister & Beekeeper, Port Macquarie, 1871

Rev. Ayling returned to his pastoral calling when the N.S.W. Presbytery in Sydney accepted him into the Presbyterian ministry in November 1870. He was offered and accepted the charge at Port Macquarie and traveled there by ship, conducting the first congregational meeting on 11 January 1871. Presbyterian services had been conducted in Port Macquarie since 1840, only ten years after the

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town was opened for free settlement, but Rev. Ayling was the first minister officially inducted into the charge.

The circumstances were not promising. The parish was very demanding, entailing periodic horseback rides of 120 to 130 miles to visit outstations on the Hastings (Wauchope, Beechwood, etc.), the Macleay and at Kempsey. Church finances were diminishing in the recession that gripped the colony. Times were bad, maize and pig raising were the only industries and prices were low. The provisions of the Sir Richard Bourke Act that provided state support for churches had ended and local congregations had to bear the full cost of maintaining their minister. In the face of increasing difficulties, Rev. Holland, Mr. Ayling’s predecessor left in 1869, and after two years without a minister the church decided to invite Mr. Ayling.

In light of the fiscal needs of the new minister and his seven children, the congregation took steps to ensure adequate financial support. A number of members pledged specific amounts, pews and sittings were rented, and other steps taken to raise funds. (Some members left for the Anglican Church). But the arrangements fell short from the beginning. Times were too hard. Factories were closing and the price of maize was miserably low, making rural life desperate. Even many of the best intentioned people could not keep their promises.

In a replay of the Lyndoch situation but with an apparent abruptness that discomforted Presbytery officials in Sydney who saw it as “hasty” and “precipitate”, Rev. Ayling announced his resignation early in 1873, after only two years. A contributing factor in causing him to resolve the situation quickly may have been concern for his family, perhaps given energy by the death of his second son in 1871 from tuberculosis. The congregation accepted his resignation with commendation and understanding, attaching no blame to him, but recognizing that the financial situation was humiliating to both minister and church. Rev. Ayling’s standing as a minister was not affected and he was immediately offered and accepted the larger charge at Scone. His place in Port Macquarie was taken by an elderly bachelor lay preacher who made very limited financial demands on the church by living in the homes of his parishioners. In The History of the Port Macquarie Charge of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. R. Eipper notes “Thus ended, with deep regret on both sides, the brief pastorate of Rev. John Ayling. The new experience of

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supporting their own Minister, coupled with an economic depression, made some such experience almost inevitable.”

Rev. Eipper then makes the first known reference to Rev. Ayling’s interest in beekeeping: “Mr. Ayling tried to help the people by commending to them the art of beekeeping, keeping at the Manse a large number of hives.” Later statements by Rev. Ayling make it clear that beekeeping gave him great pleasure. He viewed it as an interesting hobby that could pay for itself, reduce the boredom and tedium of rural life, and make diets more interesting. But his heavy involvement in beekeeping, especially in the Port Macquarie context, reflects his interest in improving the economic lot of people living in economic hardship in rural areas.

Ministry at Scone, 1873 to 1885Little is known of Rev. Ayling’s ministry at Scone and Aberdeen from 1873 to 1885 as church records were destroyed by fire and few family or other documents exist. As in Port Macquarie, while services had been conducted for some time, he was the first minister to be formally inducted into the parish. Anglican records make it clear that he put the Presbyterian church on the map. The parish was very extensive and entailed a great deal of horseback riding to visit the various outstations.

After twelve years, the time came for him to leave, apparently because of his diminishing physical capability. He was now sixty years of age and for many years had engaged in hard work, including much horseback riding. His ministry at Scone was regarded as very successful. References by professional colleagues at his funeral indicate that he continued in the patterns he had set in prior ministries. In addition to the regular work of ministry, during his tenure the church built three new churches in the district, expended a large sum improving another, and purchased a manse and glebe (church-owned land, usually for revenue generating purposes) - all without debt. A long pastoral letter issued to his parishioners prior to his departure captures the love and affection they shared as he recounted the births and deaths, triumphs and failures, sorrows and joys they had experienced as they worked together. His own feelings towards the congregation are clearly expressed: “I may not speak to your personal kindness to me and mine. My heart prompts yet forbids the utterance. Silence is sometimes more expressive than speech.

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But you have done well and nobly by us. This much I will say: that so long as memory lasts, you will not be forgotten by us.” With such feelings, Rev. Ayling and his family departed for the historic (built in 1809) and prestigious Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, near Windsor on the Hawkesbury River, N.S.W., the oldest church in the colony.

Minister & Beekeeper, Ebenezer, 1885 to 1897While Rev. Ayling’s move to Ebenezer was occasioned in part by the large size of the Scone parish and his growing infirmity, he seems to have been well enough to carry out his work in his new charge satisfactorily. He assured his daughter at this time “I am quite well and hearty and fit for anything I have to do.” Unfortunately, church records of the time are missing or destroyed so we do not know what the major events of his professional life were. But his long interest in beekeeping flourished during the twelve years at Ebenezer and was well reported in beekeeping circles.

Leadership in N.S.W. BeekeepingIn announcing his election as president of the National Beekeepers’ Association convention (soon renamed the N.S.W. Beekeepers’ Union) in July 1894 at Ultimo, Sydney, the Australian Bee Bulletin gave an overview of Rev. Ayling’s interest in beekeeping “He has always had a strong inclination for agricultural, horticultural, and floricultural pursuits, and possesses a practical knowledge of each subject. While acquainted with beekeeping under the old style,20 for nine years he has made the new a study, partly as a relaxation from his pastoral work, and very largely pro bono publico21 knowing, he says, the necessity of utilising all resources in order to make a living, and that example is better than precept. To introduce any new method22 of working at an old occupation is always a difficult thing in rural districts. He has been tolerably successful in the various departments of apiculture, and commends it as a particularly interesting study and diversion from the usual routine of a country life. It will, he says, pay expenses, and that cannot be said of all hobbies. At one time he

20 probably simple box hives21 for the public good and without payment22 bar-frame hives

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had seventy hives, but want of time compelled him to reduce the number.” The fact that at one stage he had seventy hives means that he may have moved beyond the hobby stage into semi-commercial activity.

Rev. Ayling had a role in establishing beekeeping as a field of study at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Richmond. From Hawkesbury Agricultural College History and Reminiscences 1891-1941 (Dart, 1941) “A commencement was made with the College apiary on May 16, 1892, when twelve swarms of hybrid and Italianbees were purchased, which later in the year increased to 30 swarms. The hives were placed in an old walled-in garden at No. 1 College (Toxana) in Richmond.23 Student E. J. Rien had charge, and conducted the work very satisfactorily, although following out his course at the same time. In January, 1893, having gained his diploma in agriculture, he was appointed as bee and poultry manager. This year was an exceptionally bad year for bees all over the colony.” In the same year a two-month course in apiary was initiated, with ladies being admitted and making their formal entry into the world of beekeeping. One lady student, Miss Manning, “was examined by a three-hours’ written paper, and in practical work, and viva-voce by Rev. J. Ayling, Vice-President of the Beekeepers’ Union of N.S.W., and obtained a first-class certificate” in 1894.

Rev. Ayling’s status in beekeeping circles is confirmed by his election to the Presidency of the N.S.W. Beekeepers’ Union in 1894, 1895 and 1896, the latter election over his protestations that his health had not and would not permit him to perform the duties properly. He assented to the position after it became clear that it was the general will for him to do so. His renown is asserted by Jas Steele in The Early Days of Windsor (p.202) in the section on industries when he states “Apiaries were much in evidence some twenty years ago (i.e. 1896) when such past masters of the cult as the Rev. J. Ayling, Messrs. C. F. Daley, W. C. Barker, and J. D. G. Cadden attended their well-kept hives”.

John Ayling’s pastoral work and interest in promoting the bee industry came together at the wedding at which he officiated, that of Mr. George Packham, well-known beekeeper and Mayor of Molong,

23 Toxana, an elegant two story house, still stands in Richmond. Bees had previously been placed there in 1837 by William Bowman, see page 26

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at the Chalmer’s Church on Castlereagh Street, Sydney, and Mrs. Elizabeth Saunders. The Australian Bee Bulletin of 30 July 1896 noted “When the party were seated round the room after coming from the Church, among the refreshments handed round were thin slices of bread, on which a spoonfull of honey was dropped in the middle. The recipient doubled the bread up, making a delightful little sandwich. What a nice way of introducing honey at tea-meetings and similar gatherings!”

John Ayling’s interest in promoting the bee industry was also evidenced at the local level. In 1893, beekeepers in Richmond and Windsor formed the Hawkesbury District Beekeepers’ Association and named Rev. John Ayling, President; Mr. F. G. Daly, Vice-President; Mr. F. Roods, Treasurer; and Mr. W. C. Barker, Secretary. The first four or five meetings were well attended but no further meetings were held and no annual meeting. In a letter to the Editor in The Australian Bee Bulletin of 24 March 1896, Mr. J. D. Cadden recalled the Association’s brief history and humourously asked if its activities were to be restarted.

ConclusionFive months after his 1896 re-election as President of the N.S.W. Beekeepers’ Union, Rev. Ayling was granted leave from the Ebenezer Church to visit his brother in New Zealand where he died in February 1897. The obituaries and reminiscences quoted earlier and the life reflected in this paper, picture Rev. Ayling’s work and character. He was, above all, a devoted family man and preacher of the Gospel who saw himself as accountable to God for his truthfulness, dedication, honesty and faithfulness. At the same time, he was an intensely practical man who saw how the realities of social, economic and political life could wither and restrict men’s souls and bodies in the routines of daily life. From this viewpoint, he opposed political corruption and social inequity and tried to demonstrate ways to supplement the incomes of those he saw to be suffering economic hardship. He has now been dead over one hundred years and some of the things he foresaw have come to pass. He would be pleased if Australia was better prepared for those events by his efforts.

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TASMANIA

William Kermode, April 1821The Hobart Town Courier of 16 May 1834 was emphatic that Kermode’s efforts to introduce bees were not successful “... though introduced many years ago by Mr Kermode, and attempted we believe on one or two other occasions by other individuals, has always failed.”

However, words written over 50 years after the event which support Kermode’s success come from The Mercury for 1 April 1874 under the heading ‘The Introduction of Bees’ - “To such of your readers who may desire to know who was the first successful importer of bees to Tasmania, I would inform them that it was Mr. William Kermode, the founder of the well known Tasmanian family of that name, now and long resident at Mona Vale. This gentleman arrived here from Liverpool, a passenger in his own ship the Mary, on the 1st April, 1821, bringing with him a hive of bees which he presented to the Lieutenant Governor of the colony, Colonel William Sorell, who entrusted it to the care of those supposed to be versed in bee management, but who, with the twofold view, it may be presumed, of most speedily diffusing the benefits of the new importation through the colony, and of getting rid of his troublesome charge, let them all go, or as old Bent says they ‘unfortunately disappeared soon after being set at liberty,’ and from which have most probably sprung - partially at least - the numerous wild swarms that are now to be found in all parts of the bush.” (Signed ‘J.F.G’).

How do you ‘let bees go’? Would it simply be their initial release from confinement within the hive? Whether the bees departure was through the malevolent intent of their custodian or mischance is unknown. Or did the bees just abscond? The author seemed confident that the bees survived to populate the bush although the cooler Autumn month of April and the Winter to follow may not have given the bees much chance. From the Hobart Town Courier for 2 September 1836 “For us in Van Diemen’s Land, we trust that by attention and economy we shall shortly be able to depend on our own native grown honey alone, thanks to Dr. Wilson and Mr. Kermode for the pains they took to introduce the insect amongst us.”

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Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson R. N., 1831Henry Melville’s Van Diemen’s Land Annual for 1834 contains a calendar as well as descriptions of its townships, districts, rivers, trees and shrubs, natural history, agricultural and other productions, boundaries, climate and soil, Council Acts, Government and public establishments and a town directory. At the end of the Agricultural chapter is this entry “It is necessary to remark the introduction of bees by D. Wilson, and which have since so propagated, that it is to be hoped in a few years this useful insect will be general in the Island.” (p.44). Another confirmation that Wilson brought out his bees prior to 1834. This quotation was repeated in The Mercury for 31 March 1874, which also carried a letter to the editor, simply signed as “H” “Sir, - Whilst endorsing every word of praise you have given to the late good colonist, Mr. George Wilson, of Mount Seymour, of whom it would be well for us if we could count a few thousand of his stamp and calibre amongst our population; active, ingenious, self-reliant, and full of resources, I must take exception to his having been the first to introduce bees to this colony. These were introduced long before he came here, strangely enough by a namesake of his, Doctor Wilson, of the R.N., who brought out a hive, and placed it in the then Government garden.” This letter appears to have been a response to an earlier erroneous claim in The Mercury that George had been the introducer of bees.

Also in this 31 March issue of The Mercury “Another correspondent has called our attention to the following extract from a work published in 1842, in London on, among other things, ‘the management of bees.’ The singular coincidence will be observed, of not only the surnames of the claimants of first importers being the same,24 but the ship and period of arrival mentioned in the following extract are those mentioned in our obituary notice of Mr. Wilson:-” What then follows is a word perfect repetition25 from the 1834 seventh edition of A Practical Treatise on ... the Management of Swine, Milch Cows and Bees. Subsequent editions were produced in 1842, 1853 and 1854.

24 there was no coincidence for Thomas and George were brothers25 see page 64

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Alexander Macleay, Sydney, 1832Courtesy of the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association, and most likely extracted from Moubray’s 1842 book “In August 1832 the original hive was taken to Sydney by Dr Wilson and presented to the Colonial Secretary Alexander Maclean.” ‘Maclean’ is a typographical error. Alexander Macleay held that office in 1832. The Australian Encyclopaedia of 1958 describes Macleay as a scientist, a member of the Executive Council and ‘before he came to Australia he had accumulated a remarkable collection of entomological specimens’. My inquiries upon the Curators, past and present, of the Macleay collection at the University of Sydney, failed to reveal any evidence of the participation of the Macleays with the importation of European bees.

Revd. Steele, Cook’s River, 1843However, from an April 1843 letter by William Charles Cotton, in which he talks of his search for some bee hives at Sydney in May 1842, a ‘Mr MacClay’ is mentioned “I send you herewith, that is by the same ship, a bottle of Australian honey, which is so very nice, to my taste at least. It was made at Cooks River, near Botany Bay, by the bees belonging to Mr Steele the Parson of the place. The bees are English bees, but came last from Van Diemen’s Land, whither they were taken, I believe, some time ago. They do exceptionally here. I met Mr MacClay ... Bees were first brought for his daughter. ... I paid a visit to Mrs McArthur at Parramatta who has a capital apiary, and to Mr Blaxland.” The mention of Blaxland infers that he too was an active beekeeper. His 1805 setback26 had been rectified.

The Australian (p.2) for 27 February 1838 reported that the Revd Mr Steele and his wife arrived in Sydney on the Upton Castle on 24 February 1838. The Sydney Morning Herald for 27 March 1843 (p.2) named Steele as the Minister of St. Peter’s Cook’s River.

Fanny Macleay, 1832The Macleay daughter most likely to have been the recipient of Wilson’s hive was Fanny (Frances Leonora). Helen Heney in her book Dear Fanny (1985) “Fanny, the eldest daughter, shared most intelligently the scientific interests of her father and brother.” (p.99) Elizabeth Windschuttle in her 1988 book Taste & Science, the

26 refer The Immigrant Bees (Volume I) for more on Gregory Blaxland63

Women of the Macleay Family, 1790-1850, described Fanny as a “Natural history artist, flower painter, (who) acted as specimen collector for her father’s and brother’s scientific pursuits. … One of the first to recognize Fanny’s ability to draw was William Kirby, a founder of the Zoological Society, a member of the Linnean Society and in 1818 a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1814 he was encouraging Fanny to draw entomological specimens for him. Kirby was one of England’s best known entomologists, who published a definitive monograph on bees in 1802, and with William Spence in 1815-1816, authored the famous publication Introduction to Entomology, (4 vols, London).” (Windschuttle, 1988, p.56) “Fanny’s real interest was the environment. In London, unusually for a woman, she had taken an interest in natural history which was an absorbing passion of the male members of the Macleay family. She maintained her father’s scientific collection and in New South Wales became the main assistant to him and to her brother William Sharp Macleay in collecting botanical and entomological specimens and in making drawings and paintings of them to send to England.” (Clarke, 1992, p.68) Fanny was born in 1793. At age 43 she married, only to die six weeks after her wedding.

The ship John, 1831The Hobart Town Courier for 21 January 1832 reported “It is a fact worthy of record ... that out of one single hive of bees imported to this country by Dr. Wilson in the transport ship John last year, 12 others have been produced, the total number in the Government garden now amounting to 13.” A correspondent to The Hobart Town Courier of 25 March 1836 reported that bees were now very numerous in the colony.

Irrefutable Corroboration, 1834My latest discovery regarding Wilson came as a result of a note in British Bee Books, a Bibliography, 1500 - 1976 about a book titled A Practical Treatise on ... the Management of Swine, Milch Cows and Bees (seventh edition, 1834). After several attempts, I eventually tracked down a copy of this book at the Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Wilson’s first person quotation is prefixed by “The following interesting account of the export of a stock of BEES, to New South Wales, has been communicated by

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Dr. Wilson, a friend of the Publisher.” In the following account, Wilson’s correspondence reveals new evidence, particularly: the source of the bee hive; how the hive was transported; who received and cared for the bees; and confirmation that the original hive was taken by Wilson to Sydney in 1832.

“A very strong hive was presented to me by Mr. Gunter of Earls Court, they were embarked at Deptford in the ship John, September, 1830. Sailed from Spithead 14th October, 1830, I arrived at Hobart-town, Van Dieman’s (sic) Land, on the 27th January, 1831. During the voyage, the hive was placed on the front of the poop, and protected by a large wire frame, the bees were thus at liberty to take the air, without being enabled to escape. Notwithstanding the greatest care, vast numbers of the bees died; many of them from injuries received by flying against the wire-work, especially during the hot weather.27 Shortly after we passed the torrid zone, I thought it advisable to confine the bees to their hive; I therefore placed a piece of perforated sheet-lead against the aperture; I had it removed once a week, that the dead bees might be separated from the living, this was easily done. On arrival at Hobart-town, although the mortality had been very great, I rejoiced to find that there was still sufficient left to propagate their race.

His Excellency Lieutenant Governor Arthur was pleased to accept them, on the part of the Government; and promised, should they succeed, to distribute the swarm to any of the colonists, who might apply for them. The hive was placed in the public garden, under the special care of Mr. Davidson the superintendant (sic), and as his Excellency had commanded that the greatest attention should be bestowed on them, they soon began to thrive and increase. In the space of one year there were seventeen swarms.

On my revisiting Van Dieman’s (sic) Land, in August, 1832, I carried the original hive I had brought from England to Sydney, and presented it to Alexander Maclean, (sic) Esq. colonial secretary, but from some cause which I cannot explain, they did not promise to be so prodigiously prolific. From the great success

27 see chapter on James Erskine Calder c1870 where he mentions that “about 4000 bees” remained in the hive

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that the bee has met with, it is probable, that it will shortly become an export of some value from the colony; it is a singular fact, that though most of the native flowers and shrubs abound with saccharine juices, the bee scarcely sips or lights upon them at all, preferring on all occasions, the flowers of plants raised from English seeds around them.”

Unfortunately, Wilson mentions his hive but gives no clue as to its construction, be it of straw or wood. Wilson’s documented movements support the above dates. His seventh voyage to Hobart covered the period 2 April 1832 to 2 July 1832. He returned to London from Sydney on 28 March 1833 on the ship Sovereign arriving August 1833. He subsequently departed from England on 19 January 1834 on his eighth voyage arriving 9 May 1834.

Superintendent DavidsonDavidson, as first superintendent of the Tasmanian Botanic Garden, was given responsibility for the wellbeing of Wilson’s hive of bees. “In 1832 tribute was paid to Davidson for his successful management of a hive of bees introduced by Dr T. B. Wilson R. N., a surgeon and superintendent on convict transports. These bees apparently were the first European bees in the Colony and multiplied sufficiently in the Gardens for Governor Arthur to send a hive to Governor Bourke28 in Sydney.” (Hurburgh, 1986, p.13) “He was obviously no ordinary head gardener risen from the ranks. His letters29 reveal him as a man of education and refinement, well favoured and unassuming. Governor Arthur was elated to get a trained and competent man to take charge of the garden. He described him as ‘of superior type to overseer Moore’, the man in charge at the time. He was also a man of substance with influential friends. He arrived on the Albion on September 15th, 1827 with capital of 500 pounds, 800 trees, 200 grape vines, seeds, cuttings and letters of introduction in Sydney. … Davidson asked for ‘a salary of 100 pounds with a ration and a house to live’ … and for the privilege of selling any plants and shrubs not wanted by the Government. Governor Arthur approved, except that the sale of shrubs and plants ‘ should be limited and defined’.

28 eighth Governor of New South Wales, 1831 to 183729 letters of introduction

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Davidson proved just the right man for the job, developing the gardens rapidly. By 1829, he was organising building material for fences, making mushroom beds; coping with bureaucracy for supplies and the army for the supplies of dung. He also had to counter the theft of produce – including peaches – as well as ordering plants and seeds from England and Launceston. … Possibly the most memorable project undertaken during his period of residence was the construction of the impressive Arthur Wall under instructions from Governor Arthur. The wall was to serve both as a western boundary to the Queen’s Domain and an internally heated wall on which exotic fruits and flowers could be grown.” (Hurburgh, 1986, p.11) It was most likely that against this wall Dr. T. B. Wilson placed his hive of bees in 1831.

Edward Markham, 1834Markham noted in his journal for July 1834 “A doctor of a convict ship brought out the first six hives seen in this island, now there are lots, as the Governor gives away some every year to his private friends, keeping always a stock of ten hives. Now there are a number wild in the roads.” The doctor referred to is obviously Wilson though the mention of six hives is surprising. Markham described the situation of the Government Garden “The garden is beautifully situated and is, I suppose, 16 acres inside. Fine substantial brick walls coped with stone, and prettily laid out, the Derwent washing two sides of it, it being on a tongue of land ... There is a very pretty cottage, built of stone and two beautiful Norfolk pines, vines and hot houses; lots of mignonette as the bees are so fond of it. ... the whole place has an air of a gentleman’s garden.”

James Erskine Calder, c1870Within a 19th Century collection of miscellaneous papers in the Dixsoncollection at the State Library of NSW, catalogued under James Erskine Calder, I managed to transcribe a section of handwriting that mentions bees. The handwriting was difficult to read, and the manuscript, due to its many scratched out lines of script, had the appearance of the draft of a book. I could not find any published version of it within the Mitchell Library, the most likely candidate being Calder’s book TasmanianIndustries, but it held no mention of bees. Some words I could not discern however the general meaning is clear “The English bee was first introduced here nearly 40 years ago by Dr Wilson and has

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multiplied prodigiously and is now found ... all over the bush ... the first hive ... which was thought to contain about 4000 bees and honey has diffused itself so ... all over the Australian colonies. In the country districts 1 lb honey is had cheaply. The prospects of home meade ...”

Rev. R. R. Davies, 1832The Independent for 28 July 1832 in ‘Ship News’ for Launceston, announced the arrival on the same day of the government brig Isabella, from Hobart Town. It also reported “By the brig Isabella ... a hive of bees have arrived for the Rev. R. R. Davies, of Norfolk Plains” (now Longford). Davies was a Church of England clergyman who arrived at Hobart Town on 11 April 1830. From the Australian Dictionary of Biography, he was “A keen horticulturist; he introduced many plants into Tasmania, and was president and guiding spirit of the Launceston Horticultural Society.” (pp.291-292)

There was another Isabella at this time, a convict transport of 580 tons, which sailed from Plymouth on 27 November 1831, arriving Sydney 15 March 1832. Under Captain William Wiseman, it’s not known if Hobartwas a port of call on this occasion, where 224 male prisoners were deposited at Sydney. And yet another Isabella is recorded, a schooner under Captain Boyle.

Mr Clayton, O’Brien’s Bridge, 1835Also from the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association “1835 One hive at O’Brien’s Bridge, Glenorchy, produced 18 swarms” The original report came from the True Colonist of 14 February 1835. “Dr. Wilson’s importation is likely to prove a most important acquisition to the Colony, the climate of which appears to be in an extraordinary degree favourable to the production of honey, and increase of bees. Mr Clayton has just informed us that one hive of his out at O’Brien’s Bridge has afforded him already this season an increase of 18 swarms, which are all hived and doing well. Wild honey will soon be very abundant in the Colony, from the increase of many swarms that have established themselves in the woods. We are informed that Mr George Wise, of the Ship Inn, has sent a swarm as a present to a friend in Sydney, where they have as yet been without any bees.” The last statement is an interesting one, given the

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publicised accounts of Wallace’s successful introduction of honeybees in 1822.

From the Jervis (card) Index in the Mitchell Wing of the State Library of New South Wales I found an entry for the Sydney Morning Herald of 25 May 1837 “A gentleman, named Clayton, has just imported from Hobart Town, about fifty or sixty Hives of healthy Bees, which are well worth inspection. Some of the Hives contain, at least, five thousand of these little industrious tenants. The importer has already established the rearing of bees in Van Diemen’s Land and wishes to introduce them here, without regard to profiting by the speculation. The Bees may be seen as per advertisement.” (p.2e) On the previous page (p.1f) may be found the cited advertisement headed “BEES FOR SALE” as depicted above. Was Clayton practicing a form of philantropy or attempting to supplement his income? The considerable number of fifty or sixty hives were most likely his collection of swarms from the Spring and Summer of 1836. In February 1835 one hive had produced for him some 18 swarms.

Before shipping the hives at the end of Autumn, Clayton had sensibly waited for the numbers within each to build through Summer. Cargo space aboard the Orwell would need to be paid as well as his food and accommodation costs in Sydney. Questions spring to mind: What price was asked for each hive? Were the hives shipped in straw skeps or boxes? Were they contained within wire cages or boxes of some sort? I doubt they were handled individually.

In the same issue of the Sydney Morning Herald (p.1e) there is an advertisement for various exotic foods, one being “New Honey”. It was obtainable from the Cumberland Warehouse, 73 George Street.

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The goods had been recently unloaded from the ship Hope out of London. Once Clayton’s hives were sold and disbursed to their new owner’s homes, the need to import honey would diminish.

Port Arthur, 1836 - Lempriere, Booth, Simpson & Carte From The Journal of Charles O’hara Booth four colonial beekeepers are revealed. “When the gardens were well established, Lempriere gave Booth hives of bees and grafted double peach blossom for him, and, in the fruit season, all the Lemprieres descended on the Commandant’s garden to pick currants and strawberries.” (p.35) Dr. James Ross, an early beekeeper, was married to Mrs Lempriere’s sister, Susannah. Ross had come from Hobart Town to collect his daughter, Clara, who had been staying with the Lemprieres. Thomas Lempriere had previously worked in Hobart Town between 1830 and 1833, the period covering Thomas Braidwood Wilson’s arrival with bees in 1831 and Wilson’s subsequent visit in 1832 when he was publicly thanked for his introduction of bees. Lempriere, Booth’s second in command, served at Port Arthur as from 17 March 1833. He remained throughout Commandant Booth’s time and on to 1848.

Booth mentions his strawberry plants in blossom on 24 June 1834. On 13 November 1834 “Looked at the ‘Honey Jar’ and started for home about 9 AM.” (p.186). Was he describing a bee hive with a glass bell jar on top? - a typical method of the time used to procure honeycomb. Lempriere’s journal script is most difficult to decipher and many entries are in French. I found this entry “25 Jan 1836. Mr Simpson kindly lent me a hive of bees.” Simpson’s identity was likely that of Reverend William Simpson, a Wesleyan Minister, who served at Parramatta from 1831 to 1836, and in Van Diemen’s Land until 1845. (Hill, p.115)

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Charles O’Hara Booth, 1836 >>

Unpublished introductory notes to the diaries of T. J. Lempriere (Lennox, G. 1996) kindly supplied to me by Gillian Winter of the State Library of Tasmania, make interesting reading “On 4 January 1837, Lempriere noted that he had a swarm of bees that had since given him two swarms, with one swarm given to the Commandant and the other to Carte. On 26 January he received two lots of honey from his hives and on 16 February Lempriere proudly recorded that he sent a portion of the first honey made at Port Arthur to various officers; however a few weeks later, Lempriere noted that his bees had been dying for the past three days. His apiarian prospects lifted again when one of his young hives swarmed in January 1838. On 27 February Lempriere took the honey from a fine hive of bees without killing them and gave them to Captain Booth. This was followed a few days later by the successful extraction of another hive, but when transferring a further hive on 12 March, the recipients were stung by ‘very savage Bees’ - Lempriere, however, escaped unhurt.” To take honey without killing the bees, Lempriere must have known how to drive the bees from one hive to another by drumming on the sides of the hive.

A Correspondent, 1836An unidentified correspondent to the Hobart Town Courier for 25 March 1836 supplier the following “You know that I am an Apiarian, and no information that I can obtain about bees or their management escapes me. Yesterday, while it was so excessively hot,

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I was afraid that the combs in my hives might be so heated as to fall down and smother the bees (an accident which did occur to one of my hives this summer), I therefore got some strong matting (old Mauritius sugar bags) to nail up in front of my apiary.30 While doing it, an angry bee stung me in the face just below my eye; recollecting your acids and alkalis, I ran into the house in considerable pain, which those who have experienced, know how disagreeable it is, in the hope of finding a soda powder, but not being able to lay my hand on one, I had recourse to a piece of common yellow soap which I dipt in water and rubbed on the part; I was surprised at the instantaneous relief which followed the application, in one moment I felt not the slightest pain, but it did not prevent the swelling which I believe always attends the sting of the bee. As bees are now very numerous in the colony, similar accidents may be frequent, and the knowledge of this fact may prove useful to your numerous readers. From observation, I am convinced that bees in this country require much more attention than they do in England, and I hope to be able shortly to give our Agricultural Society the benefit of my experience.”

A contributor to The New Zealand Journal for 27 November 1841 had one method to prevent being stung “Woollen gloves, long, and to draw over their sleeve at the wrist, and a wire cap to cover the head, will be sufficient protection.” (p.297)

Francis Cotton & Dr. Ross, c1840In Kettle on the hob: a family in Van Diemen’s Land 1828-1885, there is an account of Francis Cotton who instructed a servant regarding a man named Mark who was to be sent to hospital for nasal treatment “see the man Mark, and tell him, before he returns to Kelvedon, (near Swansea on the east coast) to go to Dr Ross to get a hive of bees, but first he must procure enough canvas to cover the hive - I gave him £1.0.0 to bear his expenses.”

Dr Joseph Milligan, Flinder’s Island, 1845From The Adelaide Observer for 15 November 1845 “Some time since a swarm of bees was taken from Launceston to Flinder’s

30 this suggests to me this beekeeper had several hives, the apiary likely located within a framed, north facing shelter, the draped sugar bags acting as a sun screen.

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Island, but for some cause they did not live long after their arrival. Dr. Milligan has given instructions to the owner of the schooner Alexander to bring him over a hive of bees, there not being one on the island.”

At the Great Exhibition of 1851, along with many varied exhibits such as Wellington boots of Kangaroo skin, cases of birds and insects, whale, shark and mutton bird oil, gum tree manna, pine resin, wattle-tree and eucalyptus gum, there were also beeswax and honey samples from two Van Diemen’s Land beekeepers. Milligan’s produce was represented by a cake of beeswax and W. Rout supplied honey from the two previous seasons as well as three cakes of beeswax. The catalogue supplied “In no country in the world do bees thrive better than in Van Diemen’s Land, or prove so productive with a trifling amount of attention; circumstances due, no doubt, to the mildness of the winter season, and the fact of many Tasmanian plants blooming throughout the winter months. The bee has now become naturalised in the forests, and many of the hollow trees are filled with the produce of their labour.”

At the Universal Exhibition of Industry, Paris, 1855, Milligan had on show one bottle of honey. The catalogue informed that honey was sold ‘a few years ago’ in Launceston for 3 pence to 4 pence per pound by the ton for export. Since the discovery of gold in the 1850s, the price of honey had risen to 1 shilling.

Hugh Munro Hull, 1864From Hull’s Clerk of the House: the reminiscences of H.M. Hull 1818-1882 “All 1864 and 1865 I remained at the Wellington Crescent House (Hobart) where I succeeded in making a very pretty garden, and got a hive of bees in from Rev. Mr. Simson.” (Revd. Charles Simson was a Presbyterian Minister at Glenorchy between 1841 and 1870.)

Co-authored with James Erskine Calder (another “bee aware” person, refer to the section on Calder on p.67), Hull presented a paper before the Royal Colonial Institute on 15 April 1874. Titled The Forests and Woodlands of Tasmania, the section on the Blue Gum is as follows:

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<< Hugh Munro Hull. Clerk of the House of Assembly at age 46

“The flowers of the Blue Gum contain a considerable quantity of a saccharine matter, which affords food to bees, and also to paroquets and honeysucker birds. A swarm of bees placed in a tea chest 3ft. by 3ft. near a Blue Gum tree, will fill the hive in a season with rich aromatic honey, worth 4d. to 6d.31 a pound; and in early spring it is delightful to see flocks of bright green paroquets glancing through the trees, even in the very heart of our city, in search of the sweet food.”

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Captain John Molloy, 1830In 1956, R. S. Coleman32 wrote an informative article on early beekeeping in Western Australia. He discovered an entry in Captain J. Molloy’s diary which is held at the WA State Library. Coleman wrote “There is some doubt concerning the date of the first successful introduction into Western Australia. The first reference to bees appears in the diary of Captain J. Molloy who landed at the Swan River from the ‘Warrior’ in 1830. On December 1, 1829, he wrote: ‘Had the bees upon deck. Inspected them and cleared out the hive and found a great number dead.’ ” (p.4). Note that the hive was on

31 4 pence to 6 pence32 Officer in Charge, Apiculture, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia

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deck and not in a cabin, also that the bees must have been confined otherwise there would not have been an accumulation of dead bees within the hive. Coleman commented “The pioneer settlers of the Colony, faced with the difficulty of importing all their sweetening materials, rightly surmised that the Australian bush could support a large bee population and made strenuous attempts to introduce European bees into the new land.” (p.3)

William Hardey, c1830In Agriculture in Western Australia 1829-1979, in the chapter on ‘The Honey Bee’ by S. R. Chambers, a Senior Instructor in Apiculture at the W. A. Department of Agriculture “There is some doubt about when honey bees were successfully introduced. William Hardey, who established the Peninsula farm beside the Swan River 5 km east of Perth in 1830, is said to have had a hive of bees, but other records suggest that the honey bee first arrived from the eastern colonies about 1846. The first record of surplus honey being exported is dated 1873. The honey came from a large bee farm near Guildford.” (p.248).

William Hardey is not mentioned in The Australian Encyclopaedia, however Joseph Hardey of the Peninsula, Maylands, near Perth, is recorded as having arrived in the Swan River settlement in February 1830 by the Tranby. He was accompanied by his brother, John Wall Hardey, the families of both of them, and a party of settlers. Joseph, a Methodist lay preacher, had six daughters and a son. Details of beekeeping may yet be found in a diary or letters left by him or members of his family.

Mary Bussell, 1834From Coleman (1956) “Mary Bussell who came to the Swan River Colony on the ‘James Pattison’ in 1834, also attempted to bring a hive of bees from England but the following extracts from her letters and diary indicate some of the difficulties and disappointments she experienced.”

Monday March 3, 1834. “I am very anxious about my bees. So many have died within the last day or two. According to Mr. Sherratt's advice, I have changed their food, perhaps tomorrow may render me more easy about them.”

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Tuesday, March 4, 1834. “I have cleared away all my poor dead bees. From the number, I believe very few more could be in the hive and I reproach myself for bringing them away, but to die at sea. I have been obliged to remove the bees that are dead from the hive once or twice, since on one occasion a great many of the poor little things revived and at night returned to our scuttle - bees in every direction. Mama, Mr. Sherratt's children, and myself were dreadfully stung, nor did we succeed in saving any of them. The few we caught died before daylight when I got up to return them to the hive.”

March 5, 1834, Cape Colony, Table Bay. “My bees have not swarmed and hundreds of them are dead, but yet I hope I may save sufficient to form a stock.”

It’s interesting to observe that Molloy kept his hive on deck, though I assume it was taken below during bad weather. That he had to clean out the dead bees indicates they were locked in, otherwise the bees would have done this job of housekeeping. Like Molloy, Mary Bussell also collected (supposedly) dead bees. She apparently had a cabin on the upper deck for the revived bees “… at night returned to our scuttle …”, the hive likely kept on the deck below the cabin scuttle. I suppose the bees were attracted to the light issuing from the open scuttle, flew inside the cabin and began to sting her and company. How did she collect the dead bees? Maybe there was a base board with a wire collector beneath.

Her account is the third piece of concrete evidence pre Mackay in 1877 I have seen that hives were kept on deck rather than in a cabin as Gregory Blaxland intended in 1806. Molloy in 1829 was one; another, Thomas Braidwood Wilson in 1831 placed his hive on the poop deck. The hive, a skep within a wire cage, allowed the bees to fly within this confinement so that adequate ventilation could be provided them while the ship crossed the Torrid Zone. Angus Mackay kept his Berlepsch hive in his first class cabin but also moved it out on deck to assist ventilation for the suffering inmates.

Mary Bussell’s letters and diary add more detail, particularly that she fed the bees and was able to “change their food”. How they were fed and with what is tantalisingly omitted. Cotton (1848) intended to feed his bees thus “I shall feed them by putting glasses of honey over the holes at the top of the Observatory Hive”. Mary also stated on

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reaching Table Bay “My bees have not swarmed ...”. This might mean she opened the hive entrance, either on deck or on land after they had anchored, hoping that the bees would perform cleansing flights and maybe gather some stores? For the shipment of bees to New Zealand in 1842, Mary Allom organised the design of a ventilated oblong box that contained a straw skep of bees. The feeder was at the top of the box and covered in glass for interested passengers to view. One surface of the box was covered in perforated zinc sheet. Honey was the food and fifty six pounds was available for the feeding of each hive. Ornate Nutt ‘collateral’ hives were shipped empty for their permanent home once the destination was reached.

Coleman observed “Apparently none of the bees survived the voyage for, in one of her letters to her mother, written after her arrival in the Swan River Colony, Mary Bussell refers to “Foot’s dog and cat” as “the only live things” to be landed.” Had the bees reached the Swan their fate would have been a watery one. Mary wrote “... The Stirlings have taken us in most hospitably, and here we must remain until the return of the Ellen, which will directly be ordered to take us down. The provisions and most of the heavy goods have been sent down to Augusta in the Cumberland ...”.

“Mrs. Bussell’s first wish had been to join her family by this little vessel, but had been almost forcibly dissuaded by Sir James Stirling, on account of the wintry season, and the size of the craft. It was well for them that he intervened. The Ellen delivered them safely at Augusta, on October 5th ... A few days later news reached Augusta that the Cumberland had been lost, with all hands and all their goods from England, on the very evening she sailed from Swan River.” (pp.37-38)

King George’s Sound, c1835Coleman (1956) found a note made by a Captain Irwin in 1835 “Bees have been landed at King George’s Sound since our last report.” This might be a reference to the reputed shipment of bees by T. B. Wilson, either from Hobart or Sydney around 1834. Captain Frederick Chidley Irwin was then Commandant of the Swan detachment. Possible catalysts were the Hentys who had acquired a property at the mouth of King’s River, King George’s Sound in December 1831. Another was Edward John Batman, who, with his Port Phillip

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Association formed in Launceston, may have brought bees over from 1835.

Lieutenant Helpman R.N., 1841Conflicting details have surfaced regarding the year of Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Helpman’s successful introduction of bees. The weight of evidence supports 1841 and Coleman’s references to 1846 which follow appear to have been a typographical errors. Coleman wrote in 1956 “The difficulties of transporting hives in sailing-ships over thousands of miles of sea were eventually surmounted - but it was only after a long record of failures and bitter disappointments. In the long and involved sentences so dear to journalists of a bygone era we are told how the Royal Navy apparently succeeded where private individuals had failed.”

Lt. Helpman’s position of authority as master of his ship and his access to ports such as Sydney where bee hives were more freely available must have made his effort much easier than others who had previously attempted to transport hives from Britain. His repeated attempts to introduce bees highlights the difficulties and frustrations sustained. The record Coleman found of bees in the Swan River Colony he attributed to The Enquirer (sic) of 11 November 1846 “We are enabled to congratulate our settlers on the first swarm having taken place in the colony. The hive which the persevering patriotism, for after all there is no patriotism more true than that which seeks to introduce into new countries the foundations of future blessings; the persevering patriotism of Lt. Helpman, R.N., after more than one unsuccessful and discouraging attempt, succeeded in establishing at Fremantle, a hive which swarmed on Friday last, and, a new hive being in readiness, the young swarm was carefully secured and will we trust, found their own colonies through Western Australia in saecula saeculorum.”

Coleman also supplied from the diary, published 1842, of Mr. Geo. E. Moore, a former Advocate-General, who left the colony on completing his first term of office in 1841 “Several attempts have been made to introduce the bee from England, but whether from the length of the voyage, or from want of proper management on arrival, they have been hitherto unsuccessful. This is to be regretted, as from the numerous honey-bearing flowers in the

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colony, there is not doubt of their succeeding well. Governor Hutthas offered a premium to the first successful introducer of them.”

Coleman’s story continued “Now, tracing back through the voyages of Lt. Helpman, it is apparent that he must have brought these bees into Western Australia either on June 12, 1846 when he returned from a voyage to Adelaide, or alternatively when he returned on March 2, 1846 from Sydney via Launceston. Unfortunately, there is no note of his cargo in the papers of that period, nor is his log of the period available. It appears probable that the bees were introduced following upon his trip to Sydney, in which case the first really successful introduction of bees to Western Australia was on March 2, 1846.” (p.5)

Helpman’s journals survive of his time aboard HMS Beagle between July 1837 and March 1840. The Australian Dictionary of Biography states Lt. B. F. Helpman left the navy in 1840 and was appointed captain of the Western Australian colonial Government schooner Champion. While in government service he made many coastal voyages and several overseas in this tiny ship of 115 tons. He retired in 1854 and settled with his family in Warnambool, Victoria. Governor Hutt’s tenure concluded on 19 February 1846. Coleman’s reference to two of Helpman’s voyages mid way through his 14 year time on the Champion touch on just a subset of what would have been a multitude of passages by which Helpman had opportunity to locate and transport bees.

Continuing The Enquirer (sic) report of 11 November 1846 from Coleman’s 1956 article Beekeeping in Western Australia, Some Historical Notes “And here we really feel that we have a right to express the thanks of the colony to Lt. Helpman for his unceasing efforts on every voyage to bring some valuable addition to our colonial resources, and this in a class of subjects, as fruit trees, the silkworm, bees, etc., etc., requiring an anxious and skilful care, which can result only from the most warm and ruling desire to confer kindness and do service to the colony to which he is attached.”

One reply to me in March 1996 from the Royal Western Australian Historical Society supplied the following from The Inquirer of 7 April 1841, in which was reported a meeting of the Agricultural Society at Guildford “The Secretary was instructed to write to the

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Governor, thanking him in the name of the Society, for the reward offered for the introduction of bees into the colony.” Also supplied from the 15 September 1841 edition of the The Inquirer “His Excellency, the Governor’s prize of five pounds was awarded to Mr. F. Helpman R.N., who had lately introduced three hives. Two of these by mismanagement after leaving the ship have been destroyed but the remaining one has been preserved and is in the possession of the Governor.” Unfortunately, I’ve not yet been able to access copies of these newspapers, however an April 1999 communication with the Royal Western Australian Historical Society has confirmed the accuracy of the 15 September 1841 reference.

Mr Welch, Fremantle, 1848In the Enquirer for 11 October 1848, “Two swarms of bees were last week collected from the hives of Mr Welch at Fremantle.” This small entry strongly indicates that bees were well established by 1848.

Unknown, 1866From a 1988 report prepared for the Australian beekeeping industry by Diana Gibbs and Ian Muirhead, titled The Economic Value and Environmental Impact of the Australian Beekeeping Industry comes the following subjective observations “The first successful introduction of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to Australia took place in 1822. Honey bees were able to provide settlers with the important food and food sweetener used by the people of the Old World for centuries. Honey bees were also used to pollinate crops, most of which were introduced. Australian flora were found to produce good quantities of nectar, and honey bees quickly naturalised throughout Australian native forest systems by the mid-1800’s. As the interior of the continent was opened up by settlers, they were able to draw stocks of honey bees from the feral population or obtain hives from beekeepers to establish small apiaries, and the Australian honey industry became established. ... The Australian honey bee had its origins in successful introductions in New South Wales in 1822 and Western Australia in 1866.33 Over the last 170 years, it has become naturalised - in all but perhaps the most arid areas - from Cape York to Tasmania and from the east to the west coast. By the

33 the Western Australian date of 1866 is incorrect as Helpman’s award in 1841 takes precedence.

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mid-1800's, honey bees were established in the forest systems of much of Australia (Laurie, 1863). There is anecdotal evidence that by the late 1860’s settlers were augmenting diet and income by harvesting honey from feral honey bee colonies. Feral honey bees supplied the stock from which small apiaries were established, giving rise to the honey bee industry in Australia (Briggs, personal communication).”

The 1863 reference comes from a work by J. S. Laurie, titled Landsborough's Exploration of Australia from Carpentaria to Melbourne, with Special Reference to the Settlement of Available Country (p.42). The “anecdotal evidence” that late 1860’s settlers were “augmenting diet and income by harvesting honey from feral honey bee colonies” pales when compared with Lang’s 1861 observation of an Illawarra beekeeper34 harvesting one and a quarter tons of honey in one season which he sold for £35, a considerable sum. Also, from Australia’s Blacktown from 1788 is this clue to evidence of organised large scale beekeeping “An odd industry that accompanied the quarry operations was that of bee-keeping, and hives were positioned at good distances away from the workings and the tent, or shack, quarry towns. This was especially so at Prospect. Some blue metal had been mined at these areas in the 1860s and 1870s.”

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

It is possible that honeybees were introduced from 1836 by sea out of Western Australia where there are records of them having been landed in 1830, 1834 and successfully in 1841. There may also have been a New Zealand connection. Captain Arthur Wakefield, head of the Nelson settlement, was the addressee of a consignment of honeybees from England in 1842. Captain Wakefield, a beekeeper, was brother to Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a man prominent in South Australian colonial matters at the time.

Whalers provide another link for in the Nelson Examiner for Saturday 8 October 1842 “When Dr Imlay visited Nelson in April last, he brought with him, as a present to Captain Wakefield, a hive of bees. These interesting and useful colonists are, as usual, among the busiest of our settlers.” The Imlay brothers were involved in cattle

34 refer David Berry on page 2281

breeding and whaling. William Wakefield, also a beekeeper, received hives from Sydney. In The New Zealand Journal of 25 November 1843 “Colonel Wakefield has received bees from Sydney; in April last he had five swarms;” (p.305). Early German settlers may also have been a catalyst.

Nutt hives, Adelaide, 1845-1846Two entire broadsheet pages In The Adelaide Observer for 15 November 1845 were devoted to various articles on bees and honey. Among them, Mr Nutt’s “improved system of bee management” was allocated half a column, some 1/6th of one page. Reference was also made to Mrs. Allom’s efforts to introduce bees into New Zealand.

A correspondent to The South Australian for 8 September 1846 pointed out that the lack of proper hives was a problem to the advancement of the craft. A country gentleman had commissioned Jacob Pitman to construct “a most ingenious hive, constructed after Nutt’s English patent. ... There are in this hive four compartments communicating with each other, and apparatus for feeding the bees and for ventilation. By skilful contrivance, the honey will be got out in a pure state, without disturbing, much less killing any of the bees”.

Bees from Launceston, V.D.L., 1846There is no doubt that swarms were available within South Australia by 1846. A letter to the Editor in The Register for 2 May 1846 highlighted a serious objection to the keeping of bees by cottagers as “the present high price of swarms. The number of apiarians here is so limited that they are enabled to demand a high price.” The correspondent recommended that as was the case with other live stock, hives should be imported from the neighbouring colonies. “As a commencement I have requested a Port Agent to procure five hives from Launceston. This will be sufficient to try how far the importation can be managed economically, and if there is sufficient demand to make their introduction a profitable matter of business.” (p.3)

VICTORIA

Edward Henty & Henry Camfield, 1834For Victoria, the earliest date that bees might have been imported would be 1834 when Edward Henty formed a pastoral settlement on the shores of Portland Bay on 19 November, after first attempting to

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settle in Launceston, Tasmania in April 1832. Honeybees had been successfully established in Tasmania in 1831. “Edward ... sailed for the bay in the Thistle, taking with him - besides stores - Henry Camfield (who had travelled to the Swan in the same ship as James (Henty), four indentured servants, stock, potatoes and seed.” (Australian Encyclopaedia, 1958, p.487). The return of the Thistle on 19 December 1834 with additional stock may also have carried honeybees.

Camfield was a ‘honeybee aware’ person. In 1830, writing from the Swan River settlement for the second time to his sister Maria back in England, he provided a list of things which were important to bring, should they decide to come out “mosquito nets, preserves, meats, pickles, vinegar, honey, molasses, bees (in wire cages)” (Bassett, 1962, p.158). He may have suggested adding bees to the Thistle’s manifest. Henry may have based his 1830 request for bees in wire cages upon his observation on the method used by Molloy or by personal observation aboard the Caroline with the Hentys, had they brought bees with them.

QUEENSLAND

South Brisbane, 1854It’s very unlikely that any bees were landed at Moreton Bay prior to 1842 until which time the settlement was closed to free settlers. However in Beekeeping, a set of collated articles produced by officers of the Beekeeping Section of the Entomology Branch, Queensland Department of Primary Industries in 1979, there appears “In beekeeping literature there is reference to black bees being kept near Montague Road, South Brisbane in 1854. Queensland was then part of New South Wales and there is not any definite information as to how these colonies came to Brisbane. Probably they were brought from Sydney by early settlers some time after 1824 when Brisbane was first settled.” (p.35)

c1861From the chapter titled Natural Productions of Queensland (Queensland, Lang, 1861) “There is one other article of production, which certainly does not require the intervention of cultivation of any kind to ensure its being obtainable in any conceivable quantity by

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careful and industrious people, in Queensland, and for the raising of which the climate and indigenous vegetation are admirably adapted - I mean honey. Honey from the labours of the small, native, stingless bee of the colony is procured in great quantities by the Aborigines, and forms a frequent and favourite article of their food. But the European bee has been introduced in Australia, and propagated with remarkable success; the number of swarms which a hive in working and breeding order throws off in a given time, and the quantity of honey realised from the stock, with scarcely any trouble whatever, being perfectly incredible to any person acquainted merely with the management of bees, and the results of that management, in England. A settler35 at Illawarra, in New South Wales, who had directed his attention to this branch of rural economy, had not less than twenty-five hundred weight of honey to dispose of in one season. It was sold to a brewery in his neighbourhood at threepence a pound. The climate and vegetation of Queensland are, in my opinion, still better adapted to the bee than those of Illawarra, and the circumstance suggests a source of comfort and wealth to industrious emigrants of the humbler classes that ought not to be despised.” (pp.176-177)

John Campbell, Laidley Creek, c1866In Pioneer Women, Pioneer Land (1987) there is a double-page reproduction of a drawing of Mr John Campbell’s farm at Laidley Creek, Queensland, the original of which is held in the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. All details of the farm are shown in fine detail: outbuildings, a simple cottage with verandah at front, fruit trees, farm animals, neatly fenced yards and gardens. Sitting quietly and almost forgotten in the picture is a low four-legged table, upon which sits a flat topped skep hive. A small cloud of hovering bees can be seen just above the hive. Was the artist capturing what was actually present? Or was it a matter of completeness with rural harmony satisfied by the inclusion of a skep hive?

35 see page 22, David Berry of Coolangatta on the Illawarra

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skep hive, bees buzzing above, behind the railing fence

Dianne Byrne, Librarian, Reference Service, State Library of Queensland, kindly responded to my inquiry “Campbell was one of the pioneers of the Laidley district, along with Edward and James Heenan and Joseph and William Cook. He was the first Justice of the Peace gazetted in Laidley and a member of the Government Road Board before the Divisional Board of Trampa was established. He came to Laidley in 1866 and secured valuable land on the western banks of Laidley Creek, near what became known as Campbell’s Bridge, three and a half miles from the new township of Laidley. He went in chiefly for lucerne growing and was fortunate in securing land that proved capable of growing the crop even in severe drought. He also went in as a sideline for grazing. He built one of the finest homes in the district, a home that probably was intended to be a reminder of the best farms in his native England. I have been unable to locate any specific information on his bee-keeping activities.”

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John Campbell’s farm, Laidley Creek, Queensland, c1866

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NORTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND

William Brown, Brown’s Island, Auckland, 1840“In 1840 two hives of bees were imported from Sydney together with many varieties of fruit trees by William Brown of Brown’s Island, in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.” (Walsh, c1970, unpublished manuscript) In notes taken by Chris Dawson, Brown was a member of the Legislative Council c1851. In New Zealand and its Aborigines by Brown “... a friend of mine in January 1844 received one hive from Sydney ... the wild flowers afford excellent nourishment for the bees and from blossom of the flax plant and the pohutukawa tree in particular honey may absolutely be collected in pints without the assistance of bees at all.”

St. Matthew’s Windsor, N.S.W., & Fr. Petitjean, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, July 1842

It may have been that one hundred and fifty four years ago, when some hives of bees were donated by a New South Wales beekeeper, then to find their way to Kororareka, (present day Russell) Bay of Islands, New Zealand, that the hives came from Windsor on the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales. Marist Father Jean Baptiste Petitjean had arrived on a charity seeking venture to the Catholiccommunity of Sydney because the mission in far north New Zealand was in desperate need.

The first clue to this story came from a research file on New Zealand beekeeping history, 30 years in the making, given to me mid 1995 by a retired printer and accomplished amateur queen bee breeder. I had come into contact with Chris Dawson of the South Island town of Rangiora while researching my book on the introduction of European Honeybees into Australia and New Zealand. In his file of notes, clippings and extracts, I found his hand written entry extracted from the 1845 work Remarks on the Past and Present State of New Zealand, by Walter Brodie. “It was many years before we could get flowers to seed, especially clover, at the Bay of Islands and we only succeeded when Dr. Pompelier (sic) (the Roman Catholic Bishop) introduced bees, which by assisting in the impregnation of the different plants, were of considerable use in the colony.”

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From this clue that Dr. Jean Baptiste Pompallier, head of the Frenchmissionaries at the Bay of Islands, was connected with the introduction of honeybees into New Zealand, there enters the efforts of another history researcher. Bruce Stevenson, a commercial apiarist from Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, subsequently discovered references to a letter from Father Forest, another missionary at Kororareka, to M. Epalle of the Marist Order in France, dated 9 November 1842 “... as arranged Fr. Petitjean went to Sydney a few days after your departure. Our great need, already well known in this town, has excited the compassion of many who would have helped us if they had had the means to do so. But they have made little impression on the rich who had to be besought very earnestly before they provided 300 pounds together with stores worth 100 pounds. Also the father has almost filled a ship with all sorts of animals, a little like a Noah’s ark. He has brought us two cows, a good number of sheep, some pigeons, some bees, and I don’t know what else! ...”

Stevenson’s story relates “Bishop Pompallier obtained his missionaries from the then infant Society of Mary, that we know as the Marists. In 1839 Pompallier had established his headquarters at Kororareka ... His mission was funded from France and was fairly quickly into financial difficulty principally because of the Bishop’s inability to handle money wisely. The situation reached crisis point in 1842.” Now exit the Bishop from the story, for prior to Petitjean’s departure for Sydney, Pompallier had left the North Island to visit a Marist missionary on the Fortunas.

Additional research uncovered more of this unusual tale. The brig Julia arrived on 28 June, having departed Russell on 3 June (Australasian Chronicle, 28 June 1842). Petitjean was not listed as a passenger but nine were noted as having travelled in steerage. It’s most likely he was one of these, for this was the vessel on which he returned, departing late August and arriving at Russell on 14 September. His recorded movements are consistent with the vessel’s two month turnaround in Sydney.

In the Australasian Chronicle for Tuesday 5 July 1842, it was reported that Petitjean addressed the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Sydney on Sunday 3 July. Part of his speech included the following colourful report “He was gratified to see the zeal with

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which they came forward for the propagation of the faith, and he wished to express his gratitude for Bishop Pompallier, who was the head of the New Zealand mission, as well as for himself. The contributions were like the clouds which arose from different parts of the earth, and collecting in one place showered down the rain as a treasure.” Petitjean went on to explain that all donations went to the Society headquarters in Lyons where the funds were distributed, some of which came to his mission. There was no mention of the Marists’ dire need for supplies, the prime reason for his visit. I imagine his search for charity was done in a more discreet manner.

Petitjean is next mentioned preaching, again not on behalf of himself and his companions back at Kororareka, but for St. Patrick’s Orphan School. The Australasian Chronicle for 23 July announced “WINDSOR Tomorrow 24th INST. the Very Rev. Jean Baptiste Petit-Jean will preach in the church of St. Matthew, Windsor, a charity sermon, in favour of St. Patrick’s Orphan School.” (p.2d)

Later, under the heading “St. Patrick’s Society, Catholic Institute, and Society for the Propagation of the Faith” in the Australasian Chronicle of 9 August 1842 “... Rev. Monsieur Petit Jean one of the missionaries from New Zealand, then addressed the meeting. He was received with loud cheers ... He presented his complements to the meeting for their generosity, for it was beyond all expression ...” (p.2d). This article gave details of his talk, though nothing was mentioned of the mission’s need in New Zealand. Petitjean told of the natives interest in attending services, their knowledge of good and evil and a description of the New Zealand church as a sister to that in New South Wales. The sum of subscriptions to St. Patrick’s and donations on the day was £13 8s 1d. It’s not known what share, if any, went to Petitjean, as the alms may well have gone to Society headquarters in Lyons.

The Australasian Chronicle of 23 August 1842 listed in the ‘Ships in Harbour’ section “Juila, brig, 110 tons, Milne, at Milne’s Wharf, the Captain, agent” (p.3a). On the same date, listed under ‘Projected Departures’ was “... Julia for Bay of Islands ...” Petitjean’s fund raising visit was almost over, though no mention of him seeking funds for his own cause appears to have been published. At my

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request, a time consuming search by the Archivist at Sydney’s St. Mary’s Cathedral did not discover any mention of the Marist visit.

This time listed as a passenger, his return under Captain Robert Milne may have been a little more comfortable than his earlier voyage. In the Sydney Morning Herald of 3 September 1842 (p.2a), under the section on shipping departures “the brig Julia for the Bay of Islands, Auckland, and Tahiti, the same day, under Captain Milne, with a general cargo”. The ship must have been crowded with its menagerie. From Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Sydney, 1841-1844, Vol. III, the Julia’s dimensions were only 68.8 feet long x 19 feet wide x 12.2 feet draught.

Bruce Stevenson’s story In Search of Father Petitjean’s Bees, Early History of New Zealand Beekeeping appeared in the New Zealand Beekeeper for May 1996. The hives of honeybees obtained by Petitjean appear to have safely arrived and prospered. Referring to Maori linguistic research “... the French word for honey, miel, is the root word for the Maori gainword miere, which is still used today in some tribal areas.” The linguist argued that “the miere gainword came as a result of the beekeeping of the French missionaries ...”

In Fr. John Hosie’s book Challenge, The Marists in Colonial Australia, he mentions the New Zealand Marists’ search for assistance in Sydney “Petit-Jean had returned there, in 1842, to make an appeal on behalf of the New Zealand mission. Specifically, he was asking for food for the missionaries, many of whom were suffering badly from an inadequate diet, and some almost starving. Sydney Catholics were the poorest section of the community, and to make matters worse, it was a time of financial depression in the colony. Nevertheless, Petit-Jean was welcomed, and appealed widely. ... Brady, now in charge of the parish of Windsor, made a personal gift of a cow and calf for the starving missionaries, and allowed Petit-Jean to make an appeal in the parish. ... Any cash Petit-Jean raised in these appeals, he used to purchase provisions in kind.” (p.18). He was wise to convert the cash into provisions for “Pompallier invoked the religious poverty of his missionaries to ensure that they had no money at all.” (p.25).

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Indications of the fate of Fr. John Brady’s gift to Petitjean can be drawn from Stevenson’s story “... in October of that year he and a brother Basil undertook a most arduous overland trip to Whangaroa driving one heifer, three sheep and three lambs as a gift to the mission there. No doubt a small part of the Noah’s ark.” Similarly, Fr. Petitjean probably had to drive his collection of animals from Windsor through to Parramatta and on to Milne’s Wharf. There they would have been loaded for the two to three week voyage to the Bay of Islands in the far north of New Zealand. The parishioners of St. Matthew’s Windsor, saw that some respite was provided to the Marist fathers, and in turn the Maoris to whom the missionaries offered their assistance.

Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842 to 1847For a major update on Cotton refer to my book William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand. 1842 to 1847, published in December 1997. Since then several items have come to my notice:

On page 60 of William Charles Cotton, reference is made to “little Lydia”. This was Lydia Jane Williams, the tenth of eleven children of Marianne and Henry Williams. Lydia was then 9 years old when Cotton took 28 lbs of honey for her.

On Tuesday 2 April 1844 at Waimate, Cotton recorded in his journal “The bees working very hard in the afternoon and carrying enormous loads. Princess Mary has already got rid of all her drones. They were killed last week. In the Princess Royal they are just beginning to find them both very uncomfortable. Planted so much Thyme in Paradise garden that it will be a very Hymettus .” (Vol. 7, p.45). Fraser in Beekeeping in Antiquity mentions the honey of Hymettus from the writings of Pliny (A.D. 23-79) who lived in northern Italy “The best is produced from the calices of the flowers on Mount Hymettus in Attica, Mount Hybla in Sicily, and on the island of Calymna. It is, at first, thin like water, but later ferments like must and clears itself. On the twentieth day it thickens, and is covered with a thin layer of the froth of fermentation which soon hardens.”

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Cotton in his latter years

Cotton’s book, My Bee Book, published in 1842 while he was at sea headed for New Zealand, made quite an impact upon its readers. An example of this appeared in The London Quarterly Review (Vol. LXXI, March 1843). A 30 page article titled The Honey-bee and Bee-books reviewed nine bee books published between 1817 and 1842. My Bee Book won a mixed reception, but in part was described as “... sent forth in one of the most elegant volumes that ever graced a library-table. ... its exquisite woodcuts, perfection of dress, prelude of mottoes, list of bee books (which, though imperfect, particularly as to foreign works, is the first of the kind) - appendices - reprints - extracts &c ., we hardly know of a book of the kind that has pleased us more. ... professing no sort of arrangement, it is the perfection of a scrapbook for the gentleman or lady bee-keeper.” Cotton “is one of that noble crew, mainly drafted from the ranks of aristocratic Eton, that have gone out in the first missionary enterprise that has left the shores of England, worthy of the Church and the country that sent them.” See page 32 above where Emmeline Macarthur, then aged 13, recalls Cotton’s visit to her fathers apiary at Vineyard House, Parramatta

From Allan K. Davidson’s Selwyn’s Legacy, The College of St John the Evangelist, Te Waimate and Auckland, 1843 – 1992, A History, further insights into Cotton’s complex character may be found.

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“There were concerns about his eccentricities. Sarah Selwyn recalled ‘that while his love for the Bishop, his enthusiasm, his goodness and good nature, and his great cleverness would have made him a valuable helper, it was all largely balanced by a want of ballast which made one afraid of what he would do next’ ” (Selwyn, Reminiscences, pp.14-15, in Davidson, pp.19-20) Sarah also wrote “tho’ I have sometimes to take him to task for things left undone certainly his most excellent temper and right mindedness, make him a most easy person to live with” She found him to be “a kind friend to me.” Jane Williams wrote “Mr. Cotton too greatly improves upon acquaintance and has many good points in his character, tho’ he is not what we would like to see as a clergyman and as chief master of the collegiate school. His kindness and attention to poor Marsh Brown during his long and trying illness seem to have had no bounds.” (p.41) Davidson wrote “Close superintendence of College affairs was necessary because of the financial stringency under which Selwyn operated. Writing to Cotton’s father, a Governor of the Bank of England, Selwyn referred to “William’s monomania of spending” and the necessity to “exercise the tyranny of a Dragon over every unnecessary expenditure, as if every pound were one of the fruits of the Hesperides36”.” (p.50)

Cotton must have been an active beekeeper even into the last decade of his life. Showler (1978) reported that Cotton, after accepting the living of Frodsham in 1857, threw “himself wholeheartedly into the discussions which led up to the formation of the British Beekeeping Association and the establishment of local and then national British honey shows. By the late 1860s he had an established national reputation and in 1873 judged at the Manchester Show, England.” In 1874 Cotton judged “at the first English national show, ‘The Great Bee and Honey Show’ at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, London.”

36 Hesperides, in Greek mythology, were the daughters of the Titan Atlas and Hesperus, the evening star. Assisted by a sleepless dragon, the Hesperides guarded the Tree of Life, with branches and leaves of gold that bore golden apples. One of the 12 labors imposed upon the hero Hercules was to bring back the golden apples of the Hesperides.

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Neighbour (1878) relates that Cotton had a stock of bees from Austria c1870 and left them under his charge at the Neighbour apiary in Hampstead “… where they did very well, working in a capital super in the first year, as well as parting with a fine swarm. The second year Mr. Cotton had the swarm sent to his own apiary,37

near Chester, because he wanted the original queen, which of course this had with it.” (pp.45, 78)

SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Mrs. Mary Ann Allom, April 1842From a newspaper scrapbook held at the Hocken Library, Dunedin, comes extracts of two letters. The source is probably the Hawke’s Bay Herald if the editor’s affiliation of ‘H.B.H’ can be taken as a guide. The date of publication is also unknown but it’s likely to be late December 1895. The first letter under the banner ‘A Deserved Recognition’ was from Amy G. Storr, daughter of Mrs. Thomas (Mary Ann) Allom, dated October 1895. Amy Storr pointed out to the editor “Knowing the interest you take in matters relating to the early days of the colony” the achievement of her mother in introducing bees to New Zealand. For this she was presented in 1845 a Royal Society of Arts and Commerce silver medal by the Prince Consort.

That the effort was no ‘hit or miss’ endeavour by Mrs. Allom is obvious from the following “I well remember the months of anxious planning and experimenting with bees on the top of our house in Bloomsbury, carried on by her before she perfected her scheme for their safe transit. The special hive containing the bees was made under her instructions by Messrs Neighbour and Sons of Holborn.”

As an effective means of demonstrating her success, Mrs. Allom presented “the first piece of beeswax made by these bees ... to the Royal Society of Arts, with a small model showing the way in which they had traveled”. Supplied with the letter was an image of both sides of the medal. The editor described it thus “on one side of the medal the Queen’s head, with the words ‘Arts and Commerce Promoted’. On the reverse side is a laurel wreath, with the

37 at his residence at Frodsham94

legend, ‘To Mrs Thos Allom, MDCCCXLV, For the introduction of bees into New Zealand’ ”.

The relevant minutes of the Society of Arts for the meeting of 19 May 1845 in part read “... during the voyage the bees were taken care of by the Rev Mr Saxton & his family. After passing the Bay of Biscay the bees were fed with 2/3 honey and 1/3 water. The whole arrived safely in the colony, and wax, the first produce of Bees in New Zealand has been presented by Mrs Allom to the Society. … The Chairman considered that Mrs Allom’s example would in all probability lead to the introduction of Bees into other parts of the world where they might be of great service.” Having passed the Bay of Biscay the ship left behind a dangerous and difficult area of navigation, thus allowing more genteel usage of the deck area. The recommendation to present the silver Isis medal was agreed to on 21 May 1845.

Lady Barker, 1866In Thomson’s 1922 work on the naturalisation of plants and animals in New Zealand, there is mention of Lady Barker’s book Station Life in New Zealand in which she says she ate bush-honey in Canterbury in 1866. Thomson comments that wild bees were very common in Southland in 1868. Thomson also supplied “The Hon. Herbert Meade writing in 1871 says: New Zealand is par excellence the

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land of honey, and although the bees have only been introduced for, I believe, about twenty-five years, the woods are already full of wild honey. A friend assured me that he had takes as much as 70 lbs. from a single tree, and known others to get 200 and 300 lbs. at one haul; another man collected a ton and a half in a few weeks. The greatest enemies to the bees here are the dragon-flies, which grow to an enormous size. They waylay the luckless bees when homeward bound and laden with honey, and after nipping off the part containing the sting, devour the remainder with the honey, at leisure. … Dragon-flies do occasionally eat bees, but they are not really formidable enemies; their numbers are too few.”

Chatham Islands, October, 1890From Thompson (1922) “Honey-bees were sent over to the Chatham Islands in October, 1890. They had been imported previously, though I have not got a date for their introduction, but were supposed to have been destroyed by spiders, which were particularly abundant.” (p.280)

Part III - The Italian or Ligurian, ‘Apis ligustica’

NEW SOUTH WALES

Angus Mackay, S. MacDonnell, 1880

Within Rayment’s 1947 unpublished manuscript, in the chapter titled ‘Introduction of the Hive-bee’ “In 1880, the late Angus Makay, (sic) then editor of the Town and Country Journal and S. MacDonnell, of Sydney, both imported Italian bees from America. At that time Italian queens were selling at from £2 to £5 each. ...”

E. Garrett, 1881

Rayment wrote fleetingly of “... E. Garrett, then of New South Wales, was contemporary with I. Hopkins of New Zealand in importing Italian queens about 1881 ... After 1882 Italian queens reached Australia in large numbers …”

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A MODERN BEE FARM

from Angus Mackay’s Elements of Australian Agriculture (1885)

Wilhelm Abram, Parramatta, 1883

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A clue to the source of Hood’s acquisition is provided by The Tasmanian Mail of 4 October 1884 “In Sydney, a large company has been formed to carry on bee culture on a scientific scale, and the exportation of honey is made a source of great profit.” This then would have been the Italian Bee Company, headed by Wilhelm Abram. “Mr. Hood looks forward to the time when a similar industry may be established in Tasmania, and he certainly deserves the thanks of the community for his disinterested and patriotic efforts in the cause of acclimatisation.”

SWARMING BAG, A GREAT IMPROVEMENT

This illustration appeared in The Town and Country Journal for 24 November 1883. It shows part of the equipment utilised at Wilhelm Abram’s Italian Bee Farm at Parramatta. “The swarming-bag is one of the best things we have seen in bee culture. It is about 6ft in length, and 1/2 1ft in diameter, and formed of alternate lengths of calico and mosquito netting, each length having a ring of cane inside, to hold out the bag as shown in the sketch. When the bees are about to swarm, the bag is fastened on the front of the hive, and the other end fastened to a stake. When the queen emerges she bounds up into the upper end of the bag, and is quickly surrounded by her followers. Thus the swarm is captured with ease, the alternate breadths of mosquito netting and calico making the interior light and enticing for the bees to enter and cluster. They are then shaken into a bar frame hive.”

TASMANIA

Thos. Lloyd Hood, Hobart, 1884In The Tasmanian Mail of 4 October 1884 “By the last trip of the steamer Flora, Mr. T. L. Hood , of Liverpool street, received a stock-hive of Italian or Ligurian bees, the first that have been introduced into this colony, ... their value as honey producers is well known and highly appreciated. They are of very handsome appearance, black and gold bands alternating, and, when Mr. Hood liberated them yesterday morning, they at once took flight,

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returning in about half an hour heavily laden with honey. ... Mr Hood has provided himself with bar hives, comb foundations and other appliances necessary to beekeeping on a scientific basis; and, combining with these, the possession of the best honey producing bee known to the apiarian world, he anticipates still greater success that he has hitherto been able to achieve.” (p.9e)

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Charles Rake, Enfield, 1883In Garden and the Field of April 1884 an article titled ‘Paper upon Bees’ by A. Molineux “Mr Charles Rake, of Enfield, was the first one in South Australia who imported and who first received a colony of Ligurian bees. The honour belongs to him, and to him alone, as it was only as late as September last there ought to be no difficulty in establishing the fact. It is true that a gentleman a few years ago imported two ‘Neighbour’ hives stocked with Ligurian (or Italian, as they were then called) bees, which arrived in good condition, but through mismanagement he lost them. Messrs. C. Rake, A. E. Bonney (bees imported by the Chamber of Manufactures), and J. H. Weidenhofer obtained ‘tested’ Ligurian bees in order of their names from Sydney, and have each been successful in increasing their stock to several hives or colonies.”

The Adelaide Observer for 12 March 1881 reported “... two or three attempts have been made to introduce the Italian bee into Australia from America, but with indifferent success. Only a few hives of this bee exist in Australia ...”

Ligurians for Sale, 1885In Information for the People by A. O. Chambers (1885, p.53), L. T. Chambers of Flinders Street, Adelaide, and the South Australian Beekeepers’ Supplies Co., both advised ‘black bees’ for sale. Chambers offered “Ligurian bees per post to any part of the Australian colonies.”

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Ligurians at Fairfield Apiary, Mount Barker, 1885The Adelaide Observer for 23 May 1885 (p.10. cols d-e; p.11, col.a) reported that this apiary kept Ligurian, ‘common black bees’ and hybrids.

W. Stevens, 1886In the Second Annual Report for the South Australian Beekeepers’ Association, among reports of honey production for several beekeepers with stocks of black bees, W. Stevens was reported to have obtained 556 lbs. from one colony of Ligurians and its increase.

Another Twelve Queens from Italy, September 1886In The Adelaide Observer for 18 September 1886 “Successful Shipment of Ligurian Bees: By the Potosi, which arrived on Tuesday morning, Mr. H. H. Dollman received a shipment of Ligurian queens from Mr. C. Bianconcini, of Bologna, Italy. As on a former occasion, the whole number (twelve) arrived in good order, reflecting great credit on the manner in which they had been packed to stand the long journey, more particularly as they had to cross the Red sea during the most trying month, that of August.” It seems that this shipment travelled south east down the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt, overland to the waters of the Red Sea, down its length to the Gulf of Aden and east into the Arabian Sea, then south east across the Indian Ocean towards the Australian Continent.

One Surviving Queen from U.S.A., August 1886The Adelaide Observer for 20 November 1886 carried an item from the Mount Barker Courier “About three months ago Messrs. Coleman & May, apiarists, of Mount Barker, ordered ten Ligurian queen bees from Mr. Alley, a well known beemaster of Wenham, Massachusetts (U.S.A.). They were dispatched per packet post by the Californian mail steamer, being enclosed in pieces of comb containing many other Ligurian bees. On their arrival at Auckland the packets were opened and examined, and it was found that only three of the queens were alive. They were taken out, and, after three weeks’ spell in hives at that city, they were re-dispatched. When the parcel was delivered at Mount

an 1886 advertisement, from Hopkins Australasian Bee Manual

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Barker it was found that only one still survived. Fortunately she is strong and healthy. It was not expected that the whole of the ten royalties would get safely through their voyage, but a return of five or six out of the ten was anticipated. Messrs. Coleman and may sent to the United States for the queens because the Americans take more pains than the Italians over the breeding of the Ligurians, and as a consequence they are better and more reliable workers.”

Kangaroo Island

August Fiebig, c1881Betty McAdam of the Hog Bay Apiary on Kangaroo Island, kindly supplied the following details following my enquiry. “The National Trust has erected a plaque near to Penneshaw, reading as follows: August Fiebig introduced Ligurian bees from Italy in 1881 and established an apiary here. The strain is still pure. … There are anecdotal stories by local residents of August Fiebig who erected a house in an area known as Blue Gums.” Betty advised that enquiries upon the National Trust and Penneshaw Council have failed to produce any documentation in support of Fiebig’s beekeeping activities. David Clifford of Cliffords Honey Farm wrote to me paralleling Betty’s comments “Local folk lore has it that he brought over 12 hives of Ligurian bees to Penneshaw in 1881 – I have no official confirmation of this.”

Betty also supplied “Kangaroo Island Beekeepers Association has received a gift of an original hive used by August Fiebig, which has been restored for a display on the bee sanctuary history. A plaque on the hive reads as follows: Dzierzon hive (Gerzon) German origin 1845. This hive was manufactured by Messers Fiebig and Weidenhofer in the 1880s and was stocked with Ligurian bees and formed the nucleus of an apiary on Kangaroo Island. … August Fiebig is reported (anecdotal evidence again) to have moved to Kangaroo Island from mainland South Australia, possibly Angaston.” I’ve found little additional detail on Fiebig, only that he read his papers “The Various Races of Bees” and “Artificial Increase in Bees” before the South Australian Beekeepers’ Association on 8 July 1886.

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I wonder where the pronunciation of Gerzon on the Dzierzon hive at Penneshaw originated. I located in a 1903 edition of The ABC of Bee Culture another two, prefixed by “Probably few readers of English have come across this name for the first time without stopping to look at it in order to ascertain what to call it. The Germans have had the same difficulty, and got around it by calling it Tseer-tsone; and as this pronunciation is pretty well established, perhaps it would be well to stick to it. There is little doubt, however, that it should be looked at from a Polish standpoint, and called it Jser-zone.”

As to the design of the hive used by Fiebig, I’m keen to visit Penneshaw one day to see it. Also from The ABC of Bee Culture (1903) is a cryptic description of such a hive. Dzierzon apparently began serious beekeeping around 1835 using simple box hives, each having a removable lid. He found that these retained too much moisture beneath the wooden cover so he devised a straw one to avoid this disadvantage. To remove the straw top without damaging the combs, which would otherwise have been suspended from this straw ceiling, he placed as many inch-wide bars, spaced a finger-breadth apart, as were required to cover the hive. He encouraged the bees to consistently build their combs suspended from the bars by fastening a piece of comb to the underneath of each bar. This was similar if not identical to the top-bar beekeeping used by William Charles Cotton in New Zealand between 1842 and 1847. The Langstroth moveable frame method was not to appear until 1852. The Dzierzon hive was subsequently improved by Baron von Berlepsch in 1853 when “by a distinctive inventive process added the frames to Dzierzon’s bars.” (Neighbour, 1878, p.129)

A. E. Bonney, December 1883A. E. Bonney, in a letter to the editor of The Adelaide Observer for 29 September 1883, (p.13, col. c) declared himself in favour of the introduction of Ligurian bees into South Australia. The AdelaideObserver for 29 December 1883 (p.11, col.e) reported a shipment of bees from J. Carroll, beemaster near Brisbane, to Bonney of Upper Kensington, by order of the Chamber of Manufactures. Bonney consented to raise colonies of these bees. In 1886 Isaac Hopkins stated “In South Australia, as Mr. Bonney informs me, the Chamber of Manufactures imported a colony of Italian bees from Mr. Fullwood,

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of Brisbane, in December, 1883, and succeeded in establishing them on Kangaroo Island, where they are doing remarkably well.” (p.16)

Mr. Buick, American River, K.I., April 1884The Adelaide Observer for 19 January 1884, (p.12, col. a) contained a report from Bonney to the Chamber of Commerce regarding Ligurian bees “recently imported by the Chamber”. On 5 April 1884 (p.30, col.d) the paper carried another report by Bonney regarding Ligurian bees belonging to the Chamber of Manufactures. “I shall have two colonies ready at Easter to go to Kangaroo island and should like to receive permission to send one to Mr Buick, of American River... although I have written to Mr Turner, of Smith’s Bay, relative to withdrawing his black bees, and giving him Ligurians in exchange, he has not sent me any reply ... It was resolved that one colony of the Ligurians be entrusted to Mr Justice Boucaut for conveyance to Mr Buick at American River, Kangaroo Island. Mr Bonney to be requested, if possible, during Easter holidays, to take another colony to Mr Turner, of Smith’s Bay.”

A report from Bonney to the Chamber of Manufactures in The Adelaide Observer for 17 May 1884 (p.11, col.e) “... During Easter holidays (Easter Sunday: April 13 1884) Mr J Boucaut took one queen in a full colony to Mr Buick ... In March I imported two colonies from Queensland.” James Penn Boucaut (1831-1916) was at that time a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia and a former Premier of that colony. One of his interests in his private life was his yacht “which he could handle like a master mariner” (Australian Encyclopaedia, 1958), safe hands then in which to entrust the delivery of a hive of bees.

Mr. Turner, Smith’s Bay, K.I., June 1884On 9 August 1884 in The Adelaide Observer (p.13, col.b) another report appeared by Bonney to the Chamber of Manufactures “On June 25 the original hive of Ligurian bees, imported by the Chamber from Queensland, was sent safely to Mr Turner, at Smith’s Bay, K.I. It has been arranged that on her return trip the ketch Hawthorn will bring away the black bees, and then, so far as I know, there will be no other than Ligurians on the island. The settlers should, in their own interests, try to prevent the

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introduction of black bees to Kangaroo Island during the next few years.” Reports also appeared by Messrs Buick and Turner.

Bonney reported in The Adelaide Observer on 18 October 1884 (p.12, cols.d-e) “... bees on K.I. are in a flourishing condition.” From W Stevens “Ligurian queen bee granted me by the Chamber is doing very well.” John Turner “The Ligurians are doing first rate.” John Buick “The bees to all appearance seem to be working splendidly.” In the newspaper column “The Beehive” in The Adelaide Observer of 21 March 1885 “At the last meeting of the Chamber of Manufactures a letter was read from Mr. A. E. Bonney stating that he had not received any further reports relative to the Ligurian bees on Kangaroo Island.”

K.I. Bee Act Foreshadowed, 1884On 13 December 1884 (p.13, col.c) in the Adelaide Observer, Bonney reported to the Chamber of Manufactures that if more colonies are distributed on the island “... the Chamber might establish a claim on the Government for an Act of parliament to prohibit the importation of black bees. There are few places better situated than K.I. for the purpose of forming a depot for Italian bees.” Information on the Ligurian bee Act was published in the Advertiser for 5 April 1887 (p.4d).

Another 20 Queens from Italy on the Cuzco, 1885David Clifford of Kangaroo Island states three queen bees arrived on the Cuzco on 17 October 1885. “In 1886 another 20 Ligurian queen bees were obtained from Italy and 58 daughter queens were reared and purely mated.” David’s information is based upon a fact sheet put out by the S. A. Department of Agriculture and an article written by David Woodward, then Senior Apicultural Advisor for the South Australian Department of Primary Industries. “In October 1885 the South Australian Chamber of Manufacturers imported ten live honey bees from Bologna in the province of Liguria in northern Italy. A survey of Kangaroo Island residents … disclosed that only one hive of black bees occurred on the island. This was destroyed and replaced by a hive of Italian bees from Queensland. The secretary of the South Australian Beekeepers’ Association, Mr. A. E. Bonney, introduced three of the queens imported from Liguria onto Kangaroo Island after ensuring all

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black bees had been destroyed. Twenty queens from Liguria were sent to the island the following year and 58 daughter queens were reared and purely mated.” (American Bee Journal, Feb. 1993, p.124)

K.I. Confirmed “Black Bee Free”, 1886In the section titled “The Beehive” in The Adelaide Observer for 1886 (exact date unknown) “At the last meeting of the Chamber of Manufactures (from the Second Annual Report, Year Ending 30 June 1886) a report was submitted showing the result of enquiries addressed to residents on Kangaroo Island as to the black bees reported by Mr. Grainger to be existing on the island. ‘Of the 45 circulars issued 23 have been answered. The result is eminently satisfactory, as it shows that there are no black bees on the island, and that the Ligurians introduced through the actions of the Chamber are almost all doing well. There is therefore every prospect of a thoroughly pure supply of Ligurian bees becoming established. One apiarian has already reared fifty-eight Ligurian queens, and says that not one was impurely mated. It appears that years ago there were some black bees introduced to the island, but they some time ago all died out. The only vestige of them is the statement of Mr. Hicks that his boys have seen black bees in the scrub, but judging from all the other reports there is very little doubt but this refers to the native bee. This insect is spoken of in the report of Mounted-Constable Withall , who says – ‘In answer to Question 5, I would mention there is what is called the native bee, and which I am informed is totally distinct from the wild bee. The native bee builds its nest in the dead stems which grow up from the grasstree or yacka bush. The honey is obtained from the stems of the yacka bush, which when in bloom produces a large quantity. It is also got from the wild honeysuckle, which grows all over the island. I have myself on one occasion when visiting the west coast of Kangaroo Island cut off about 3 feet of a dead stem from the yacka which had bees in it. I plugged up the hole and brought it home. I tied the stick to a verandah-post and took out the plug. I do not know how long the bees would have lived, but I had them for three weeks when the stem got broken. The bees seemed quite at home while I had them.’ Mr. J. Turner of Smith’s Bay, after giving the answers to various questions, adds: - ‘My bees are doing splendidly this

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season, making a fine lot of honey – in fact I never saw them do better, and I have been used to bees since I can remember. I work my bees with the Langstroth bar-frame hive, and think it a great improvement on the old style of kerosene box. I have sold four swarms and given two swarms away this season, and have five swarms left.’ Mr. Albert Waterman of Cygnet River, says:- ‘I have noticed a kind of wasp very much resembling the black bee in this district, which probably Mr. Grainger mistook for bees.’ Mr. A. E. Bonney, to whom I have referred these replies, considers them very satisfactory. The native bee spoken of will not, he says, prove any hindrance to the establishment of a pure Ligurian strain on the island, its habits being so different as to prevent likelihood of mixture.’ ”

The Second Annual Report of the South Australian Beekeepers’ Association was presented at the Chamber of Manufactures on Thursday 8 July 1886, by the Secretary, A. E. Bonney. Among the various items presented “You will no doubt remember that the Chamber of Manufactures took advantage of the Bill which was passed during last session of Parliament to prevent any but Ligurian bees from being kept on Kangaroo island, and sent there several colonies of this superior race.” As some believed that black bees existed on the island, the Chamber had previously issued some forty four or forty five circulars to residents asking for information on the subject.

The Secretary stated “The Chamber has recently handed over to our Association all business in connection with the distribution of the Ligurian bees which were imported last summer, and it will be for us to decide as to what future action is to be taken in the matter. ... It is a fact that with the exception of New Zealand the beekeeping industry is in a more advanced state in South Australia than in any of the other colonies, and that this is mainly due to the efforts of the Chamber.”

Eight More Ligurian Queens to K.I., 1886The Adelaide Observer for 7 August 1886 carried details of the annual report of the Chamber of Manufactures “The committee is pleased to be able to report that the consignment of Ligurian bees ordered last year direct from Europe arrived in fairly good order. Of the

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twelve ordered nine arrived alive, but one died shortly after being landed. Of the eight queens three were reserved for Kangaroo Island, and were forwarded to residents there, who promised to give their best attention to them. The other bees were distributed to gentlemen in various parts of the province - in districts where black bees did not at present exist. The distribution of these bees was kindly undertaken by Mr. A. E. Bonney, Hon. Secretary of the South Australian Beekeepers’ Association, whose attention and trouble in the matter the committee desires to recognise and tenders him its best thanks for his services. The reports which have been received have been most gratifying, particularly from Kangaroo Island, where it is fully expected a pure strain of bees will be preserved.

Reference was made in last year’s report to the fact that a Bill was then before Parliament the object of which was to set aside Kangaroo Island as a reserve for Ligurian bees. This Bill has passed, and black bees are not allowed to be taken or kept there. the importance of this measure may not be immediately apparent, but the fact that there is a depot so near to the Australian Colonies whence a new strain of bees can be secured will in the future be of great value to this colony. In support of such a statement the opinion of Mr. C. L. Root, the eminent American apiarist, may be quoted. In a letter to Mr Bonney, he said:- ‘If you are successful in passing the Bill and keep only Italian bees, the world will yet come to you for Italians. I would ask no greater privilege than to be able to keep the Italian bee where I could control its purity for a certainty. I would build up a strain not to be surpassed.’

In consequence of a statement made publicly that there was a large number of black bees on the island, the committee issued circulars (44 in number) to public officials and private residents, asking for definite information in reply to certain specified questions, and the answers received were of a highly satisfactory character. Having fostered the bee industry thus far, the committee thought its further care might be relegated to the Beekeepers’ Association. At the request of the committee that Association has consented to relieve the Chamber from further oversight of the bees that have been distributed, and all the information collected on the subject has been handed to the

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Association.” Given the information from this and other reports, it’s clear to me the first Ligurians reached the island on Easter Sunday, 13 April 1884 with all black bee colonies removed on or soon after 25 June of the same year.

VICTORIA

Edward Wilson, Alfred Neighbour, T.W. Woodbury, 1862Until now the generally accepted date for the first successful introduction of Italian honeybees, Apis mellifera ligustica, into Australasia, was some time in 1880 when Chas Fullwood personally introduced them into Brisbane. Isaac Hopkins reported in his 1886 The Australasian Bee Manual “Mr. Fullwood ... determined to introduce Italian bees ... In the year 1880 he brought five queens with himself from Liverpool to Melbourne, and thence to Brisbane. New South Wales also received a shipment of Ligurians in that year. Within Tarlton Rayment’s 1947 unpublished manuscript, The Commercial Bee Farm. A Manual on the Cultivation of the Hive-bee and the Profitable Production of Honey and Beeswax, in the chapter titled ‘Introduction of the Hive-bee’ “In 1880, the late Angus Mackay, then editor of the Town and Country Journal, and S. MacDonnell, of Sydney, both imported Italian bees from America. At that time Italian queens were selling at from £2 to £5 each.”

New Zealand was also in the picture in 1880. From Isaac Hopkins 1886 Australasian Bee Manual “... two splendid colonies of Ligurians were landed in Auckland - one consigned to the Acclimatisation Society, Christchurch, the other to Mr. J. H. Harrison, Coromandel.38 Too much praise cannot be given to Captain Cargill39, who took charge of the little creatures from the moment they were shipped and personally attended to all their wants on the passage across. The hives came from Los AngelesCounty, California, and were procured by Mr R. J. Creighton, the New Zealand Government representative, to whom much praise is due. This consignment, owing to the method of packing, having been so successful, Messrs. Hopkins and Clark, of the Parawai Apiary, took steps to procure some colonies, and two

38 Thomson, 1922, gives the year as 187939 see also page 121 for Captain Cargill

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were received in due course from Ventura County, California. These, too, were received in splendid condition, thanks again to the care taken of them by Captain Cargill. Following upon this I obtained from America two other consignments, in all twenty nuclei and two full colonies.” (pp.9-10)

A hint to an earlier introduction was in the December 1885 issue of The Australian Bee Keepers Journal, which reported that Edward Wilsonhad imported Italian bees into Victoria around 1865. Another pointer came from Hopkins in 1886 “In Victoria, we are told that the late Mr. Edward Wilson had a stock of Ligurians sent out to him in 1862, by. Messrs. Neighbour and Sons; ... But I am informed that no successful attempt had been made to establish the race until quite recently ...” (p.15). On the same page Hopkins wrote “It is stated by Dr. Gerstaecker, that four stocks of Ligurian bees were shipped in England by Mr. I. W. Woodbury, (sic) in September, 1862, and that they arrived safely in Australia, after a passage of seventy-nine days. It does not appear, however, that these stocks succeeded and propagated their race ...”. Unknown to Hopkins, the Wilson / Neighbour / Woodbury associations were related to the same incident.

Tarlton Rayment wrote on Woodbury’s effort in his 1925 book Money in Bees in Australasia, “... they arrived in good condition.” (p.271). Alfred Neighbour reported in The Apiary (1866), details of his beekeeping goods stand at the International Exhibition of 1862 “Among others who took a deep interest in our exhibition was Mr. Edward Wilson, President of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria. This gentleman requested us to pack four stocks of the Ligurian bees for conveyance to Melbourne. With the assistance of Mr. Woodbury - whose aid was, indeed, essential, - these stocks were sent off on the 25th September, 1862, by the steam ship Alhambra, so as to arrive at the colony during the Austral summer. The hives were Woodbury frame hives, having ample space and ventilation, as well as the means of supplying water to their inmates during the voyage; there was, also, a sufficient store of honey to last until the following March.”

The four Italian queens were imported into Melbourne where they eventually survived and prospered. Their progress is fully detailed by Woodbury in The Horticultural Journal, Cottage Gardener and Country Gentleman between 1862 and 1865. The earliest date for the

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successful importation of the Ligurian honeybee into Australasia can now be pulled back eighteen years from 1880, and the location identified as Melbourne, Victoria.

<< Woodbury straw walled and roofed bar-frame hive

The bees, as is apparent in a later issue of the Journal, were shipped in ‘Woodbury bar-frame’ hives. This hive adhered to Langstroth frame hive principles. It held ten 13 inch x 7 3/8 inch frames. Daphne More, in her 1976 work, The Bee Book, supplied this note “To make it more acceptable to people who still felt that straw was the proper material for hives, one version had sides covered with a sort of straw matting - and very attractive it was.” (p.108)

Angus Mackay in The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist and Colonists’ Guide of 1875, provided an illustration of the Woodbury bar-frame hive and detailed measurements, as well as the following description “The hive is furnished with ten moveable frames ... each framehas a small ridge or projection running along the underside. This ridge, being waxed, induces the bees to build parallel combs, thus obviating the necessity for guide comb ... The top bar projects half an inch at each end ... The hive is rabbeted on the inside upper edge three-eighths in and five-eighths of an inch down, to receive the ends of the frames. ... When the frames are placed in

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the hive they hang from the rabbet, and leave half an inch space all round, between the end of the frames and the hive.” (p.158)

The Journal for 20 June 1865 stated “Woodbury frame-hives were first introduced into the colony with the Ligurians, and appear to have been fully appreciated, whilst we have reason to know that the Victorian Apiarian Society numbers among its members many accomplished bee-keepers...”. The article referred to a letter from a beekeeper to The Australasian on 4 March 1865 “I took a notion of keeping bees, and commenced six weeks since by placing a swarm in one of Woodbury’s frame-hives ...” (p.478)

In the Journal for 18 March 1862 Woodbury wrote “I have been favoured by Messrs. Neighbour & Son with a sight of, and permission to copy the following letter from Melbourne, Australia, making inquiries upon this interesting subject. The difficulties attending the transportation of bees to the antipodes are undoubtedly very great, although I am disposed to think they may be successfully encountered and overcome. Any hints from the accomplished apiarian correspondents of THE JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE which may assist in the solution of this problem, will be highly esteemed by - A DEVONSHIRE BEEKEEPER.” From this, how to get the bees safely to Melbourne was not immediately apparent even to the knowledgeable Woodbury, and by inference, to Messrs. Neighbour & Son, suppliers of beekeeping appliances.

The letter was signed by J. Sayce, President of the Apiarian Society of Victoria “Gentlemen, - The introduction into Victoria of the Ligurian bee having recently been a subject of much discussion here, may I ask a favour of your replies to the following questions in connection therewith: - viz.,

1. - Are swarms or colonies of the Ligurian bee procurable by you in England?

2. - What would be the invoice price per stock, sent in suitable plain, bar, or other hives?

3. - Would you undertake to forward them hived in such a manner as would insure their safe passage to Melbourne; ordinary casualties excepted?

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4. - Could you forward them immediately on receipt of an order-ie., without waiting for any particular season? As far as this country is concerned they might arrive at any season with every prospect of success.

In addition, any brief observations on their management - if any management peculiar to this description of bee is necessary - would be much valued.” (p.508)

The Journal for 30 September 1862 reported that four stocks of Ligurians, departed for the antipodes aboard the Alhambra, a steam ship of 766 tons, on 26 September 1862. On 24 March 1863 the Journal carried an article titled Safe Arrival of Ligurian Bees in Australia. This advice was copied from another journal, the Yeoman of 20 December 1862. “We certainly entertained hopes that one or two out of the four stocks would survive the voyage; but that not one should have failed surpasses our most sanguine expectations, and speaks volumes for the skill displayed by ‘A DEVONSHIRE BEEKEEPER’ in providing for the wants of the little travellers during their voyage. The result cannot fail to be highly gratifying to him, as well as to Mr. Edward Wilson, to whose public spirit, we believe, the colony is indebted for this interesting importation, and to Messrs. Neighbour and Son, through whom the order was given, and who superintended the transmission of the hives from Exeter to Southampton, their place of embarkation.” (p.235)

Edward Wilson was the founder of the Victorian Acclimatisation Society at Melbourne in 1861. The report of the safe arrival of the hives was lodged with the Acclimatisation Society by the Apiarian Society. The report stated “... although a very large proportion of the bees had perished from the confinement, yet, in consequence of all the four queens being alive, the Society confidently anticipate that these will form the nucleus of an important addition to the bee-stock of the colony. ... in consequence of the small number of Ligurians left in each hive, it had been found necessary to strengthen the hives by placing with them some of the common bees to provide the necessary food, and also for the sake of warmth; but this proceeding will in no way impair the ultimate purity of the new swarms of bees issuing from these hives.” Their reasoning was correct, but unless future virgin queens

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were isolated from drones of the common bee, that purity of race would soon be hybridised.

The next episode appeared on 16 June 1863, titled Ligurian Bees in Australia, which reported on a letter recently received from Wilson “You will be glad to hear still further good news of your Ligurian bees. By the last mail I hear that from one of the hives, three fresh stocks have been already formed, raising our number to six, and offering fine prospects for the spring. All the gentlemen who have had these bees under their charge are delighted at their manifest superiority over the common bee.” (p.446). One of the original four hives had absconded. Woodbury later reported in the Journal for 14 July 1863 “It may be remembered that the first venture was made with four stocks. All reached Australia alive, although with greatly reduced numbers; but one I believe afterwards deserted its hive. Of the remaining two, the one under the care of Mr. Sayce, the President, has well filled its hive with honey, and the other under the care of Mr. M’Millan has formed a strong stock.” (p.40)

Woodbury added in June 1863 “I need scarcely add how much pleasure it gives me to learn that my little favourites are vindicating their high character at the antipodes; and how ardently I trust that they may amply repay, by their prosperity, all the care which has been lavished upon them since their arrival in the colony.”

The Journal for 14 July 1863, reported that Mr. Edward Wilson had forwarded “various reports from the Australian Apiarian Society, and journals kept by the gentlemen to whose care the Ligurians were entrusted upon their arrival in Australia”. Woodbury then reported the following as supplied by Mr. Sayce, dated 23 March 1863 “It may now be fairly stated that the Ligurian queen bee is a more prolific insect than that with which we have been so long familiar; and I do not hesitate to say that the industry exhibited by these bees is unapproachable by that - great as it is - which characterises the others; or perhaps I should speak more correctly were I to say that the Ligurian bee is a more puissant insect, and that this, added to a most extraordinary gift of scent, which enables it to discover the existence of honey however remote or hidden its receptacle, gives it a superiority in the

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collection of food. I have also observed that its labours are less interfered with by the weather; for during the recent rains, except when very stormy, the bees went out and returned laden with their stores, apparently quite unconscious or indifferent to the existence of anything which could occasion them inconvenience or discomfort.”

Woodbury had shut up the bees on 22 September 1862, and on the arrival of the bees after a confinement of 79 days, Mr. H. Templeton, of George Street, Fitzroy, began his diary “received a hive of Ligurian bees, the property of the Acclimatisation Society, which upon examination, proved to be in a most wretched condition, the inner surface of the hive bearing testimony to the great distress which the swarm had endured on the voyage. Found about three quarts of dead bees in the empty box placed under the hive for the purpose of ventilation, which I at once removed. On examining the comb I discovered a few living bees - not more than a large tea-cup might contain, and many of these in a sickly dying state. Left these to gain a little strength before troubling them.”

Two days afterwards Templeton “took out the frames containing the combs one by one in order more fully to ascertain their true state. Found on both sides of one comb and on one side of the combs adjoining on each side of it, a number of fine looking bees, by this time much revived, each having an orange belt round the upper part of the abdomen, and yellow rings distinctly marked back to the point. Discovered the queen - a fine large yellow one - actively running about on the centre comb occupied by the living bees, evidently enjoying excellent health.”

Woodbury related “In two days more fresh laid eggs were discovered in three of the combs. From this time all went well. Three stocks of common bees were at different times united to the Ligurians, and with such skill and good fortune were these junctions effected that no fighting took place. Copious feeding was also resorted to, and under the influence of this stimulus a number of drone eggs were laid.

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Neighbour’s display, International Exhibition, London, 1862

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Woodbury bar-frame hive with crown board and observation window

Queen-rearing and the formation of artificial swarms were next attempted with similar success.” On 23 March, Templeton wrote “The young queens are come to maturity, and are out of the cells. I have supplied two common hives with Ligurian queens, and have, therefore, four hives, two of which I know to be all right, and the two others are hopeful. ... the quantity of brood deposited by the two young queens is most astonishing.”

On 3 April Templeton recorded “... examined a few frames, and found the old queen not only lively and well, but carrying on the breeding as vigorously as ever. Were I to state the number of eggs that the queen has laid since the 10th December last - viz, sixteen weeks, it would appear quite fabulous; no beekeeper will believe it until he sees them - it no more than double the number a common queen could produce in the same time.” The diary ended on 11 April with the announcement that there were four royal cells “... which being from the brood of a young queen would produce grand-daughters of the old queen that came from England.” (p.40). Eight stocks in frame hives had already been supplied with Ligurian queens. His other four were yet to receive them.

Woodbury again reported progress in the Journal for 31 May 1864 quoting from the second annual report of the Acclimatisation Society “This bee is multiplying with almost incredible rapidity, and will soon be accessible to all classes.” He added “I need hardly say that the above assurance of their well-doing and rapid dissemination throughout the colony has been perused with much satisfaction ...” (p.408)

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The Sydney Morning Herald for 4 April 1864 reported “Four hives of the Ligurian bee have been obtained, and there seems no reason to suppose that Australia will prove an exception to all other countries into which this insect has been introduced.” (p.3d)

A note of great satisfaction appeared in the Journal on 24 January 1865 “The apiarian readers ... will be pleased to learn ... that the Italian stocks exported from my apiary to Australia in 1862, are doing remarkably well, and have multiplied prodigiously in a climate which appears to be most favourable to them.” (p.82) Under the title ‘Acclimatisation at the Antipodes’ in the Journal for 11 April 1865 “I find an advertisement in The Australasian, of the 24th December last, offering stocks of Ligurians for sale at £10 each, whilst swarms of common bees are offered at 20s. each.” (p.299)

After the success of the first importation, Wilson subsequently requested that three more hives be sent out. “Mr. Wilson was so well pleased with the careful manner in which these stocks were fitted out for their voyage across the seas, that he subsequently instructed us to prepare him three more hives, which were sent out in a sailing vessel. Owing to the mismanagement of the water supply during the voyage, only one stock survived in this instance. Mr. Wilson informs us that one of these hives contained 136lb. Of honey on 25th

of December, 1864.” (Neighbour, 1878, p.349) Not only was Victoria the first colony to import Italian bees but also appears to have been the first to receive and adopt the Langstroth style hive upon which the Woodbury hive was based. Congratulations to those early Victorian apiarists.

QUEENSLAND

James Carroll, Angus Mackay, M. Blasdall, 1866, 1872In Volume I the years supplied for Carroll’s (sometimes unsuccessful) introductions ranged from 1872 to 1881. The following details are taken from a 1979 Queensland Department of Primary Industries publication, Beekeeping “Mr J. Carroll of Enoggera imported a colony of Italian bees from the United States of America in 1866, but it did not survive. Between 1866 and 1872, Messrs. A Mackay, M. Blasdall and J Carroll, of Brisbane, succeeded in importing safely an Italian Colony from which Mr. Carroll

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subsequently introduced the coloured Italian queens to all his hives. From 1872 to 1880 he sent many of these Italian colonies to different parts of Australia.” (Department of Primary Industries, 1979)

From Elements of Australian Agriculture (1885) by Angus Mackay, in the chapter titled The Honey Bee in Australia “The illustration (above) shows Mr. Jas. Carroll, of Lizzielea apiary, Queensland, and amongst the first practical bee masters in the colonies. The position shows how the bar-frame hive – largely introduced by Mr. Carroll – facilitates artificial swarming, changing frames, for examination purposes, to strengthen another stock, or other necessary operation.” (p.163)

Charles Fullwood, 1883From Hopkins 1886 The Australasian Bee Manual is an extract from the first number of the New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal (1883) where Charles Fullwood reminisced on old style methods “Some years ago large quantities of bees were kept by farmers and others in a very primitive fashion, and the bush resounded

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with the hum of the ‘busy bee’. Timber getters, wood carters, and aborigines frequently secured large quantities of honey from hollow trees; both the black bee and stingless bee, peculiar to Australia, were found almost everywhere. Gin cases, tea, or any kind of rough boxes were appropriated to bee use, and such is the climate, and the yield of honey so regular, that bees appeared to thrive everywhere, and in any kind of hive, so long as they had a cover under which to build their comb and rear their brood. No skill was demanded in their management. Given a swarm – put it in a box, on a stand, under a sheet of bark; then look out for swarms in a few weeks; and, after a while, turn up the box, cut out some honey, or drive the bees into another box to go through the process of building and storing, to be again despoiled in like manner.

No thought about the destruction of brood, waste of honey and wax; no care about the queens. Would not know a queen from a drone, or their value in the hive. What matter if a few boxes (stock) perish? Such was the natural increase by swarming that a few losses were of no consequence.

Anybody could keep bees who had courage enough to rob them. The aborigines knew how to do it. With a tomahawk and fire-stick they would attack the ‘white-fellow sugar bag,’ and driving the bees with smoke, deprived them of their honey. ‘Pettigrew’s old Irishman’ was not required here to teach the Australian aborigines how to rob the bees by means of smoke. (Pettigrew uniformly favoured skeps. In 1870 he wrote The Handy Book of Bees: being a practical treatise on their profitable management) wherein he championed large straw skeps as the best method of working bees; from Lawes, The Bee Book Book, 1991, p.82)

A few years ago, however, a great change came over the land. A moth, unknown previously, commenced its ravages. The bees succumbed before it, and were rapidly swept away. Farmers owning from fifty to two hundred stocks lost all. The bees in the bush gave way also before the terrible onslaught, leaving the invader all but master of the field. Only a very few individuals, by dint of determined persevering watchfulness and care, managed to save a few stocks amid the general devastation.

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Bee-keeping naturally came to be viewed as a very precarious, risky, and unprofitable business; and, although it has its charms for many, there are but two or three persons in the colony who have any number of stocks, or who attempt bee-keeping as a means of obtaining an income.” (p.14) Hopkins commented “In order to remedy this state of things, Mr Fullwood very properly determined to introduce Italian bees, which are known to defend themselves more effectually than the German bee against the inroads of moths, ants, and other enemies.”40

NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Isaac Hopkins, 1922, abundance of “black bees”Thomson (1922) in The Naturalisation of Animals & Plants in New Zealand “Mr Isaac Hopkins of Auckland, formerly Chief Government Apiarist, tells me: There have not been sufficient foreign bees other than Italians cultivated and escaped in New Zealand to make any difference in our wild or vagrant bees. It might be possible to find a pure Italian vagrant colony that had just escaped from some apiary, but not one of the second generation. There are too many “black bees” about, and in a state of nature they breed a tremendous number of drones, while we restrict their breeding. Therefore there is a large preponderance of black drones flying, and in most districts the chances are fifty to one that an Italian queen will meet a black drone. There are plenty of crosses, Black-Italians, about.” (p.281)

SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND

S. C. Farr, 1880From The Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California, 1905, I’ve taken the following extract written by Mary M. Bowman, from notes supplied by Noah Levering, founder of the historical society. “For several years previous to 1880, when this shipment was sent, numerous trials had been made by the best apiarists of Europe and America in exporting the Ligurian bee to the island of New Zealand, but in every instance it had resulted in failure; when the hives reached their destination the occupants were dead. The success of the project was considered so essential

40 see Immigrant Bees, Volume I for details on Fullwood’s importations.121

to the welfare of the country, the Commissioner of Colonial Industries urged the appropriation of $2500 to send a man to Europe on this special errand. But, while the matter was under consideration private enterprise was at work striving to bring about its accomplishment. S. C. Farr, secretary of the Canterbury Acclimation (sic) Society, had communicated with R. J. Creightonof the San Francisco Post, the official representative of New Zealand in that city. Mr Creighton wrote to Mr Levering, a pioneer bee keeper in the Los Angeles county, then conducting a department of apiculture in the Los Angeles Herald, requesting his assistance, which was readily given.

Mr Creighton ordered two colonies of bees sent to San Francisco early in July in time for the steamer Australia, which was to sail for Aukland (sic) under command of Captain Cargill41. All the details were left to Mr Levering’s well known knowledge and experience in bee culture. He had hives constructed after his own plan, similar to those used in his apiary, except that special provision was made for ventilation in crossing the equator. An orifice was left in the side of the hive in front, covered with wire cloth. A small V-shaped box was placed over the opening on the outside with a sliding cover on top. The box was filled with sponge to be moistened occasionally with fresh water, which the bees could inhale through the wire cloth and which also cooled the atmosphere of their prison. A similar opening was left in the top of the hive, covered with wire and provided with a sliding lid for protection against possible cold. Several three-quarter inch auger holes in the floor permitted a circulation of air. The alighting board and the top board, each extended out about four inches and the space between being securely covered with wire cloth formed an air chamber through which the honey-makers could circulate at will, or at the promptings of instinct, as the case may be. A sufficient amount of honey in old comb well sealed over, was provided for food, a frame of two of brood comb, empty frames and frames of empty comb, kept in place by wooden slats, filled the remaining space and supplied the working implements for the ever-busy and industrious inmates. About one-half the

41 Captain William Cargill was a Royal Mail Ship captain from as early as 1875. R.M.S. Australia was a big ship for its time: 4 masts, 2730 tons, single smoke stack, deck cabins

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colony with a queen was put in each hive and the tops firmly screwed down; the object of dividing the colony being to obviate the heat that the whole would engender in crossing the equator, which would have melted the comb and caused the bees to perish in their own sweetness. In Mr Levering’s opinion the failures of other shippers were due to their putting an entire colony in a hive, which, with the honey and the comb necessary, could not withstand the heat of the equator; an important factor in the success of the undertaking which had been overlooked. After the bees were placed aboard the steamer a gentleman considered an authority on bee culture, assured Captain Cargill that they could not survive the voyage, owing to the faulty construction of the hives.

In October following, the Herald of Aukland announced the safe arrival of the Los Angeles county bees; a public demonstration of rejoicing was held and more orders for bees followed. In the course of a few months Mr Levering shipped a number of colonies without the loss of a single bee,42 and the increase soon supplied New Zealand. Mr. Levering, having been so successful with Italian bees, was asked to send bumble bees, but after a long and fruitless search for them in Southern California, he was forced to abandon the project, as they are not natives of this part of the world.

Red clover had previously been raised in New Zealand, but produced no seed, there being no insect there to pollenize the blossom, consequently seed for each crop had to be imported from other countries. In 1889 the newspapers of Aukland stated that the island was then exporting clover seed of home raising.” (pp.208-210)

Otago, 1883Thomson (1922) states “The Canterbury Society imported four hives of Ligurians in 1880, and the Otago Society ten hives in 1883; but most of those introduced were brought in by private individuals and bee-keepers’ associations.” (p.281)

42 I suspect this is an an exaggeration123

T. G. Bricknell, c1884, Le Levre & Robert Stewart 1886“Robert Stewart of Southland, New Zealand’s first and best known commercial queen breeder, bought his hive from a Mr Le Levre of Canterbury who had imported his hives from Root and Co. of America in 1886. About the year 1884 T. G. Bricknell imported Italian bees from U.S.A. Before this he imported Carniolans. Stewart bought two of Bricknell’s Italian hives. He next purchased Italians from Mr R. Gibb of Menzies Ferry who had imported them originally from Root & Co. He also imported some from a Catholic institution in South Australia. The institution had brought the queens in from Italy. The descendants of these queens populated Mr Stewart’s apiaries at the time of his death.” (Walsh, c1970)

Capt. Adam Blackwell & George Blackwell, c1866 to 1895A lengthy warm-hearted article by Dorothy Wiseman appeared in the The Weekly News on 13 March 1963. Titled Swarmed for His Honey, Capt. Blackwell’s Days at The Barrier, the following interesting details were supplied on this 87 year old beekeeper “Time was … when all Auckland knew the Rosella as the ‘honey boat’ and citizens simply ‘swarmed round her,’ Captain Blackwell recalls … when he brought her up from the Great Barrier Island with her cargo of honey. All the coastal townships knew the Rosella too … her honey was sold for 2/6 a five-pound tin.” Adam, born 1876, ran his own small boat service on the Wave at the age of 14. At age 23 he gained his coastal master’s certificate.

… for the Blackwell family, bees, boats and Great Barrier Islandhave been immediately associated for a very long time. It was after the Maori wars that Adam’s father, George Blackwell … who had served as a blacksmith with the Royal New Zealand Fencibles when they were encamped at Panmure, was allocated a 40-acre section – in common with other veterans of the wars – on Great Barrier Island in the vicinity of Tryphena (in 1866). On the Great Barrier, George Blackwell and his fellow-settlers realised after a few years that their 40-acre sections were much too small for effective farming, and with some others who were also ‘game to give it a go,’ Blackwell therefore decided to try bee-keeping as offering better possibilities, perhaps, for making a living.

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Captain Adam Blackwell in 1963, aged 87

Nine years after they had begun the Blackwells possessed 500 hives and their flourishing business included their own sawmill for making frames, boxes and so on. In six weeks, in the 1895 season – a typical example – they procured and canned 10 tons of honey, a goodly quantity of which was exported to England. They also distributed foundation wax comb all over New Zealand, and were, it is thought, the first people to import a foundation wax printing machine from the United States of America.

‘We were among the first in New Zealand to import queen bees from Italy,’ said Capt. Blackwell, ‘and before long we were sending queens all over New Zealand, and also to some of the Pacific Islands.’ The bees in the Great Barrier Island bush when the Blackwells first went there were the English ‘black bees,’ … They were ‘vicious brutes’ according to Adam Blackwell, and, as a species, they also produced an unduly large number of drones. The introduction of the Italian bees and the ‘smoking-out’ of as many as possible of the black bees soon effected a great improvement. Steadily the Great Barrier built up a reputation as an excellent honey-producing area – the bee-keepers in the main being about 10 of the original families and their descendants. … the gallant captain is still best remembered for his bees, and ‘Where’s your honey?’ is still the first question asked of him by old acquaintances he may chance to meet.” (p.7) Adam Blackwell,

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as captain of the trading schooner Rosella, personally took the queens to the islands. Captain Blackwell passed away at the age of 94 in 1969 (Walsh, c1970). Isaac Hopkins recalled in 1916 that upon his discovery of foul brood in his Auckland apiary in the 1888-89 season, he subsequently arranged with another Blackwell (Thomas) to raise all his queens “there being no disease there”.

How Were Bees Shipped until the 1850s ?

A CLUE FROM 1959This 1959 incident sheds some light on 19 th Century possibilities. In The Australian Bee Journal of February 1959, in an article titled Bees Choose Home on Ship “A number of reports about bees aboard the Barwon, an Australian coastal freighter, has reached us. The swarm went aboard the Barwon at Watson’s Bay, Sydney, about three months ago and were hived by one (or more) members of the crew. Since then they have been to many Australian ports. There is speculation on how long they will survive, as they will lack supplies of pollen and nectar for days at a time while the ship is at sea, and suffer losses of field bees each time the ship leaves port. It is contended that there will be little or no loss of field bees while at sea.” (p.16) The bees were obviously allowed free flight while at sea. I have yet to find a subsequent report on the longevity of this hive.

Toge S. K. Johansson of N.Y., U.S.A., replied to me in 1996 as follows “Yes, bees could be given flights in port and also at times when the vessel was becalmed at sea.”

NUTT’S HIVES TO NEW ZEALAND, C1846From Neighbour’s The Apiary (1866) “Upwards of twenty years ago we sent a Nutt’s hive stocked with bees to New Zealand. We then adopted the plan of fixing the hive in a meat safe, so that the bees could fly about a little, and also cleanse the hive of their dead, for the bees are very attentive to sanitary arrangements; they always remove the dead ones from their midst, and do not void excrement within the hive.” The meat safe, typically constructed of perforated metal (or latterly, wire gauze), would have provided sufficient ventilation. It’s likely that only the brood chamber of the Nutt hive was shipped within the meat safe, space being a valuable

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resource on board ship. The collateral boxes, like William Charles Cotton’s top bar hive boxes during his 1842 voyage to New Zealand, used as packing cases en route. The 1878 edition of The Apiary omitted the reference to “excrement”, I think in deference to the genteel sensibilities of the book’s broad readership.

ITALIAN BEES TO SOUTH AFRICA, 1875Neighbour (1878) reported other shipments of bees to Madras and South Africa since the 1866 edition of The Apiary. The latter shipment was sent under the care of the lady who ordered them. A letter received from Grahamstown on 3 November 1875 “Mrs. Mullens is very pleased to inform Messrs. Neighbour and Sons that the stock of Ligurian bees supplied to her on board the Nyanza at Southampton on July 23rd have arrived quite safely. Mrs. Mullens thinks they were exceedingly well packed; they had a trying journey by bullock wagon two days after leaving the sea. They were released from the hive on September 3rd, and appeared weak at first, but began to work in less than an hour. A large number of dead bees were found at the bottom of the hive on opening – most likely caused by the boat in which the bees were, having water in it.” Two observations: firstly, that the bees were not released upon arrival of the ship, having to wait two days before consignment on the bullock wagon; secondly, the packed hive was carried inside one of the ship’s boats, I think to keep it both out of the way and out of sight from those passengers who may have been concerned by its presence.

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ConclusionThus ends Volume II. The basis for this work, as for the first, was a chronological gathering, research and analysis of information I’ve collected over the last three and a half years relating to the introduction of honeybees to Australasia. I’ve added, in places, hard to find descriptions of the local beekeeping methods of the 1800s and an emphasis on the beekeepers of the 1830s and 1840s.

Time and the fruits of subsequent research and contributions will determine whether I produce a Volume III. Trevor Weatherhead and I have largely scoured the resources of the State Library of Queensland, National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales. Finds may also be possible at the State libraries of Tasmania and Victoria. There awaits the greater possibility of interesting finds at the State libraries of South Australia and Western Australia, largely untapped by us due to their remoteness relative to our home States. I hope you, the reader, has found value in this latest collection.

from Angus Mackay’s Elements of Australian Agriculture (1885)

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Book Reviews

THE IMMIGRANT BEES (VOLUME I)

The New Zealand Beekeeper, June 1996To begin, a confession. When Bruce Stevenson first asked me to consider reviewing this book for the New Zealand Beekeeper, I’m afraid I tried to “beg off”. After all, there are any number of NBA members who are better students of beekeeping history than I am. And I’m not even qualified to make much comment on New Zealand history in general, being an immigrant to this country of only 13 years standing.

Bruce is a persistent person, however. And so I took on the job, reading Peter Barrett’s book as simply an interested observer. Now that I have finished, I can say that I’m certainly glad I did. Because the book is (to use a 19th century Australasian phrase) “a rollicking read”. In making this statement, I must warn potential readers that The Immigrant Bees isn’t what you might expect from a history book. To begin with, Peter Barrett isn’t a professional historian. He’s instead a beekeeper with a strong curiosity about who brought the first honey bees to Australia and New Zealand, and when and how.

We’ve probably all thought about those things, from time to time, and supposed that somebody whose business it was had already figured it all out. Peter, on the other hand, decided to try to find the answers for himself. And so the book is in many respects a story of his quest, a tale of investigation where there are lots of interesting clues, but not as many certainties as you might think.

The problem, as beekeeping historians as far back as New Zealand’s Isaac Hopkins have realised, is that it’s very difficult to determine historical “truth” on this subject because of what appears to be a lack of public records and source material.

For historical sleuths, however, I’m sure the search is also a big part of the fun. And Peter has delved through lots of historical records, in public libraries and museums, both in Australia and New Zealand, trying to “add one more cryptic piece to the puzzle”. He has also had some valuable help from a number of interested beekeepers, including in this country, Chris Dawson (who was for many years a queen

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producer in Timaru), and Bruce Stevenson of Kerikeri. Chris has spent over 30 years collecting information on the introduction of honeybees to New Zealand, and graciously made his records available to Peter. Bruce, of course, lives right in the middle of one of the most historical areas of European settlement in New Zealand, and has taken a keen interest in both New Zealand’s first beekeeper, Mary Bumby, and new information regarding beekeeping by Catholic missionaries centred around Pompallier House in present day Russell (see last month’s New Zealand Beekeeper).

The winding trail Peter takes the reader down in The Immigrant Bees includes conflicting evidence on the introduction of honey bees to New South Wales, Tasmania and New Zealand. He concludes that it was Captain John Wallis who made the first successful introduction of the European Dark honey bee into Australia, in New South Wales in 1822. Interestingly, however, Samuel Marsden may have attempted an earlier introduction, in 1810, with the bees supposedly purchased from Rio de Janeiro in South America. The question which still remains to be answered, however, is were Marsden’s bees Apis mellifera, or the stingless Meliponans native to South America?

A Scottish naval surgeon on one of the convict ships, Dr. Thomas Wilson, brought the first honey bees (also European Darks) to Tasmania in 1831, but from England, rather than from New South Wales, as some historians have believed.

And then of course there’s New Zealand’s mother of beekeeping, Mary Anna Bumby, who brought one hive to the mission at Mangungu, in the Hokianga, when she arrived there as housekeeper to her brother, the Reverend John Bumby. It turns out, however, that the bees may not have made it onto dry land on March 13, 1839, as is commonly supposed. And the other question, which is very interesting, is where the honey bees may actually have come from. It has always been stated that they came from England, but the good ship ‘James’, which carried the bees and the Bumbys, spent 36 days in Hobart before carrying on to New Zealand. Honey bee colonies were already in Hobart, and were being propagated through swarms at the time, and I couldn’t help wondering if what the Bumbys put back on board was their original skep, or another, stronger colony obtained from the supplies of Dr. Wilson or some other local enthusiast.

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Peter Barrett also provides some fascinating research regarding how the honey bee colonies were transported on board ship. The ingenious (but perhaps unsuccessful) methods devised by William Cotton in 1842 (including a 4 skep design inside a massive wine barrel, complete with cooling ice) are quite a wonder, but so is the fact that at least for the early introductions, we actually know very little about the methods used. Barrett believes the owners (or at least guardians) of the colonies may actually have allowed the bees to fly during the journey, which could last for over four months.

I also enjoyed the investigations into later introductions, for which better records are available. Believe it or not, Italian bees were first introduced to Australia at about the same time as the first large scale introduction to the U.S. (late 1860s). New Zealand began receiving Italian stocks in the 1880’s, with stocks coming from both the US and Italy itself. The world’s first commercial queen producer, G. M. Doolittle from the U.S. was also a regular shipper of queens to New Zealand, and reported that queens in his shipping cages had survived a bungled journey to Australia which took 64 days (the normal journey via steamship was 35 to 40 days).

The Immigrant Bees is very much a work in progress. Peter Barrett is the first to admit that there are plenty of questions to be answered and lots of gaps to be filled. One can only hope that the sort of curiosity which drove him to write this first edition, and publish it himself, will remain unabated for long enough so that we will see a further, revised edition (or two) sometime in the future. For that to happen, though, Peter will need more than just a bit of our moral support.

So my recommendation to beekeepers in New Zealand is that they purchase a copy of The Immigrant Bees (first edition), both for the “rollicking read” and to help Peter on his way. I know I will, if for no other reason than the hope that he will be able to find out more about the fascinating Apis aenigmatica (it even has a mysterious name!), which supposedly existed in parts of eastern Australia before the turn of the century, but has since disappeared. It was a true Apis species, a comb-building, stinging colony bee a bit bigger than the Apis floreaof India, but smaller than the Apis cerana of South-east Asia. Peter, my cheque is in the mail!

Cliff Van Eaton

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The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1996Peter’s book is about the introduction of honeybees into Australia and the extra-ordinary personalities and circumstances which surrounded that event. What does is serve anyone to know that the first honeybee arrived in NSW in 1822 and to the other states in later decades?

There are many answers to the question. But the most significant to me is that it highlights the number of generations of our native flora which have come and gone with bees in the environment. Clearly in those areas the honeybee Apis mellifera has found and settled into its ecological niche. And, for better or worse, the honeybee is now as much apart of the Australian environment as the trees and plants born through its pollination, the present day citizens whose ancestors brought it from their native land and the community which benefits from its economic and food input.

Peter Barrett has researched so far and so thoroughly that many stories, myths, legends and heretofore unknown facts about this, and former, introductions have been raised and answered as well as can be expected.

Bees do not exist on their own. They require beekeepers and the pioneer beekeepers of the 19th century are as much apart of the story as the introduction of the bees themselves.

Who, nowadays knows of Mr W. Abrams, a German immigrant who came to Australia with a full career of beekeeping behind him and passed on his extensive knowledge to his sons and others and are now only a generation into our past? Mr Abrams is as much a part of the history of the commercial honey industry as the almost unknown person who took over the bees introduced by Capt Wallace (Wallis?) and kept them successfully until they reproduced. This unknown “person” may have been many “persons”, but, Mr W. Parr (perhaps a convict?) figured very prominently among them.

And there was the Shallards - father and son. Have you ever heard of Elisha and Sarah Jane Wiggins? And, did you know that the Sisters of Mercy in St Mary’s (outer suburb of Sydney and within spitting distance of the Wallgrove Quarantine station where bees no longer come to Australia) have a link to the importation of bees before 1822? What did these people contribute? Peter Barrett details many of their exploits. The most significant of which was the introduction of the

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Italian bee in or about 1862. But more importantly they pioneered the understanding and management of bees in an environment so unlike anything anywhere else in the world that a whole new science had to be created tested and perfected. Probably no other rural industry has successfully faced such a challenge in the entire history of agriculture.

The Immigrant Bees is not likely to advantage contemporary bee management let alone honey production. But, it has the potential to force readers to look again at our history and our cultural heritage and see that the honeybee is inextricably linked to our past. The early missionaries, ship’s captains, owners, agents and surgeons and men of property and education who created and built the foundations on which our nation stands today all had a hand in bringing the honeybee to Australia and ensuring its multiplication.

The Immigrant Bees should be compulsory reading for every beekeeper. Although there were times when I thought it heavy going, it seemed to jump from place to place, the time sequence is the key and having recognised that everything quite naturally falls into place.

The Immigrant Bees may never rank in the public mind as highly as Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore. But, it is up there with that seminal book because it tells the truth so far as it can ever be known and supports it with the personalised accounts of all the people who surrounded the central event.

Perhaps on the 9th March 1997 a few stalwart beekeepers may like to visit the Governor’s garden (if the Governor is still there!) and celebrate the 175th anniversary of this most significant event.

Bob Gulliford

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NSW Apiarists’ Association News, January 1996Peter Barrett sent us a copy of his fascinating new book, The Immigrant Bees. I believe that any beekeeper with an interest in history will enjoy the book immensely. Those without such an interest should also derive great pleasure from accounts of successfully transporting skeps through north sea gales and the tropics on a non-stop journey of 125 days in a sailing ship.

Our early settlers seemed very pleased that the first hive successfully introduced into Tasmania “swarmed 16 times in its first summer”!

Peter’s research has been painstaking and professional, with the result that the Bibliography is extensive and the index thorough. Tracking down the far flung source material on which the book is based must have been a real labour of love because Peter will be lucky if the cover price will recoup the cost of printing.

Fred Benecke

Peter Barrett’s books have been sold to readers in:

Australia New Zealand U.S.A U.K. Holland

Peter has also contributed articles to:

The Explorer’s Tree, November 1995, “Two Blue Mountains Pioneer Beekeepers”

The Hawkesbury Crier, June 1996, “St Matthew’s Windsor and New Zealand’s Fr Petitjean, July 1842”

The Beekeeper: Quarterly Newsletter of The North Shore Beekeepers’ Association, March 1997, “Tamburinei, Turramurra’s Native Social Burrowing Bee”

The Australasian Beekeeper, January 1998, “Victoria, The First Australian Colony to Import Ligurian Honeybees”

Aussie Bee, February 1998, “Springwood’s Railway Bees”

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WILLIAM CHARLES COTTON, GRAND BEE MASTER OF NEW ZEALAND, 1842 TO 1847

The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1998A companion volume to The Immigrant Bees this book looks at the development of the New Zealand beekeeping industry and its founding father W. C. Cotton. The essence of the book is summed up in Mr Barrett’s foreword paragraph:

“This book is intended for lovers of history who desire to share the travels and exuberant experiences of a man on a mission, one aim being to spread his knowledge of beekeeping, whether to the cottagers of England or the Maoris and settlers of New Zealand. Cotton’s beekeeping adventures have never before been revealed so fully as depicted in this book. If you’re a beekeeper or one that enjoys history, or both, take a most pleasant journey back to the 1840s.”

Peter Barrett has again used his considerable talent for perseverance and attention to detail to document the life and times of one of the strangest characters ever to encompass beekeeping.

That Cotton was a brilliant student at Eton and Oxford is not surprising by the volume and detail of records he kept of his bee work. That he was also a curate and went to New Zealand as Chaplain to the Bishop simply adds his name to the vast list of churchmen of all denominations who took up beekeeping as a hobby, profession, scientific study or whatever else. It makes one wonder what it is about bees that inspires men of religion to adopt them or is it the other way around? I don’t think that readers of Peter’s book will be inspired to take up holy orders. But I found that after an initial ‘speed read’ for the purpose of this review that I will devote more time and effort to a second reading in the not too distant future.

I commend the same to all beekeepers – Australian or New Zealander.

Bob Gulliford

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New Zealand Beekeeper, July 1998Since 1996 readers of The New Zealand BeeKeeper have been variously bombarded by a series of historical articles by Peter Barrett of New South Wales and Bruce Stevenson of Kerikeri. Taken together, these more or less document the establishment of beekeeping in New Zealand in the early 1840s, explore fascinating facts of past beekeeping practice and paraphernalia, revive the excitement of beekeeping under virgin frontier conditions, and introduce some engaging historical characters, ranging from the methodistical Mary Bumhy through Father Petitjean of the Roman Catholic mission to most lively and memorable of them all - the Rev ‘Bee’ Cotton.

In William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand, 1842-1847, Barrett sets out in 1841 to follow the young and ebullient ‘Bee’ from England to the Bay of Islands via Sydney, Bee coming out as part of the entourage of the first Bishop of New Zealand, George Selwyn. Mad about bees from infancy, the hyperactive cleric and classicist was at this time bursting upon English beekeeping consciousness with his beautifully illustrated, impressively informative but above all bubblingly eccentric My Bee Book. Though Bee’s ingenious if involved and confidently trumpeted scheme to ship chilled bees out from England came to a mysterious naught, once ashore in New Zealand he soon had beekeeping - then in its bumbling infancy - established on a sound footing, disseminating knowledge, experimenting with hive types, and above all crusading against the barbaric and ‘ungrateful’ method of asphyxiating hives before harvesting the honey.

Unaware that Mary Bumby and Father Petitjean had imported bees before him, in 1843 Bee persuaded James Busby (thenceforth clandestinely ‘Buzz Bee’) to bring three hives back from Sydney. From the sole surviving swarm - immediately and naturally christened ‘The Queen’- he soon hived a plethora of swarms, all, inevitably, named for members of the burgeoning Royal Family. These were distributed between Busby and the Bay of Islands missionaries, who took up beekeeping with alacrity. Whilst playing a key (if highly individual) role in the founding of St John’s Theological College, first at Te Waimate (1842-44), and then in Auckland, the mercurial ‘Te Katene’ also went to great and markedly successful lengths to interest

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and instruct Maori in beekeeping, his Maori beekeeping manual, Nga Pi (of which the author provides an English translation) being published in 1849, a year after his pioneering classic, A Manual for New Zealand Beekeepers. Although Barrett does not pursue the obvious commercial interest of Bay of Islands missionary beekeepers in this area - Henry Williams for one set out to establish 100 hives at Paihia and the Kemps built a large beehouse at Kerikeri - early Maori ventures into commercial beekeeping, and late prejudice against them and their highly effective and original methods, form an interesting sub-plot.

Illustrated with charming vignettes from Cotton’s journals, My Bee Book and other contemporary sources Barrett’s book teems with both beekeeping and more general historical interest. Extended quotations from Bee’s own journals and correspondence are particularly rewarding, throwing an intensely human and original light not just on their author’s oscillating yo-yo of a personality, but on everyday people and events of 150 and more years ago, Bee’s cordial but guarded encounter with the Roman Catholic Bishop Pompallier - he was ashamed of his shabby tartan trousers and terrified about being seen playing the Good Samaritan and so ‘talked about’ by the rabidly biased Anglican missionaries - is a classic of its kind. As is his meeting with Governor Robert Fitzroy, the again shabby but observant Bee typically concluding on the basis of their personal chat that ‘it is a defect in the Governor’s character to be too ready to listen to everything that everybody has to say’!

Aided by his own knowledge of beekeeping, Barrett has put a great deal of careful research and insight into this interesting book. The history and much of the technology associated with the introduction of beekeeping to New Zealand stands well grounded in it, particularly when backed by his own and by Stevenson’s earlier articles. Given the interest and scope of the material and characters he has brought together, the book deserves wide readership. ...

As for the late Bee Cotton cum Te Katene - it is plain from Barrett’s work that his New Zealand journals demand publication in their entirety, they throwing an intriguing and intensely personal light on life in the Bay of Islands, Auckland and beyond at a formative stage in the country’s modern history.

Fergus Clunie, Historic Places Trust, Kerikeri

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Bee Craft, October 1998This is Peter Barrett’s second book about early beekeeping in Australia and New Zealand. William Charles Cotton, 1814 – 1879, Anglican priest, beekeeper and eccentric, lived life to the full as far as his mental health allowed. As well as playing a major role in establishing beekeeping in New Zealand, he gave strong support to the Great Manchester Show, 1873, that was itself a turning point in British beekeeping. The BBKA, as a rare mark of esteem, elected him Vice-President.

Peter Barrett’s focus is on Cotton’s work in establishing honey bees in New Zealand and how he made links with the Maori, both by his mastery of their language and the publication of a bee book for them, Nga Pi. Peter Barrett has drawn on, and transcribed, entries from the unpublished Cotton diaries, the originals of which are kept at the Mitchell library, Sydney. Like so many men of his pre-photographic generation, Cotton was taught to both observe and draw, so Peter has used original illustrations to illuminate his text.

Anyone who has an interest in New Zealand or in William Cotton will enjoy a delightful, well structured text that contains a large amount of hitherto unexamined material. In common with many ‘private press’ books, the number printed is small, so this volume and its earlier companion will always be collectors’ items.

Karl Showler

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New Zealand Historic Places, March 1999The following article titled “Bee” Cotton’s Passion: The Trust’s Northland properties played a part in the introduction of beekeeping to New Zealand was written by Sue Clunie, the Historic Places Trust’s gardens adviser in Northland:

When William Charles Cotton, Bishop Selwyn’s chaplain, wrote “God Save the Queen and all the Royal Family” in 1939, it might have seemed like patriotic fervour. Victoria was not long on the throne and Cotton was bound for New Zealand, soon to become Britain’s most distant colonial outpost. But anyone who knew the ebullient “Bee” Cotton would have known that he was writing of other than British royalty.

Cotton, a passionate advocate of progressive and more humane beekeeping, was then engrossed in trying to transport chilled bees from England to New Zealand. But for all the eccentricity of his science, Bee’s bees perished on the passage, allegedly cast overboard by superstitious sailors. It was not Cotton but Miss Mary Anna Bumby who first established honey bees in New Zealand. She brought two straw skep hives from Sydney ashore at the Wesleyan mission station at Mangungu, Hokianga, in March 1839, while Bee was still planning his elaborate, gimballed, self-draining, bee-chilling contraptions.

Honey bees had only been established in New South Wales since 1822. Suddenly it became the rage to establish them in New Zealand. Mrs Hobson tried and failed at Okiato in the Bay of Islands in 1840. But by 1842 others had succeeded in shipping bees from Sydney to New Zealand. In that year Mrs Allom sent bees and Nutt’s collateral hives from London to her son in Nelson, and when Father Petitjean of the destitute French Roman Catholic Mission at Kororareka (now Russell) in the Bay of Islands, went to Sydney desperately seeking money and supplies, he returned laden with livestock including bees. Bee Votton meanwhile had reached Sydney where various apiarists promised to send hives to him in the Bay of islands. He had fifteen months to wait however, before James Busby returned from Sydney with three hives, one for Cotton and two for himself. Cotton’s swarm failed, so he endured seven more frustrating months until March 1844, when “Buzz Bee’s” surviving hive at Waitangi, headed by “The

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Queen”, produced several swarms, named by Cotton after the British Royal Family. Busby kept the Queen and Princesses Maud and Matilda at Waitangi; Cotton took the Princess Royal and the Princesses Mary and Alice home to the Te Waimate mission station; the Prince of Wales went to Marianne Williams at the Paihia mission; Prince Henry to Henry Williams’ farm at Pakaraka; Prince George to Whangarei with Gilbert Mair; Prince Frederick to Auckland with William Clarke.

There was great experimentation in hive design during the mid-nineteenth century and Bee Cotton, who deplored the practice of killing bees in order to harvest honey from the old fashioned straw skeps, was at the forefront of it. At Te Waimate from 1842 to 1844 he built various types of hives in the workshops. Marianne Williams, who participated in his experiments, wrote in November 1844, “The bees swarmed into Titfords garden and were put into a large new octagon hive, Mr Cotton’s last new experiment to be called “The Cotton”. A first rate swarm and hive.”

There were two basic methods of managing box hives, both of which Cotton used. With collateral hives (such as the Nutt’s hive) additional boxes were added onto the sides of the hive. With storifying or supering hives, which are still used, extra boxes were put on top to make additional space. Particularly popular in the 1840s was the octagonal Stewarton storifying hive, which was illustrated in Cotton’s My Bee Book (1842) as was the basketry Sicilian hive, which he used in Auckland. Huber’s leaf hive was also favoured by Cotton.

At Te Waimate, Cotton, who “all my life desired to have such a summer house” but who had to come to New Zealand to find it”, housed his various hives in his summer house. But in November 1844 he had to pack them up for transport to Auckland with the rest of Bishop Selwyn’s establishment. Before leaving the Bay of Islands, however, he gave Marianne Williams instructions for the management of her six hives, and was dubbed “The Grand Bee Master of New Zealand” by her.

While Cotton often went there he did not mention beekeeping at the Kerikeri Mission Station although beekeeping was subsequently established there. James Kemp’s journal entry for Christmas 1849 mentions serving the “natives … a good meal of pork, potatoes and tea in the evening with bread and honey”. Certainly an 1888 sketch

140

shows a hive and honey house of archaic construction in Kemp’s orchard, the number of box hives indicating a commercial beekeeping operation.

Bee Cotton went on to teach Maori theological students (whose response to their first taste of honey was He mea uka wakaharahara, a very exceedingly sweet thing) and others to be beekeepers using his modern humane system. He wrote Nga Pi, a manual on beekeeping for Maori, whom he found more receptive to his methods than the settlers who continued to use the wasteful and cruel methods they had brought with them from Britain.

Acknowledgements: This article is based on research by apiarists Bruce Stevenson and Peter Barrett. Readers are referred to articles in The New Zealand Beekeeper, September 1996 to July 1997. Peter Barrett has also written The Immigrant bees: A Cyclopaedia on the Introduction of European Honeybees into Australia and New Zealand (1995) and William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand, 1842-184 7 (1997). Copies of the latter are available from Bruce Stevenson, Kemp Road, Kerikeri.

Kemp’s hive shelter, 1888

141

Some Reader Comments

Elizabeth Mocatta, aged 82, Springwood, N.S.W.“It was a wonderful ‘find’ when you came upon such a source of information for our pleasure and information. … Your delightful book is quite gripping in the days of Cotton’s exploits. How he must have entered into this new world of New Zealand’s pioneering period; and what an opportunity for the poor man to develop his many skills. It would seem to me that it was meant for you to bring it all back into this era. Your remarkable devotion to bees and wide knowledge of history, perseverance with detail, all of which are characteristic of our honey bees, has made you into the perfect author.”

Chris Dawson, aged in his 80s, Rangiora, New Zealand“When your book arrived I had to settle down and read it - no! not just read it - wallow in it! Again, you have done a marvellous job. How I empathised with you as you handled those original manuscripts.”

Sue Ellison, Editor, The Beekeeper: Quarterly Newsletter of the North Shore Beekeepers.“For those history buffs this is excellent reading, exciting too, as you want to keep reading to find out what happens next. Difficult to put down. Every beekeeper should be indebted to Peter’s persistence in delving into old journals to give us and future generations this book.”

Bill Ringin, Moe, Victoria.“I am glad to read your enthusiasm and energy for research, writing and publishing continues. I have read both books you have published thus far and found them most enjoyable, both from an accuracy or authoritative sense as well as an entertaining read. I am pleased to order your forthcoming publication and look forward to it with anticipation.”

142

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150

Index

4

40th Regiment...................24, 30of Foot................................24

9

96th Regiment.........................31

A

ABA........................................28Aberdeen.................................57aboriginals.........................21, 51aborigines 15, 26, 27, 84, 87, 120,

145Abram

W 51, 132Wilhelm...................51, 97, 98

Acclimatisation Society. 24, 109, 110, 113, 115, 117of Victoria...................24, 110

Adelaide...7, 22, 79, 82, 99, 103, 105

Agricultural Gazette of NSW. .51, 148

Agricultural Society of W.A....79Albert R. Mann Library...........65Albion.....................................67Alexander................................73Alhambra.......................110, 113Alley, Mr...............................101Allom

Mary...................................77Mrs..................82, 94, 95, 139Mrs Thomas (Mary Ann).....94Mrs Thos.............................95see Storr, Amy G.................94

Allport, H. C............................31Amateur Beekeepers’

Association of NSW....28, 148

America. . .96, 99, 109, 110, 121, 124, 130

American River.....................104Americans.............................102Anderson.................................30Anglican......31, 56, 57, 137, 138

Church................................56Apiarian Society of Victoria. .112Apis florea.................19, 20, 131Arabian Sea...........................101Armit, Barbara........................26Arthur

Governor.......................66, 67Lieutenant Governor, George

.......................................65Wall....................................67

Ashby......................................23George................................23James..................................23

Atlantic...................................25Attica......................................91Auckland8, 87, 90, 92, 101, 109,

121, 124, 136, 138, 140, 145, 14974, 77

Aukland, see Auckland. .122, 123Australasia. .10, 13, 27, 109, 110,

111, 128, 143, 146Australasian8, 13, 18, 23, 88, 89,

100, 109, 112, 118, 119, 129, 132, 134, 135, 145, 148, 149, 150Chronicle...............88, 89, 149126126

Australian Apiarian Society...114Ayling

George................................53

151

Revd John....7, 36, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60

B

bananas....................................46Bank of England......................93Barhsah forest..........................21Barker

Lady...................................95W. C...................................60

Barkly Table Land..................17Barossa

region..................................53West Council......................53

Barwon..................................126Basil, brother...........................91Batman, Edward John..............77Bay

of Biscay.............................95of Islands. . .11, 25, 31, 33, 37,

87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 136, 138, 139, 140

88Bedlam Point..........................49Beechwood.............................56Beecroft..................................51beeswax. . .14, 21, 23, 35, 36, 38,

39, 40, 42, 45, 50, 95, 120, 125

Bent........................................61Berry

Alexander..........23, 25, 26, 27Barbara (Armit)...................26David.....23, 26, 27, 29, 81, 84John..............................25, 27

Beuhne, F. R............................22Bianconcini, Mr. C................101Bidwill.................33, 34, 49, 143

John Carne..........................33Blackwell

Adam................................125Capt...................124, 125, 149Capt. Adam.......................124Captain......................124, 126

George..............................124Blasdall, M....................118, 119Blaxland, Gregory11, 15, 31, 32,

63, 76Bloomsbury.............................94Blue Mountains......9, 12, 16, 134Bogan River............................16Bologna.........................101, 105Bond, Peter.............................28Bonney, A. E..99, 103, 105, 106,

107, 108Booth, Captain Charles O’Hara

................11, 70, 71, 144, 148Boswell, Annabella....34, 35, 36,

37, 144Botanic Garden11, 21, 33, 48, 49,

144Tasmanian...........................66

Botany Bay........................37, 63Boucaut

J 104James Penn........................104Mr Justice.........................104

Bounty....................................30Bourke

Act......................................56Governor.............................66Sir Richard..........................56

BowmanMary M.............................121Mr.......................................30William...................29, 30, 59

box26, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 44, 45, 50, 58, 77, 103, 107, 115, 120, 122, 140, 141hives. .32, 35, 36, 38, 58, 103,

140, 141Boyle, Captain.........................68Brady, Fr. John..................90, 91Bricknell, T. G......................124Brisbane.. .11, 18, 33, 36, 38, 41,

46, 47, 83, 103, 109, 119, 145, 147

152

Brisbane Water11, 36, 38, 41, 46, 47, 147

Britain..........24, 36, 78, 139, 141British

Beekeeping Association......9387

Broken Bay.............................47Brown, William.......................87Buick, John....................104, 105Bumby, Mary.........130, 136, 139Bunbury..................................30Busby, James...........25, 136, 139Bussell

Mary..................11, 75, 76, 77Mrs..........................31, 76, 77

C

CaddenJ. D.....................................60J. D. G................................60

Cadiz.......................................25Calder, James Erskine..65, 68, 73California..............................110Californian............................101Calymna..................................91Camfield, Henry......................83Campbell, John..................84, 86Canaan....................................27candles....................................33Canterbury.....9, 11, 95, 122, 124Canton Grison.........................24Cape

of Hood Hope......................76York....................................81

captainsBooth..................................71Boyle..................................68Cargill, William........109, 122Fitzroy................................31Irwin, Frederick Chidley.... .77Maconochie.............11, 30, 31Miller, Henry......................24Milne, Robert......................90Molloy, John...........74, 76, 83

Turton, Richard...................30Wakefield............................81Wakefield, Arthur...............81Wallace, John..........21, 23, 28Wallis, John........................28White, Robert......................22Wiseman, William...............68

Cargill, Captain William.... .110, 122, 123

Caroline...................................83Carroll, James........103, 118, 119Carte, Mr...........................70, 71Cascade Bay............................30Castlereigh Street....................60Catholic....7, 8, 87, 89, 124, 130,

136, 137, 139, 150cedar boxes.............................50Chamber

of Commerce....................104of Manufactures.99, 103, 104,

105, 106, 107, 108Chambers, L. T.......................99Champion................................79Chatham Islands......................96Childs......................................30Christchurch..........................109City of Edinburgh..............25, 30Clarence

River...................................35Town..................................47

Clark.....................................110Clayton, Mr............11, 68, 69, 70Coleman, Mr.........................101commandants

Anderson.............................30Booth......................11, 70, 71Bunbury..............................30Childs.................................30Day.....................................30Donaldson...........................30Hunt....................................30Maconochie...................30, 31Morisset..............................30Price...................................30

153

Ryan...................................30Wakefield...........................30Wright................................30

Commissioner of Colonial Industries..........................122

CongregationalChapel................................53

convict18, 22, 30, 40, 41, 49, 66, 67, 68, 130, 132

CookJoseph.................................85William...............................85

Cooks River............................63Coolangatta......7, 25, 27, 84, 149Cornell University...............8, 65Coromandel...........................109Cotton

Francis................................72Mr...........................32, 93, 94Rev. William Charles. .11, 22,

25, 31, 32, 52, 63, 91, 103, 127, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 143, 147

Creighton, R. J...............110, 122Crows Nest........................23, 25Crystal Palace.........................93Cumberland.......................70, 77

Warehouse..........................70Cygnet River.........................107

D

Daley, C. F..............................60Dalton, Mary Ann...................53Daly, F. G...............................60Davidson, gardens superintendent

................................66, 67, 92Davies, Rev. R. R.....................68Dawson, Chris.........87, 130, 142

87Deptford..................................65Derwent River..........................67Devonshire.........24, 38, 112, 113

Beekeeper............24, 112, 113

Director of the Botanic Gardens...........................................34

Dixson Library.....17, 31, 46, 68, 149, 150

Dollman, Mr. H. H................101Donaldson...............................30Dunedin..................................94Dzierzon..................24, 102, 103

E

Earls Court..............................65East India Company................25East-Indian..............................20Ebenezer......................52, 58, 60

Presbyterian Church......52, 58Edmonds, John.................8, 9, 21Egypt...............................27, 101Eipper, Rev. R.........................57Elizabeth Farm.....................8, 31Ellen...................................7, 77Enfield....................................99England9, 11, 22, 24, 30, 34, 38,

40, 48, 64, 66, 67, 68, 72, 75, 77, 78, 81, 83, 84, 85, 92, 93, 110, 112, 117, 125, 130, 135, 136, 139

Englishbee. 23, 27, 30, 46, 63, 68, 136Beemaster...........................48black bees.........................125domestic bee.......................17home...................................54national show......................93patent..................................82seeds...................................66

Enoggera...............................118Enquirer, see (The) Inquirer. .78,

79, 80Epalle, M.........................88, 150Europe...........................108, 121European. .14, 18, 21, 23, 27, 63,

66, 75, 84, 87, 130, 141, 143Exeter....................................113

154

F

Fairfield Apiary.....................101Fiebig, August...............102, 103Fife.........................................26Fifeshire..................................49Fitzroy...............33, 34, 115, 137

Captain, R. N......................31Flinders Street.........................99Forest, Father..........................88Fortunas..................................88frames. .13, 35, 65, 98, 103, 111,

117, 123France.....................................88

7474, 78, 80

French..................70, 88, 90, 139Fullwood..................21, 119, 121

Chas (Charles)...................109Mr.............................104, 109

G

Gale, Albert....13, 22, 36, 51, 144Garrett, E...........................19, 96

74George Street...................70, 115German............82, 102, 121, 132Germany.................................24Gerstaecker, Dr......................110Gibb, Mr. R...........................124Gipps, Governor.....30, 31, 46, 49Gippsland................................19Gladesville mental hospital.. . . .49Glenorchy..........................68, 73Gordon........................7, 28, 145Gosford.........................7, 46, 47Goulburn......7, 9, 51, 54, 55, 148Government

Botanist...............................34garden...........................62, 64Road Board.........................85

Governor of New Zealand.......31governors

Arthur......................65, 66, 67

Bourke................................66Gipps.................30, 31, 46, 49Hutt...............................78, 79

Grahamstown........................127Grainger, Mr.........................106Grampians...............................21Great

Barrier Island.............124, 125Britain....................15, 23, 145Exhibition............................73

Gregory River.........................17Guildford................................75Gulf of Aden.........................101Gunter, Mr..............................65

H

Hampstead..............................94Hardey

John Wall............................75Joseph.................................75William...............................75

Harrison, J. H........................10974

Hastings..................................56Hauraki Gulf...........................87Hawkesbury. . .10, 12, 29, 47, 52,

58, 59, 60, 87, 134, 143, 144, 146, 149Agricultural College....12, 52,

59, 144District Beekeepers’

Association.....................60River..........29, 47, 58, 87, 146

Hawthorn..............................104Heenan

Edward................................85James..................................85

HelpmanBenjamin Franklin..............78Lt..................................78, 79Lt. B. F...............................79Mr. F., R. N........................80

HentyEdward...............................83

155

James..................................83Hentys.......................77, 83, 143Hermann, M............................24Hesperides...............................93Hicks, Mr..............................106hive13, 14, 15, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27,

28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48, 50, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 81, 82, 84, 85, 87, 88, 94, 98, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 111, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 124, 126, 127, 130, 134, 136, 139, 140, 141Berlepsch............................76Nutt collateral.....................77oblong box..........................77observatory.........................76top-bar.......32, 35, 36, 38, 103

Hobart 11, 22, 38, 61, 62, 64, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 77, 98, 130, 144, 148, 149

Hobart-town............................65Hobson

Mrs..............................33, 139Sir William.........................33

HockenLibrary................................94T. M....................................94

Hog Bay Apiary................7, 102Hokianga.......................130, 139Holborn...................................94Holden, Mr..............................25Holland, Rev...........................56Holmes, see Hulme.................31honey. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,

20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 60, 62, 63, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 87, 90, 91, 93, 95, 96, 98, 101, 105, 106, 111, 114, 115, 118, 120, 122, 124,

125, 126, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142

HoodMr.......................................98Thos. Lloyd.........................98

Hope.......................................70Hopkins, Isaac..13, 96, 100, 103,

109, 110, 119, 121, 129, 145Hosie, Fr. John.............7, 90, 145Hulme

Colonel...............................31Lieutenant-Colonel. .11, 30, 31William...............................31

Hunt........................................30Hunter River......................18, 47Hutt, Governor..................78, 79Hydromel................................49Hymettus.................................91

I

Illawarra..........25, 27, 47, 81, 84Steam Packet Company.......47

Imlay, Dr.................................81India....................19, 20, 22, 132Indian Ocean.........................101Innes

Annabella.. .34, 35, 36, 37, 144Lake..............................34, 35Major Archibald C...............34Margaret..............................35

Inquirer...........................79, 148International Exhibition. .110, 116Irwin

Captain...............................77Captain Frederick Chidley...77

Isabella....................................68Italian 23, 24, 59, 96, 98, 99, 104,

105, 108, 109, 110, 111, 118, 121, 123, 124, 125, 127, 131, 133Bee Farm............................98

Italy 91, 101, 102, 105, 124, 125, 131

156

Ithaca..................................8, 65

J

James Pattison...................11, 75Jervis Bay...............................51Johansson, Toge S. K.8, 126, 150John...................................64, 65journals

Agricultural Gazette of NSW................................51, 148126

Julia.............................88, 89, 90

K

Kangaroo. . .7, 9, 11, 17, 73, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 144skin.....................................73

Kangaroo Island..7, 11, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108Beekeepers Association.....102residents............................105

Kelvedon.................................72Kempsey.................................56Kerikeri......7, 88, 130, 136, 137,

138, 140, 141Kermode, William.............61, 62Kidd, James...........11, 48, 49, 50King George’s Sound..............77Kirby, William........................64Kororareka...........87, 88, 89, 139

L

LaidleyCreek.......................84, 85, 86district.................................85

Lang, John Dunmore................15Langstroth, Revd.. . .35, 103, 107,

111, 118Launceston67, 68, 72, 73, 77, 79,

82, 83Horticultural Society............68

Laurie, James Stuart................81Le Levre, Mr.........................124Legislative Council......32, 51, 87

Leichhardt, Dr.........................15Lempriere

Susannah.............................70T. J........................11, 71, 150Thomas J.............................70

Levering, Noah......121, 122, 123Ligurian. . .11, 23, 24, 28, 96, 98,

99, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 121, 127, 134, 149

Linnean Society......................64Liverpool.............16, 61, 98, 109

Plains..................................1674

Lizzielea apiary.....................119London.8, 22, 27, 53, 62, 64, 66,

70, 92, 93, 116, 139, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149

Longford..................................68Los Angeles...........110, 122, 123

County..............................110Herald...............................122

Lynd, Mr.................................15Lyndoch......................53, 54, 56

Volunteer Rifles Company. .53Lyons......................................89

M

M’Millan, Mr........................114Macarthur

Edward................................31Elizabeth.........11, 31, 37, 145Emmeline Maria..........32, 144Hannibal........................32, 33Mrs...............................32, 63Papers..........................46, 150William...............................33

MacClay, see Macleay............63MacDonnell, S.................96, 109Mackay, Angus....10, 76, 96, 97,

109, 111, 118, 119, 128, 146Maclean, see Macleay.......63, 66Macleay. . .34, 38, 56, 63, 64, 147

157

Alexander......................63, 66family.................................64Fanny..........................64, 144Frances Leonora (Fanny).....64Margaret.............................34William Sharp.....................64

Maconochie.......................30, 31Alexander...........................30Captain....................11, 30, 31

Madras..................................127Maitland.................35, 38, 39, 40Makay, see Mackay.................96Manning, Miss........................59

74Maori.......90, 124, 137, 138, 141Marist....................87, 88, 90, 91

88Markham, Edward............67, 150Marlin, George........................30Marquis de Spinola..................24Mary.......................................61Massachusetts........................101Maylands................................75McArthur, see Macarthur...32, 63McConochie, see Maconochie. 31Meade, Hon. Herbert...............96meat safe...............................126Mediterranean Sea.................101Meeinderry..............................29Melbourne......81, 109, 110, 111,

112, 113, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147

Melville, Henry.......................62Menzies Ferry.......................124Methodist lay preacher............75Miller

bees.....................................23Commissary........................23Henry..................................24

Milligan, Dr. Joseph...........72, 73Milne, Captain Robert.............90missionaries. . .25, 88, 89, 90, 91,

130, 133, 136, 137, 144Molineux, A............................99

7474

Molloy, Captain John...74, 76, 83Molong...................................60Mona Vale..............................61Montague Road........................83Moore

Mr. Geo. E..........................78overseer (gardener).............67

Moreton Bay..........18, 24, 33, 83Morisset..................................30Moses......................................27moth..........................21, 23, 120Mount

Barker.......................101, 148Duneed............................8, 21Hybla..................................91Hymettus.............................91Seymour..............................62Stuart..................................17

Mowle, Mr. Stewart M............51Mudgee.............................10, 23Mullens, Mrs.........................127

N

N.S.W.Beekeepers’ Union. .58, 59, 60Presbytery...........................55

NationalBeekeepers’ Association of

N.S.W.............................52Trust.................................102

National Beekeepers’ Association..............51, 52, 58

native. 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 62, 66, 80, 84, 85, 106, 130, 132beekeeper............................27bees14, 16, 18, 27, 28, 29, 106boy......................................27hive...............................13, 18

Nautilus...................................30Neighbour

158

A 24, 94, 99, 103, 109, 110, 112, 113, 116, 118, 126, 127, 146

and Sons.......94, 110, 112, 127Nelson......81, 139, 143, 147, 148New England...........................34New South Wales. . .9, 10, 16, 17,

21, 31, 35, 40, 41, 51, 64, 65, 66, 69, 80, 83, 84, 87, 89, 96, 109, 128, 130, 136, 139, 144, 146, 148

New York....................8, 65, 147New Zealand. .7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,

13, 21, 22, 31, 32, 33, 34, 52, 60, 72, 77, 81, 82, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 103, 107, 109, 119, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 129, 130, 131, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 147, 149, 150

Newcastle..........................35, 47newspapers

Australasian Chronicle 88, 89, 149

Australian. .25, 33, 34, 40, 46, 52, 60, 63, 75, 79, 80, 110, 126, 147, 148, 149

Independent............53, 68, 148South Coast Herald......23, 148Sydney Gazette14, 21, 27, 48,

148Sydney Morning Herald22, 31,

38, 41, 48, 49, 51, 64, 69, 70, 90, 118, 149

The Adelaide Observer41, 72, 82, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 14874

The Enquirer, see The Inquirer............................78, 79, 80

The Inquirer................79, 148True Colonist...............68, 149

Norfolk Island....11, 30, 31, 143, 145

Norfolk Plains..........................68North Sydney........................144NSW Agriculture...................29Nutt............22, 82, 126, 139, 140Nyanza..................................127

O

Orwell.....................................70

P

Pacific...................................125Islands...............................125

Packham, George....................60paddle steamers

Kangaroo............................48Sovereign............................48William the Fourth......47, 148

Paihia............................137, 140Panmure................................124Parawai Apiary......................110Paris........................................73Parr, William...........................21Parramatta. .8, 11, 31, 32, 33, 34,

49, 63, 71, 91, 92, 97, 98River.............................33, 4974

Penneshaw.....................102, 103Council.............................102

Perth.......................................75Petitjean, Father Jean Baptiste 11,

87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 134, 136, 139, 150

Pettigrew, A..........................120Philo-mel................................48Phoenix...................................22Pitcairners...............................30Pliny.......................................91Plymouth.....................10, 30, 68Point Clare..............................46Pompallier, Bishop Dr. Jean

Baptiste....87, 88, 89, 90, 130, 137

159

87, 88Port

Adelaide..............................53Arthur......................11, 70, 71Jackson................................22Macquarie. .34, 35, 36, 55, 56,

57, 144Nicholson............................34Phillip Association..............77

Portland Bay...........................83Portsmouth..............................22Potosi....................................101Pratt Creek..............................17Presbyterian. . .52, 54, 55, 57, 73,

144, 149Church School.....................54

Price........................................30Prince Consort.........................94

Q

Queade, Charles.......................22Queensland...7, 9, 15, 18, 24, 35,

83, 84, 85, 86, 104, 106, 118, 119, 128, 144, 145, 147

R

Rake, Charles....................11, 99Rangiora..........................87, 142Rayment, Tarlton. .18, 19, 20, 96,

109, 110, 146Red

Gum forest...........................21Sea....................................101

Richmond............29, 59, 60, 144Rien, E. J.................................59Roods, F..................................60Root

& Co.................................124A. I.....................................24Mr. C. L............................108

Rosella..........................124, 126Ross

Clara...................................70Dr.......................................72

Dr. James............................70Rout, W...................................73Royal

Colonial Institute.................73Hotel...................................55Navy...................................78Society..............8, 64, 94, 149Society of Arts and Commerce

.......................................94Western Australian Historical

Society........................8, 79Russell...............87, 88, 130, 139Ryan.......................................30Rydalmere...............................33

S

Sage of the Seven Hills...........49San Francisco........................122

Post...................................122Saunders, Mrs. Elizabeth.........60Saxton, Rev Mr.......................95Sayce

J 112Mr.....................................114

Scone.......................7, 56, 57, 58Scotland..................................26Scots Kirk...............................55Scott, Thomas Alison..............46Selwyn

Bishop...........31, 32, 139, 140Mrs.....................................31Sarah...................................93William...............................31Willie..................................31

Shamrock..........................18, 32Sherratt, Mr.......................75, 76Ship Inn...................................69ships

Albion.................................67Alexander...........................73Alhambra..................110, 113Australia...........................122Barwon.............................126Bounty................................30

160

Caroline...............................83Champion...........................79City of Edinburgh..........25, 30Cumberland...................70, 77Ellen...............................7, 77Hawthorn..........................104Hazard................................31Hope...................................70Isabella................................68James Pattison...............11, 75John..............................64, 65Julia.........................88, 89, 90Maitland..............................35Mary...................................61Meeinderry..........................29Nautilus..............................30Nyanza..............................127Orwell.................................70Phoenix...............................22Potosi................................101Rosella......................124, 126Shamrock......................18, 32Sovereign............................48Thistle.................................83Tranby................................75Upton Castle.......................63

74Wave.................................124

Shoalhaven............7, 25, 27, 149Sic Vos non Vobis.............48, 49Sicily.......................................91Silesia.....................................24Simpson

John....................................29Mr.......................................70Reverend William...............71

SimsonRev. Mr...............................73

Sir Richard Bourke Act...........56skep........22, 76, 77, 85, 131, 139Society

for the Propagation of the Faith..........................88, 89

of Arts.................................95

of Mary...............................88Sorell, Colonel........................61South

Africa................................127America............................130Australia7, 8, 9, 11, 35, 53, 54,

81, 82, 99, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 124, 128, 149

Brisbane..............................83Coast Herald................23, 148Island...............11, 87, 94, 121

South AustralianBeekeepers’ Association..101,

102, 106, 107, 108Beekeepers’ Supplies Co.....99

Southampton..................113, 127Southern California......121, 123,

148, 149Southland........................96, 124Soverign..................................66Spain.......................................25Spence, William......................64Spithead..................................65St. Andrews.............................54St. Mary’s Cathedral............7, 90St. Matthew’s Church, Windsor7,

87, 89, 91, 150St. Patrick’s Orphan School.....89St. Peter’s Cook’s River..........64Stanmore.................................51State Library

of N.S.W.............................46of Tasmania................7, 8, 71

SteeleJas.......................................59Mr.......................................63Revd...................................37Revd Mr..............................63

Stevens, W............................101Stevenson, Bruce. . .7, 88, 90, 91,

129, 130, 136, 137, 141, 150Stewart, Robert......................124Stirling....................................77

161

Sir James.............................77Storr, Amy G...........................94sugar..........................46, 72, 120Supreme Court of NSW...........29surgeons

Wilson, Dr. T. B. R.N.........51Wilson, Dr. T. B., R.N.11, 38,

51, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 76, 77, 130, 131

Swan River.11, 74, 75, 77, 78, 83Swansea...................................72Swiss apiarist..........................24Switzerland.............................24Sydenham...............................93Sydney. . .7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21,

22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 55, 56, 58, 60, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 77, 78, 79, 82, 84, 87, 88, 90, 96, 99, 109, 118, 126, 132, 136, 138, 139, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149Morning Herald22, 31, 38, 41,

48, 49, 64, 69, 70, 90, 118, 149

Sydney Gazette.......................48Sydney Morning Herald............51

T

T.H.S.........................42, 46, 150Table Bay................................76Tahiti......................................90Taronga Park Zoo..............28, 29Tasman...................................34Tasmania 8, 9, 10, 12, 23, 24, 35,

38, 61, 68, 73, 81, 83, 98, 128, 130, 134, 143, 146

Tasmanian..8, 10, 61, 63, 66, 68, 73, 98, 145Beekeepers’ Association8, 63,

68Botanic Garden...................66

tea chest.......................36, 50, 74

Templeton.....................115, 117Teneriffe..................................22The Adelaide Observer....41, 72,

82, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 148

The Australian25, 33, 34, 40, 46, 52, 60, 63, 74, 75, 79, 80, 110, 126, 147, 148, 149

The Independent.........53, 68, 148The Inquirer.....................79, 148the Rocks................................14Thistle.....................................83Thyme.....................................91Town and Country Journal96, 98,

109, 149Toxana..............................30, 59Trampa, Divisional Board.........85Tranby....................................75True Colonist...................68, 149Tryphena...............................125Turner, John...........104, 105, 107Turton, Richard.......................30

U

U.K.......................................134U.S.A.7, 8, 9, 101, 124, 126, 131,

134, 150Ulladulla.................................29Ultimo.....................................58United States..........102, 118, 125

of America................118, 125Universal Exhibition of Industry73University of Western Sydney...52Upper Kensington..................103Upton Castle...........................63USA..............................8, 24, 35Usher of the Black Rod............51

V

Van Diemen’s Land....11, 34, 62, 63, 65, 66, 69, 71, 72, 73, 144, 14674

Ventura County.....................110

162

Victoria. .8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22, 35, 79, 83, 109, 110, 111, 112, 118, 128, 134, 139, 142, 143

VictorianAcclimatisation Society.....113Apiarian Society................112Department of Agriculture....22

Vineyard House.................33, 92

W

W.A.Department of Agriculture. .75State Library.......................74

Waimate.....91, 92, 136, 140, 147Waitangi...............................139Wakefield...............................30

Captain................................81Captain Arthur.....................81Colonel................................82Edward Gibbon....................81William...............................82

Wallace, Captain John 28, 69, 132Wallis, see Wallace.................28Walsh...............87, 124, 126, 150Wandsworth......................53, 54

7474

Waterman, Albert..................107Wauchope...............................56Wave.....................................124Weatherhead, Trevor23, 128, 147Weidenhofer, J. H............99, 102Welch, Mr...............................80Wellington.........33, 73, 145, 147Wenham................................101Western Australia. .7, 10, 35, 74,

75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 128, 143, 147, 148, 15074

Whangaroa..............................91White, Bruce...........................29White, Robert..........................22

William the Fourth, S.S.. .47, 148Williams

Henry..................................91Jane.....................................93Lydia Jane...........................91Marianne.............................91River...................................47

WilsonD. 62Doctor.................................62Dr...62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69, 131Dr. T. B. R.N......................51Dr. Thomas Braidwood 38, 62,

65, 110, 114, 118Edward.11, 24, 109, 110, 113,

114George................................62Mary Braidwood..................51T. B.............38, 51, 66, 67, 77Thomas.............................130Thomas Braidwood 11, 62, 70,

76Windsor7, 10, 11, 23, 24, 29, 47,

58, 60, 87, 89, 90, 91, 134, 143, 147, 150

Winter, Gillian....................7, 71Wise, George...........................69Wiseman

Captain William...................68Dorothy.....................124, 149

Withall, Mounted-Constable. . .106Wollstonecraft, Edward...........25Woodbury

bar-frame...................111, 117frame hives................110, 112I. W...................................110Mr...............................24, 110

Wright.....................................30

Z

zinc, perforated.......................77Zoological Society..................64

163

164