The Immigrant Bees, 1788 to 1898, a cyclopaedia on the introduction of european honey bees into...

The Immigrant Bees1788 to 1898

A Cyclopaediaon the Introduction ofEuropean Honeybees

intoAustralia and New Zealand

Peter Barrett

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First Edition 1995

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, 1 Banjo Place, Springwood 2777, N.S.W., Australia

Typeset in 11 point Times New Roman.

The author has retained the spelling and punctuation of the original material throughout.

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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Barrett, Peter, 1951-.

The immigrant bees 1788 to 1898 : a cyclopaedia on the introduction of European honeybees into Australia and New Zealand.

Bibliography.Includes index.ISBN 0 646 25812 5.

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

638.10994

Table of Contents

7ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................7SUBSCRIBERS........................................................................................................9DEDICATION.......................................................................................................11

Marjorie Barrett.............................................................................................11Albert Gregory...............................................................................................11Norm Plenty...................................................................................................11Chris Dawson.................................................................................................12

PART I............................................................................................................. 13

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................13Letter to The Editor 1920................................................................................13

Another Letter, 1985...............................................................................................14My Letter to the Editor, 1995..................................................................................15Christopher Dawson, New Zealand..........................................................................17Absence of European Bees......................................................................................18The Question Is - By Whom, When & How.............................................................18

THE NATIVE BEES..............................................................................................20A Clergyman, 1866.........................................................................................20John Henderson, 1832....................................................................................20Thos. Lloyd Hood, 1885..................................................................................22Apis aenigmatica............................................................................................22Some Twentieth Century Observations.............................................................28

Les and Anne Dollin, 1985......................................................................................28R. L. Goebel, 1987..................................................................................................28

PART II - THE DARK EUROPEAN HONEYBEE.......................................29

NEW SOUTH WALES...........................................................................................29The First Fleet, 1788.....................................................................................29The Convicts..................................................................................................30Gregory Blaxland, 1806................................................................................31Rev. Samuel Marsden, 1810...........................................................................34Captain Wallis and the Isabella, 1822...........................................................43

How Many Hives Were on the Isabella ?..................................................................44Mr. Parr, 1822........................................................................................................48Heaton, 1879.........................................................................................................51Thomas Icely, 1822................................................................................................52D’Arcy & William Charles Wentworth, 1822...........................................................54Edward Henry Statham, 1844..................................................................................54The Phoenix, 1824.................................................................................................55

Captain John Macarthur, 1825.......................................................................55The Bulletin, 1924.........................................................................................56Thomas Arkell, 1842.......................................................................................57

TASMANIA..........................................................................................................59

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Mr. William Kermode, 1821..........................................................................59Unknown, 1824..............................................................................................59Matthew Hindson to the Editor, 1829..............................................................59Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson R. N., 1831....................................................60

Mis-information.....................................................................................................60The Facts...............................................................................................................61The ship Catherine Stewart Forbes, 1830.................................................................62The ship John, 1831................................................................................................63A Profile................................................................................................................66Recognition, 1831-1832..........................................................................................66The ship Medway, 1827..........................................................................................68Chronicler Hugh Munro Hull, 1804 - 1872...............................................................68Colonial Visitor, James Backhouse, 1832.................................................................69An Anecdote from Australia, 1852.........................................................................70

Mr. James Fenton, 1838................................................................................72Mr. Charles Meredith, 1846............................................................................73Sanctuary at Tarraleah, 1856........................................................................74

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.........................................................................................75Captain John Molloy, 1830............................................................................75Henry Camfield, 1830....................................................................................76Thomas Braidwood Wilson, 1829...................................................................78

SOUTH AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA & QUEENSLAND.....................................................78NORTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND.........................................................................79

Miss Mary Anna Bumby, 1839.......................................................................79Rev. Richard Taylor, 1839..............................................................................82‘A Shareholder’, 1841.....................................................................................83Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842..................................................................84

His Motivation.......................................................................................................84The Hogshead........................................................................................................85Evaporation...........................................................................................................87Gimbles.................................................................................................................88Observatory Hive...................................................................................................88Was He Successful ?..............................................................................................91

Lady Hobson, March 1840.............................................................................93George Graham, 1841....................................................................................95Mr. John Carne Bidwill, 1842.......................................................................95Dr. Pompallier, 1845.....................................................................................95

SOUTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND.........................................................................96Dr. Imlay, 18 April 1842.................................................................................96Mrs. Mary Ann Allom, April 1842..................................................................97Mrs. Wills, May 1842...................................................................................104

PART III - THE ITALIAN ‘APIS LIGUSTICA’...........................................105

NEW SOUTH WALES.........................................................................................105T. W. Woodbury, 1862.................................................................................105Unknown, 1876............................................................................................106

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Peterson, 1877.............................................................................................106Mr. S. McDonnell, 1880................................................................................107Mr. W. Abram, 1881....................................................................................107

TASMANIA........................................................................................................114Thos. Lloyd Hood, 1884...............................................................................114

VICTORIA..........................................................................................................115Edward Wilson, 1862...................................................................................115Mr Herman Naveau, 1884............................................................................116

QUEENSLAND....................................................................................................116James Carroll, 1872, 1873, 1881.................................................................116James Carroll through Angus Mackay, 1877................................................116Mr. Chas. Fullwood, 1880...........................................................................117

SOUTH AUSTRALIA...........................................................................................117Chamber of Manufactures, 1883..................................................................117Mr. Bonney, 1884........................................................................................119

NEW ZEALAND - NORTH ISLAND.......................................................................119J.H. Harrison, Coromandel, Sept. 1880.......................................................119Isaac Hopkins, 1880, 1884...........................................................................119

NEW ZEALAND - SOUTH ISLAND.......................................................................120Acclimatisation Society, Christchurch, Sept. 1880.......................................120

PART IV - BEES AFLOAT...........................................................................120

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC TO NORTH AMERICA, 1622.............................................120HOW WERE BEES SHIPPED TO THE 1850S ?.........................................................121

Dawson’s question, 1995..............................................................................121Blaxland’s ‘wire cage’, 1805.........................................................................123Skeps or Boxes?............................................................................................123Were the Bees Allowed to Fly at Sea?............................................................124Wilson’s Box, 1831.......................................................................................126A Season for Shipping to the Colonies, 1838..................................................128Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842................................................................130

LATE 19TH CENTURY BEE SHIPPING...................................................................130The North American Experience, 1874..........................................................130The British Experience, 1859........................................................................132Voyage of the Berlepsch Hive, Angus Mackay, 1877.......................................132Thos. B. Blow, Cyprus to England 1882.........................................................138Benton Mailing Cage, 1883...........................................................................139Illustrations of Doolittle and Benton Mailing Cages (c1881)..........................140Charles Dickins, Travelling Nucleus Boxes, 1887...........................................140Some Australian Queen Bee Importers...........................................................141

A. C. Bonney, 1885..............................................................................................141Mr. Mansfield, 1894.............................................................................................141M. A. Shallard, 1894...........................................................................................142Pender Bros., 1894................................................................................................145H. L. Jones, 1895..................................................................................................146

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PART V - THE BEES SPREAD OVER THE LAND...................................146

CUNNINGHAM, ROYAL NAVY SURGEON, 1827....................................................147ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAINS........................................................................147

John Hughes, 1839.......................................................................................147Thomas Arkell, Campbells River, 1840..........................................................149Richard Nancarrow, 1894.............................................................................150

JERVIS BAY SETTLER, 1840................................................................................150HONEY FOR SALE, 1840.....................................................................................150ELIZABETH STREET, RACECOURSE, SYDNEY 1842................................................150AN ANONYMOUS CLERGYMAN, 1866..................................................................151RYDE, NSW, 1870............................................................................................152

PART VI - EXPORTS OF HONEY, BEES & WAX......................................152

HONEY & WAX................................................................................................152TRIGONA (NATIVE BEES)..................................................................................154

Captain Macarthur, 1825............................................................................154John Armstrong, 1842...................................................................................155T. W. Woodbury, 1870.................................................................................156

INTO INDIA, 1880..............................................................................................156

PART VIII - CONCLUSION.........................................................................156

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................159

BOOKS.............................................................................................................. 159OTHER WORKS REFERENCED.............................................................................166UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS.............................................................................167JOURNALS......................................................................................................... 167NEWSPAPERS.....................................................................................................168ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.............................................................................................169

HISTORICAL SUPPLEMENT.....................................................................195

TWO BLUE MOUNTAINS PIONEER BEEKEEPERS..............................195

MAJOR ADOLPHUS SHALLARD, GLENBROOK NSW, 1887..................................195ELISHA & SARA JANE WIGGINS, SPRINGWOOD NSW, 1883...............................203

Index............................................................................................................... 206

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have pleasure in acknowledging the support and assistance of the following:

Jennifer Birrell Reference Librarian, and the Saturday staff, Blue Mountains City Library, Springwood

Mrs. Bell owner of the Wiggins apiary siteLaurie Braybrook VictoriaBrian Charles Startec Electronics, SpringwoodMrs. Carol Churches

Bathurst

Patricia Clarke Canberra, ACT, author of “A Colonial Woman”Steve Craig Blue Mountains Honey, for access to his library on

beekeepingDon Cunningham Devonport, TasmaniaShona Dewar Latrobe Collection, State Library of Victoria, MelbourneChris Dawson Rangiora, New Zealand, for his research material

gathered over a 30 year periodLes and Anne Dollin

Richmond, NSW

Lindy Eggleston Reference Librarian, NSW Agriculture, OrangeNetta Ellis Braidwood & District Historical SocietySue Ellison President, North Shore Beekeepers AssociationSusan Franks Archivist, The ‘Potts’ Collection, University of Western

Sydney, RichmondRev. F. Glen Thames, New ZealandJannine Graham Royal Australian Historical SocietyR. B. Gulliford Editor of The Australasian BeekeeperHelen Halliwell Local Studies Librarian, Blue Mountains City Library,

SpringwoodJanet Horncy Librarian, Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library

of New Zealand, WellingtonSue Johnston Reference Librarian, Hornsby LibrarySister Mary Louise Sisters of Mercy, Mamre House, St Marys, NSWJohn Low Local Studies Librarian, Braemar House, Blue

Mountains City Library, SpringwoodSheena McDougall Librarian in Charge of the Edinburgh Room of the

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Edinburgh District Council Central LibrarySandra McEwen Powerhouse Museum, SydneyLorraine Minchin Librarian in Charge, Department of Primary Industry

and Fisheries, TasmaniaDr. R. C. Mishra Project Co-ordinator, All India Co-ordinated Project on

Honey Bee Research & TrainingThe staff Mitchell and State Libraries, SydneyProf. Roger Morse Professor of Apiculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, New

YorkDon Norman Sandy Bay, Tasmania, great-grandson of George Wilson

(brother of Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson)M. J. Parker Southern Branch of the Tasmanian Beekeepers

AssociationMrs. Lorna Parr Cranebrook, NSWEdgar Penzig author of many books on bushrangers, KatoombaMark Pettifor for his valuable editorial feedbackMrs. Lorna Shallard wife of Dr. Ken Shallard and daughter-in-law of Major

Adolphus ShallardColin Slade Springwood Family Historical SocietyMiss D M Smith Librarian, Nelson Provincial MuseumBruce Stevenson Kerikeri, North Island, New ZealandDon Wilson direct descendant of Dr. David Wilson who was brother

to both George and Thomas Braidwood Wilson.Fred Wiggins grandson of Elisha Wiggins, SpringwoodSalma Zabaneh Librarian, International Bee Research Association,

Cardiff, Wales

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SUBSCRIBERS

Colin Clark Sydney, N.S.WFred Benecke St. Ives, New South Wales Apiarists’ AssociationP. J. & F. Murphy Apiarists, Tamworth, NSWAllen Clarke Manager, Pender Beegoods P/L, Maitland, N.S.W.

(2 copies)D. C. & S. M. Burchill Far North Queensland Beekeepers’ AssociationMarian & Ross Riddett Lemonthyme Apiary, Sapphire Coast Beekeeping

ClubRussell Berry Arataki Honey Ltd. Waiotapu, Rotorua, New

ZealandGlen Sunderland ‘Gambol Park’, Dubbo, N.S.W.Garth Murdock Boomerang Apiaries, West Coast Branch, South

Australian Apiarists’ AssociationEric J. Whitby Illawarra Branch, Amateur Beekeepers’ Association

of N.S.W.Helen Bissland Stewart Island, New ZealandDavid & Ann Kinnell Saddlier’s Crossing, QueenslandDavid Kinnell Secretary, Ipswich & West Moreton Beekeepers’

Association, QueenslandTony Inglis Marlborough Beekeepers’ Club, Blenheim, New

ZealandRoy Frisby-Smith Amateur Beekeepers’ Society of South AustraliaHeinrich Brug Napier, New ZealandD. Hart Glossodia, N.S.W.M.A. & J.L. Cunningham

Port Lincoln, West Coast Branch, South Australian Beekeepers’ Association

Ken Guymer Parramatta District Branch, Amateur Beekeepers’ Association (ABA) of N.S.W.

Daniel Newman Wellington, N.S.W.M & B Siddle Coomba, N.S.W.Patrick Carroll Londonderry, N.S.W.Arthur D. Spendlove Parramatta District Branch, ABA of N.S.W.Bob Girdo Parramatta District Branch, ABA of N.S.W.Stanley Brown Parramatta District Branch, ABA of N.S.W.Ian Savins St. Ives, N.S.W.

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Ian Savins Librarian, North Shore Beekeepers’ Association N.S.W

Elizabeth Mocatta Turramurra, N.S.W.Mrs. Patalee Gardner Secretary, North West Branch, Tasmanian

Beekeepers’ Association (5 copies)Allan Franks President, North West Branch, Tasmanian

Beekeepers’ Association (5 copies)Sue Ellison Lane Cove, N.S.W.Sue Ellison President, North Shore Beekeepers’ Association,

N.S.W.Ian Will Scottish Beekeepers’ Association, EdinburghR. L. & D. A. King Te Kuiti, New ZealandBrian Glendining Normanhurst, N.S.W.Gerry Gibson Illawarra Branch, Amateur Beekeepers’ Association

(ABA) of N.S.W. (2 copies)Ian Phillips Illawarra Branch, ABA of N.S.W.Steven Tressider Illawarra Branch, ABA of N.S.W.Robert Steel-Wilson Illawarra Branch, ABA of N.S.W.Roger Smith Northern Branch, Tasmanian Beekeepers’

AssociationIan R. Stephens Apiarist, Mole Creek, TasmaniaJohn McCosker Glenbrook, N.S.W.Phil Jones North Wales, U. K.Anthony M. Buzas Apiculturist, Philadelphia PA. U.S.A.B. S. Old Parramatta District Branch, Amateur Beekeepers’

Association of N.S.W.Alana Lyford Sydney, N.S.W.George Kay Woodburn, N.S.W.Joseph J. Bray New Haven, CT, U.S.A.Graham Moy Berkeley Vale, N.S.W.

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DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this work to the following

Marjorie BarrettFirst and foremost to Marjorie, my spouse, soul mate and sounding board. She could see the humour in my investigative antics, put up with my absences away at the library or sessions spent glued to the keyboard. She was of great assistance in listening to my ideas, giving assurance that I wasn't upon a crazy endeavour and that my efforts would be worthwhile.

Albert GregoryTo the late Albert Gregory (1900-1987) of Valley Heights in the lower Blue Mountains, NSW. A marvellous old gentleman of 87 when I made his acquaintance. He kept bees from the age of 10 years. As a child, possibly unable to afford the cost of a wedding present for an older sister, or just for the pure joy of it, Albert built a hive, stocked it with bees and presented it to her on the day. His home made bee boxes, made from recycled Coralite 'water white' kerosene cases, still house bees at the back of his garden and small orchard. His homemade smoker, built to last another 100 years, waits to be charged with fuel. In his later years he used a ride-on mower dragging a trailer to ferry boxes down the long slope to the hives, then back up with robbed honey. His daughter, Janette, gave me his old bee books. Among these was Hopkins circa 1904 Australasian Bee Manual, some 1920's editions of The Australasian Beekeeper and a circa 1911 Beekeepers Supplies catalogue. It was the gift of the Hopkins book that really set me collecting old bee books and thus to writing about beekeeping history.

Norm PlentyTo the late Norm Plenty of Emu Plains. A skilled beekeeper since his youth, he was a friend and gentleman. He achieved his wish of keeping bees in a bigger way once he retired. He made his own boxes with a handsaw, and rough made they might have seemed. Though he did insist on nailing on bottom boards, he had a way with the bees. His apiary at Emu Plains, tended by friends, still thrives, just metres from a busy intersection but hidden from those passersby only by their preoccupied haste. I bought my second lot of hives from him. I can recall some pleasant and funny stories from my all too short association with him.

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Chris DawsonTo Chris Dawson, a delightful gentleman of eighty seven years, whose research into the beekeeping history of New Zealand is to be commended. His research file, built up over thirty years, has added significantly to the story that I am able to relate.

Sailing Ships entering Sydney Heads, 1788

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Part I

INTRODUCTION

The Colonies that I have concentrated on include New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land, Western Australia and New Zealand. For Victoria and South Australia, I have come across little information worthy of reproduction here. For Queensland, I largely defer to the work by Trevor Weatherhead. With that said, the Colonies that I have concentrated on may be justifiably seen as the senior Colonies. I suspect that the introduction of bees to the younger Colonies was brought about by their movement, particularly from New South Wales.

Letter to The Editor 1920Seventy five years ago, in the Victorian Bee Journal of 15 June 1920, there appeared the following letter, headed:WHO BROUGHT THE FIRST BEES TO AUSTRALIA, AND WHEN ? “Sir, - I am very anxious to obtain authentic information bearing upon the first introduction of bees to Australia and when. In West’s ‘History of Tasmania,’ p. 335, Col. 1, appears the following account of the first introduction of bees to Australia, namely;

‘The domestic bee was brought to Van Diemen's Land from England by Dr. T. B. Wilson, R. N., in the year 1834; and so admirably does the climate of this island suit this interesting insect, that, in the first year, 16 swarms were produced from the imported hive. Since that time, they have been sent to all the adjoining Colonies, all those in Australia having been derived from the one. In Tasmania, they are becoming wild in great numbers, spreading themselves rapidly through all the forests, even to the summits of the Western Mountains.’

But Mr. Isaac Hopkins, late Chief Apiarist to the New Zealand Government, does not support the foregoing statement. He says:-

‘The common, or Black bee, was introduced into New South Wales from England in April, 1822, by Captain Wallace, of the ship 'Isabella.' It is pretty certain that Italian bees were also introduced into that State in 1862, but I have not been able to obtain a sufficiently reliable confirmation of this. So far as I have been able to ascertain, Victoria,

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South Australia, and Queensland were furnished with common bees from the parent Colony - New South Wales. Dr. Wilson, R.N., introduced the common bee into Tasmania from New South Wales in 1831, and Mr. T. L. Hood, of Hobart, has the credit of landing the first Italian bees in Tasmania, which were brought from the same Colony.’

Can any of your numerous readers confirm either of the accounts above referred to?

Yours, R. A. Black. Hobart, Tas.”

Subsequent issues of the Victorian Bee Journal that I have studied at the Mitchell Library, do not contain any published replies to his 'very anxious' request for 'authentic information'. Note the differences between the two accounts regarding Wilson, the competing dates of 1831 and 1834; the dissimilar views that bees were brought from England and New South Wales. The comment that all the hives in Australia derived from that first hive is, of course, not correct.

Such is a small sample of contradictions encountered in the quest for the 'facts', regarding the introduction of honeybees into Australia and New Zealand. R. A. Black did receive a reply of sorts had he read Tarlton Rayment’s article “The Centenary of the Honey Bee in Australasia” in the Australasian Beekeeper of October 1922.

Another Letter, 1985History has a habit of repeating itself. Trevor Weatherhead, author of an excellent historical account of the Beekeeping History of Queensland, Boxes to Bar Hives, wrote 65 years later to the readers of the Australasian Beekeeper in 1985 with a similar request of its readers.

It was not until 3 months after I had started my research that I acquired a copy of Trevor's 1986 book through the Queensland Beekeepers’ Association. Earlier that morning, I found within the 1822 Sydney Gazette the June 14th advertisement for the sale of bees by a Mr. Parr. My intention had been, at the earliest opportunity, to search prior issues of the Sydney Gazette back to the start of March 1822 to determine the exact date of the arrival of the ship Isabella. To my surprise, Trevor had discovered this and other entries ten years before me.

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I had been made aware of the existence of Trevor's book through an inquiry to the International Bee Research Association in Wales. Australasian beekeepers interested in the history of their industry should acquaint themselves with it. Librarians, please stock this valuable addition to a fascinating part of Australia's history.

In the introduction to his book, Trevor states “Because of the time constraint, I do not profess to have written a complete history of beekeeping in Queensland.” I mirror his sentiment in the difficulty of compiling a complete history. He adds “I have written my version of events from the facts as I found them. Not all these facts are available and some of them are now lost forever. Too much of our beekeeping history has already gone up in smoke.” Sadly true. On the last page of his work he states “There are many gaps and I intend to keep trying to update the history. I hope others will also.”. I agree with your attitude Trevor and have used your words to reflect my thoughts as I could not have put it better.

My Letter to the Editor, 1995I too wrote to the Australasian Beekeeper seeking assistance. My letter was published in the March 1995 issue. An extract follows:

RESEARCH PROJECT - INTRODUCTION OF THE HONEYBEE INTO AUSTRALASIA

“Can you or your readers assist me please? I am researching the introduction of the Honey Bee into Australasia. After intensive research I intend to write and publish a book of lively interest to the beekeepers and historians of Australasia and hopefully create a device to fire school childrens' interest in the vigorous and colourful 19th century events and people of Australia and New Zealand.

Over recent years I have been repeatedly annoyed by the conflicting details provided throughout national and international beekeeping literature regarding the who, when and how of the introduction of the honey bee into Australasia.

It is commonly accepted that they first reached New South Wales in 1822. I have found clues that the first successful introduction may have occurred as early as 1810 (Rev. Samuel Marsden) or by another in 1805. I have no firm dates for the other colonies.

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For New Zealand, the earliest date I have is 1839 by a Miss Bumby, the daughter of a missionary who landed at Mangungu, Hokianga. Many authors quote the Rev. Charles Cotton being successful in 1842 with his ingenious device for transporting bees from England. This was a hogshead containing straw skep beehives packed with cinders above and ice below. Another author states the bees were thrown overboard by superstitious sailors following uncommonly rough seas.

I wish to clear up these ambiguities. My research has only just commenced. The task has already taken on Herculean proportions. I would greatly appreciate any assistance that your readers may provide. All useful contributions will be acknowledged in my work.”

Four replies were gratefully received. The first from the editor, Bob Gulliford. The second was from Chris Dawson of Rangiora, New Zealand. Chris’s research documents have added greatly to the facts regarding Mrs. Allom and Miss Bumby. The third reply was from Bruce Stevenson of Kerikeri, New Zealand. Recently, I was able to visit these two New Zealand gentleman. The fourth was from Rob Manning of the W.A. Department of Agriculture.

In searching public libraries, the State Library of NSW, the Mitchell in Sydney, the Latrobe in Melbourne, the State Library of Victoria and the Alexander Turnbull within the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington, the challenge is to know where to look. Indexes do help but they do not uncover all the sources that can add one more cryptic piece to the puzzle. The mystery for me was the manner in which the bees were brought to Australia and New Zealand as well as the 'who' and the when'. Much fascinating detail may yet await to be discovered, collated and woven into interesting stories on Australasian beekeeping history. Isaac Hopkinsknew well the frustrations of seeking historical truth in this arena. In the c1904 Fourth Edition of his Australasian Bee Manual, is this “The difficulty of tracing the particulars of most circumstances where public records have not been kept has been exemplified in the matter of the first introduction of bees into New Zealand. I did my utmost when getting the three previous editions of my book ready for the press to obtain the true facts of the case, and each time was lead into error. I have, however, at last managed to get what I feel certain is the correct information, and which I am very pleased to be able to place on record.” (p.4). May my first edition be as accurate as Hopkins believed his fourth to be.

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Christopher Dawson, New ZealandI recently found another searcher for the facts regarding beekeeping history. The story behind Mary Anna Bumby’s introduction of bees to the North Island was Chris Dawson’s mission, one than has spanned more than thirty years. Along the way he wrote numerous letters digging for the facts, visited the office of The Australasian Beekeeper, The Mitchell Library, The Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, Lincoln Library at Christchurch University, the Latrobe Library in Melbourne, to name a few.

He was instrumental in supplying the correct facts regarding the first introduction of bees to the North Island of New Zealand to author Eva Crane. His correspondents included Prof. Roger Morse of Cornell University, Eva Crane of the International Bee Research Association, author Daphne More and many others. Like Isaac Hopkins, he was persistent in researching the beekeeping history of his country. An author too, he has several published articles to his credit. He also initiated the creation of a memorial to Miss Bumby within the Mission House at Hokianga. I recently viewed this remembrance, a framed photograph of the original portrait of Miss Bumby.

Chris Dawson wrote and offered me his letters and notes acquired over a period of thirty years, in response to my letter to The Australasian Beekeeper. This material consisted in large part on Miss Bumby. He had not the time to make further use of them. He is a youngster of 87. I am forced to smile when I remember his efforts to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the introduction of bees into New Zealand in 1979. Someone suggested to him that it would be more appropriate to wait for the 150th anniversary. He was then aged 71. He thought that as he may not be around in another 10 years time, it was better not to wait. Well, I am happy to say that he not only celebrated the 140th anniversary, he saw the 150th in 1989 and may yet, I hope, make it to the 160th in 1999.

I was concerned that I was writing about New Zealand without having had the opportunity of personally visiting the relevant libraries there. The Mitchell and State Library in Sydney have excellent collections but the thought nagged at me that additional untapped sources held key information that needed to be included in the story. Now, with the benefit of Chris Dawson’s excellent research over three decades, I believe that the New Zealand tale now has the integrity I would wish for. Additionally, in October this year, I had the pleasure of visiting the National Library of

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New Zealand, specifically the Alexander Turnbull collection. This too, has added to the resource base for the following tale.

Absence of European BeesThe New World including Australia, New Zealand along with North and South America did not have any Apis honey bees. There were social bees such as Trigona and Melipona. With the Europeans’ arrival, the honeybee was soon to follow. One author described bees as like the dog, following wherever the Europeans went.

The Question Is - By Whom, When & HowThe question is, “by whom and when and how were honey bees introduced into Australia and New Zealand”? I have concentrated my efforts on the Dark European honeybee, sometimes described as the English ‘brown’ or the German ‘black’; and the Italian or Ligurian ‘yellow’ bee. With these introductions belongs the romance of the 19th Century, a period of colonisation, sailing ships, convict transportation and missionaries. Most modern authors on this subject, I suspect, have relied upon Isaac Hopkins work of 1886. Albert Gale (1912) refers to an 1886 copy of Hopkins Bee Manual. The mis-information contained here, acknowledged by the author in later editions, particularly the fourth, published around 1904, shows how other researchers may have been lead astray if later editions of his work had not been referenced.

It is generally accepted throughout national and international beekeeping literature that bees first reached New South Wales in 1822. However there remain many incorrect statements in encyclopaedias and other works. I have attempted to pull the conflicting details together and draw a conclusion that others can better rely upon.

In the Introduction to Beekeeping (1991), published by the Victorian Department of Agriculture, a revision of the original Beekeeping in Victoria (1916) by F. R. Beuhne, is the following “There is some debate about who introduced the honeybee to Australia, and when, but there is no doubt that bees have been part of Australian life for about 160 years.” (p.vii-viii). In 1922, Tarlton Rayment announced the 100th anniversary of the introduction of honeybees into Australia. Let it be my pleasure to announce the 175th anniversary for the year 1997.

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I hope that my contribution will place in context the many conflicting accounts of the introduction of the European honeybee. I have concentrated on the first two phases of the introduction of honeybees. The first, the Dark European honeybee Apis mellifera mellifera, and the second, the Italian or Ligurian honeybee, Apis mellifera ligustica. The subsequent introductions of other varieties such as the Caucasian, Carniolan and Cyprian are another story.

Illustration from the Australasian Beekeeper of October 1922

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THE NATIVE BEES

A Clergyman, 1866Australia and New Zealand had no Apis social honey bees prior to the coming of the European settlers. There were, however, native bees from which the indigenous people had long learned to rob of their honey.

From Australia in 1866 the following narrative by 'a Clergyman' is worth relating in its whole, dealing with the aborigines method of finding honey, presumably from the native Trigona bee “The native bee has no sting, is dark in colour, slender in body, and not much larger than the common house-fly. The aborigines adopt a very ingenious method of discovering their hives; catching one, which they can always readily do where there is water, they fix with gum, which is easily obtained from any of the trees beside them, a small particle of white down upon its back, let it fly away, and keep running after, holding their eyes intently upon it, till they see it alight at its hive, which is always found in a hole in an upstanding tree. One native, with a tomahawk or a stone adze in hand, cuts notches in the tree for his big toes to rest upon, and in this way making notches as he ascends, using them as steps in a ladder, and holding by the tree with one of his hands, he mounts and very speedily cuts out the honey-combat the place where the bee was seen to enter. The bark from the knot of a tree serves for a dish to hold the comb, and it is soon devoured at one meal.” (p.37).

Visitors to Australia and New Zealand soon became aware that the honeybee was not indigenous. They were, however, soon aware of the native bee.

John Henderson, 1832Henderson (1832) relates “The Bee is not an inhabitant of Van Diemen's Land.” (He is incorrect on this point.) “In New South Wales, it is much smaller in size than the common house fly; but it differs neither in its habits nor in the flavour of its honey, from those of the larger descriptions.” (p.134) I doubt that Henderson had seen inside a native hive as the brood combs are horizontal rather than vertical as with the European bee. As well, the combs of brood consist of a single layer of cells, not a double vertical layer set back to back as for the honeybee. The native honey is contained in horizontal and untidily arranged amphorae like shaped pots, not in regularly shaped vertical combs.

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Henderson wrote “The natives required not the assistance of the indicator, (the honey guide bird) for the purpose of discovering their treasures. During the heat of the day the bees resort to the neighbouring streams, in order to obtain water. They are there sought for by the natives; and on one being discovered, its body is cautiously wetted with saliva. While it remains imprisoned during the act of drying, the light white down of the Cockatoo, being dropped upon it, becomes by this means, closely cemented to its body. So soon as it again recovers the use of its wings, the insect flies away, bearing along with it this conspicuous mark, which is sufficiently heavy to retard its progress, and enables the keen eye of the native, to trace it to its horde.” (p.134)

His following 'observations' may have been manufactured and not from his personal experience in New South Wales, or he was confusing the introduced bee with the native bee. The native bee did not sting, though it can bite. The following method of securing the bees honey is not accurate for the native bee. “After this, the honey is obtained by setting fire to the tree.” A footnote at the bottom of the page is as follows “The Bees of Hindoostan, are very large and fierce; their honey and wax, however, have nothing to distinguish them from those produced in Europe. They usually congregate together, in numerous hordes or swarms, attaching themselves to the upper branches of the larger trees. In this situation, it is dangerous to disturb them during the day; and not only are horses and cattle sometimes destroyed by them, but I have likewise known instances, in which several individuals have been stung to death, from accidentally disturbing one of these warlike communities.” Henderson's observations regarding the Apis Dorsata bees of Hindoostan (India) appear reasonably accurate but inapplicable to the relatively harmless native bee.

On the other hand, Henderson could have been referring, not to the native bee, but to the honey robbing methods of the aborigine upon the introduced bee. Here, the use of smoke would indeed have been necessary. His description of the native bee as “smaller than the common house fly" leads me to believe he was describing the native bee together with the method used to rob the hive of the introduced bee. By 1832 the introduced bee seems to have penetrated well into the bush. It would appear also that in the ten years since Wallis in 1822, aborigines had begun to rob this new bee of its honey.

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I originally had no idea as to what Henderson was referring to in relation to tracking a bee back to its source by the use of “the indicator”. In the 1975 book Honey by Eva Crane, the answer was made clear, the 'indicator' being the honey-guide bird. “Honey hunting by the ratel or honey badger (Mellivora capensis) in southern and tropical Africa has often been reported to be done in 'partnership' with the honey-guide, a bird belonging to the parasitic family Indicatoridae. The apparent guiding behaviour, which leads a mammal (including man) to a bees' nest, is restricted to the greater honey-guide Indicator indicator and a few other species. .. What seems to be true is that the so-called guiding behaviour is released in the bird by the sight or sound of a ratel, baboon or (away from a village) a human. As long as the mammal 'follows' the bird - i.e. remains within its sight or hearing - the guiding behaviour continues except that it is suppressed by the sight or sound of bees. If, as is probable, this happens near a bees' nest, the mammal is likely to locate and open the nest. The bird will take some of the comb, to which it has now access, eating honey along with the rest of the comb contents, pollen and brood.” (p.443)

Thos. Lloyd Hood, 1885Thos. Lloyd Hood responded to a series of questions from Isaac Hopkins regarding the state of beekeeping in Tasmania. Regarding indigenous bees, he wrote “Yes, there are some, but I cannot learn anything like definite information in regard to them at present, only that there is a variety, that they are much smaller than the ordinary bee, and build on the ground. I hope to glean some more information in regard to these.”

Apis aenigmatica

Did Australia actually have a native Apis honeybee prior to the arrival of the European honeybees? Rayment (1935) “The only native Apis was discovered by me in Gippsland, during the Great War. The bees are well furnished with harvesting-hairs, and the glossa is very long, and the chief features are the extraordinary tongue and highly-specialised legs. .. The native species is black, and almost as small as A. florea of India, but it is now extremely rare.” (p.552).

“In Australia, in the comparatively short space of one hundred years, many, many creatures have become exceedingly rare, and some extinct. The tiny native Apis aenigmatica Raym. has become so rare in thirty

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years that I am now unable to obtain a single specimen on which to found a sound description.” (p.378).

I find the following story so fascinating that I want to share it with you. So, I present here, the dialogue and events surrounding Rayment’s discovery of the tiny native Apis, just as he told it in his 1935 work, A Cluster of Bees.

“.. let me tell you that one day my good neighbour bee-keeper, John Garrett, cantered into my paddock and invited me to go riding into the hills with him. ‘I know where there is a hive of tiny native-bees!’ was how he tempted me.

‘A hive?’ I queried, thinking that the only social bee of the forest was the introduced Apis or hive-bee.

‘Yes,’ he replied; ‘the hives are only as large as the palm of my hand.’ Could anything be more enticing? .. in a few minutes I was mounted and away. Over the creeks, scrambling up rocky sidings, now deep in a gully, but towards afternoon we drew near to a mountain hut tenanted by an aged bushman - he has long since gone to his forefathers.

‘Buckly!’ cried jack. ‘We’ve called to see the little swarm.’

‘Aye!’ came the quavering voice of the old man from the dark interior. ‘They’re still on the verandah.’

Sure enough, on a level with our faces were three tiny combs the size of the palm of one’s hand. The cells were truly hexagonal, and large enough to admit the head of an ordinary pin; wonderfully neat; marvellously small. Notably quiet was the colony of minute black bees, none of which flew from the combs suspended from a rafter of the verandah. The entire cluster of bees, if shaken from their miniature combs, would have just about filled a teacup. I know of only one bee that makes such a delicate reproduction of the honeybee’s comb, and that is the flower- or dwarf-bee of India, Apis florea. But the Australians lacked the tan patches of that bee.

I observed only regular cells of worker-pattern, I saw no transition, queen- or drone-cells; I could not view between the combs to observe whether there were any drones present. In the face of strict orders to

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the contrary, I could not touch anything, but I was invited to come as often as I desired, to drink tea with the old man, and to observe to my heart's content. What an opportunity! A nest of bees that were new to me, and, I suspect, to everyone else, just at face-lcvel, where I could record data about the development of the larvae, the time of feeding, the actions of the queen, the plants favoured, the method of carrying pollen; everything, indeed, to enable mc to write a monograph of the species. I was full of enthusiasm at such a rare gift.

Alas! the old man died and the property changed hands, so I wrote to the new owners asking if the bees were still there, and could I get a few specimens-even a dead bee. There remained not a trace.

For vears I have searched diligently, but without avail. My friend “Jack” tells me that he saw a few similar small colonies many years ago. I have offered a reward-a very little, ‘tis true-to the bushmnen who pry into the secrets of the mountains, and several have promised they would try to find some for me. One said that he had taken a colony, but it had smashed into pulp during the journey down the mountains.

Later: I have not been fortunate enough to discover another entire colony of the tiny bees, but I have gleaned a little here and there. I have statements from several observant people, and which show this Apis has a wider range than I thought. ..”

One person’s corroboration, dating from around 1905, is as follows: “Thirty years ago I selected land in the district now known as Rochester, which is in Victoria. The trees were of the species known as grey-box, but the growth was park-like in character, and not densely wooded as in Gippsland. I was always interested in the small colonies of bees that were to be found in the shelter afforded by a leaning tree-limb, especially at a fork, where there was a small concavity on the underneath. Three little combs, say, from three to four inches across, comprised the nest, and these were suspended from the support. The bees were small and black, and I cannot recall one instance where they had built inside a hollow; all, without exception, were open to the air. Not once did I ever see any honey in the outside combs, the cells of which were always quite dry and not covered by the bees! The colonics were very numerous at that time, and thousands were destroyed

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during the clearing operations. I have always been interested, and I noticed that the cells were exactly like those of the honey-bee, only much smaller. They were just as you have drawn them.”

Another, “a South Australian distiller of eucalyptus-oil, and a nature student of more than average ability, described some nests that he had found along the river Murray, just where it crosses the border. This gentleman says that the little colonies were fairly plentiful in the early days, and favoured the ‘mallee’ country, but died out as settlement progressed.”

The Principal of a Victorian Grammar School wrote to Rayment “I read your account of the native Apis with a lively interest. I remembered having seen some similar combs back in the early days before the settlement of such large areas. Of course, at that time I had no idea that the native bees would prove of so much interest. Your description fits those that I observed.”

“Mr. E. Garrett, a pioneer in Australian apiculture, assured me that in the pioneering days of the foothills of the Alps the tiny colonies were not at all a rare sight in the spring. In recent years they seem to have disappeared, though the great forest is practically unchanged.” Mr. E. Garrett, I suspect, belonged to the same Garrett family of Glenbrook, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, who were neighbours to M. A. Shallard and family in the 1880s.

Rayment continued “The combs do not exceed three in number, the centre one being the largest. They are attached to the support by the upper edges, after the manner of those of the hive-bee. The cells are truly hexagonal, and measure about nine to the lineal inch. The cells of the Indian flower-bee, Apis florea, are smaller, since they run ten to the inch. The thickness of the combs is about half an inch. In all respects except size the cells are a replica of the work of the hive-bee. The wax has the appearance of the larger bee's.” (pp.556-561).

“Owing to an unfortunate occurrence, I am at present not able to give a fully-detailed description of this bee. At another period I had pointed out to me the wax foundation of the central comb. The bees had started it on the under side of a limb of a wattle-tree, but for some

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reason they had abandoned the site. These first outlines were hexagonal and not round.

It is an overwhelmingly big country, and few entomologists have been there, but some soul daring the mountain fastenesses may yet bring back a colony of the bees. While I live I hope: some day I may yet handle the tiny combs. ..”

Rayment’s Illustration of the tiny Apis combs, around 3/4 actual size

Charles D. Michener, a contemporary of Tarlton Rayment, commented on Rayment's 'discovery' of aenigmatica in his 1974 book The Social Behaviour of the Bees by saying “A Species named by Rayment from south eastern Australia appears to have been either imaginary or a re sult of misunderstanding of local oral accounts.” (p.348). It would seem that now, around eighty years after Rayment’s discovery, the truth or otherwise of his find may never be resolved.

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Some Twentieth Century Observations

Les and Anne Dollin, 1985Les and Anne Dollin add to this in the Australasian Beekeeper of July, 1985 “Australian Native Bees are not suitable for commercial honey production. Their honey is stored in irregular sealed pots entangled in the structure of the nest and to extract their small stock of honey means virtually destroying the nest. They cannot be induced to build regular combs as they are a primitive species of bee. Given foundation wax, they tear down the sheets to build their irregular pots.”

The use of fire or smoke was not necessary when robbing the hives “.. they are incapable of stinging. They can, however, annoy an intruder by flying into the eyes, ears and nose.”

Some Aborigines did not just plunder the hive, eating wax, honey and grubs together. They devised a way to farm the native bee to some extent. In the Australasian Beekeeper of December 1986, Anne & Les Dollin report the finding of Aboriginal native bee farming areas in the Northern Territory. “The Aborigines used to cut away slices of the trunk until the honey in the hollow was exposed. Then they would collect the honey, seal up the nest with mud and leave it to rebuild for next time. After finding an old nest site that had been farmed by the Aborigines and searching further afield, we found four more” (p.118).

R. L. Goebel, 1987In The Australasian Beekeeper of December, 1987, in an article titled “Australian Native Bees”, the following words by R. L. Goebel of the Entomology Branch of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries clearly indicate why the native bee was not suitable for commercial use. Therefore, the colonists, wanting the products of the hive, were interested in importing the European bee which could supply wax and honey in the quantities they desired “It is estimated that there are over 1600 species of native bees in Australia. Most are solitary, working and nesting as individuals. Only the stingless bees (Trigona) have a highly developed social structure in any way similar to that of honey bees. It is uncommon to find more than 1kg of honey in a nest. In log hives it is difficult to remove the honey without destroying the nest.” (p.123)

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Part II - The Dark European Honeybee

Most contemporary descriptions of the first race of bee introduced into Australasia describe it as the ‘English’ or ‘German’ Black honeybee. Ruttner (1990) “Every dark bee was considered to belong to the northern European race as generally understood by the name ‘brown’ or ‘dark’ Dutch, English, French or German bee.”

On a visit to the North Shore Beekeepers club meeting for July 1995, I met Father Paul Shultze, the immediate past president of the club. He had visited the famous Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey. Fr. Paul was quite clear, on Bro. Adam’s authority, that the original English bee was brown coloured and not black. The recommended description of today, according to Ruttner (1990) is the Dark European honeybee.

NEW SOUTH WALES

The First Fleet, 1788Were bees transported from England or picked up along the way at Rio de Janeiro or the Cape of Good Hope? It is possible but unlikely. The fleet did however pick up tree stocks including orange, pear and apple trees, according to David Collins (1798), Judge Advocate and Secretary of the Colony, in his An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales. Throughout my research in both David Collins 1798 account and the Journals and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Journals, 1901 through 1985, I could find no indexed reference to bees. There were detailed reference of the livestock, trees, seeds and food taken on board, but no mention of bees.

Wheat was produced in large quantities but it is wind pollinated, the flowers being anemophilous, or wind-loving. This type of plant includes the Hop, where bees or other insect agents were not required for pollination. Samuel Marsden was able to produce crops of apples without the aid of the yet to be introduced bee.

Insect-loving or entomophilous plants rely on insects to effect pollination (Rayment, 1921). The apple trees produced fruit for the colonists and peaches for Marsden to produce 60 gallons of cider in 1803. The local insect population of moths, butterflies, wasps and beetles must have been up to the job, though I expect imperfectly formed fruit was the result. Rayment

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highlights “the dependence of the orchardist on the bee for his remarkable crop of fruit” (p.12). He mentions the consistent and imperfect pollination of apple flowers in the absence of the bee, leading to the apple being “full enough in some 'quarters', but aborted and shrunken in the others”. The colonists soon must have realised that with the introduction of exotic plants, a pollinator would be required to ensure good harvests, particularly with crops such as clover.

The Convicts

From my research, the convicts played little or no part in the beekeeping story. The type of people involved were missionaries, ships’ captains, ships’ surgeons, ships’ owners, ships’ agents, men of property and education.

Of onterest, Tarlton Rayment notes in the Australasian Beekeeper of October 1922 that convict 680 in the year 1829 was transported to New South Wales, to undergo a sentence of seven years, for committing the offence of “stealing Bees’ Honey”. This female convict was from Gloucester. It is not known if the honey was taken from an active hive or after the honey had been harvested. The thief may have been a beekeeper or an opportunist.

William Parr, a convict, is recorded as having stolen a pumpkin during a food shortage when the colony was young (Clark, 1988). I do not know if this is the same man as the Mr. Parr who bought five of Captain Wallis’s hives at auction in 1822. These two relationships between convicts and things apiarian are the only ones I have come across to date, except of course that convicts shared voyages with the hives of Captain Wallis and Dr. T. B. Wilson.

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Gregory Blaxland, 1806Gregory Blaxland sailed from England on 1 September 1805, arriving New South Wales 13 April 1806, a journey of seven and a half months, almost twice the duration of many contemporary journeys. Hacker (1935) states that “The first reference to bees in Australian records occurs in a letter from Gregory Blaxland dated 1st March, 1805, asking for cargo space on the ‘William Pitt’ for a ‘swarm of bees in cabin with wire cage over the hive’. There is, however, no record of their safe landing.” (p.1). These details are

repeated in the earlier Illustrated Australian Encyclopaedia of 1925 contributed by “H.H”, ie., Henry Hacker.

The list of the supplies that Blaxland did bring is reproduced in the Historical Records of Australia. Among the extensive list are “2 cases of plants, hops, &c, in cabin, 2 cases of field and garden seeds” (p.569) among a host of other supplies necessary for the gentleman settler. Not only bees needed special care, the plants too, needed to be nurtured. Early this year, responding to my letter requesting assistance on information about Dr. T. B. Wilson, Don Norman of Tasmania, great-grandson of George Wilson (brother of Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson), approached Dr. Marcus Hurburgh. Dr. Hurburgh was at one time a Trustee of the Royal Botanical Gardens. In Don’s words “He told me of a ‘Wardian Case’ which was used in the early days to transport plants from overseas to the colonies. This was a glass enclosure in which the plant was placed and the interior of the glass case sweated and supplied sufficient moisture to keep the plant alive on the long voyage out.” So far, my search for how the bees were transported remained unsatisfied.

The ship William Pitt arrived 13 April 1806. Had the bees made it on board, would Blaxland have appreciated their bodily needs, their need for ventilation, water and supplementary feeding? His ‘swarm of bees’ would

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very likely have been housed in a straw skep. For the non-beekeeper, a skep is a dome shaped woven basket, the open end of which faces down. This rests on a bottom board which provides an entrance for the bees usually by a V shaped groove. Free to fly from the entrance but enclosed by the cage, the bees would not have been clustering as they normally would have in winter and thereby consuming relatively little stores.

A Bottom Board and an upturned Skep

The more active the bees, the more food they consume. Water also, is a prime requirement for them. Blaxland’s bees, allowed to fly, would have freely defecated within the cage's confines. However, a caring beemaster would be able to sluice any mess away. The cage would also have provided the ventilation necessary for the bees survival, as long as they were not packed below in an airless hold. Hence, Blaxland’s desire to stow them in his cabin. On this trip, Blaxland lost many valuable seeds. They were literally cooked in the heat of one of the holds. These seeds he had collected at the Cape of Good Hope. They did not germinate “owing to the heat of the ships hold in which they were stowed” (Historical Records of Australia, Vol.V, p.748).

There is no evidence that the bees were ever taken on board. Blaxland's letter requesting shipment was written before he embarked on the ‘William Pitt’ under Captain Boyce. Blaxland and the Captain had an ongoing dispute, both before, during and after the voyage, the basis for which is unclear. Blaxland attempted to litigate on his arrival and legal opinion on his right do so was sought by the Governor. “It appears that Some disagreement took place between the Commander of the Pitt and Mr. Blaxland, a passenger, in which others were concerned, previous to the Ship leaving England and during the Voyage". (p.717) Blaxland wrote "Myself and family met with exceeding bad treatment from Capt'n Boyce”.

The Governor described his complaint as an ‘extraordinary litigation’. What was the cause of this dispute? Blaxland was reticent to acquaint the

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Governor with any details. A possibility is that the dispute stemmed from Blaxland's inability to get the bees accepted for passage.

Some details of Blaxland's dispute with Boyce were taken from an Edinburgh weekly paper, The Bee. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate this reference again. Why would a Scottish weekly take any interest in an emigrating Kentish landowner? A peculiar co-incidence occurs here. Could they have been published in that weekly as an oddity for the amusement of its readers simply because the paper was called The Bee and the disagreement between them was over the Captain’s refusal to ship them?

I wrote to two libraries in Edinburgh in an attempt to find more on this newspaper report. Sheena McDougall, Librarian in Charge of the Edinburgh Room of the Edinburgh District Council Central Library, replied. She noted that The Bee did indeed exist and that it was a general interest magazine. From the weekly’s own subtitle it was a “Literary weekly intelligencer consisting of original pieces and selections from performance of merit, foreign and domestic. A work calculated to disseminate useful knowledge among all ranks of people at small expence.”

The paper included the arts, sciences, ‘polite literature’, agriculture, manufacturers, navigation and trade. Blaxland’s dispute certainly fitted the categories of foreign, navigation and potentially, trade. The library held copies only for 1791-1793, so were unable to attempt a useful search on Blaxland’s upset some 12 years after the date of these issues. To shed further light on Blaxland’s dispute, a search within Scotland of the relevant issues of The Bee for 1805 and later is required.

In a report from Viscount Castlereagh to Governor King dated 13 July 1805, Castlereagh states that “Mr. Blaxland takes out no live Stock excepting possibly a few Spanish Sheep” (Historical Records of Australia). This letter was despatched upon the William Pitt. The sheep numbered twelve, but no mention of bees.

I could find no indexed reference to bees by David Collins, Judge Advocate and Secretary of the Colony, in his 1798 An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales. Collins came to New South Wales with the First Fleet. There are inventories of acreages of wheat and orchards as well as other livestock. This includes one in May 1788 and another in 1802. In Historical Records of Australia, the returns of agriculture and livestock show no entries

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for bees though records do appear for goats, hogs, cattle and fowl. Again no reference in the inventory of 1 November 1805. Blaxland's agricultural return on 13th February 1808 has no reference to bees. (p.415, Vol VI. August 1806 to December 1808)

Were bees worth appearing on an inventory? I believe so. The production of wax would have been of value, for example in the making of candles which would otherwise have had to be imported, at great expense.

From Robert Hughes (1987), Gregory Blaxland is described as “the first capitalist-farmer to emigrate”, he was “a prosperous landowner from Kent who had sold most of his English property to invest in Australia”. As an English landowner, it is very likely that his estate included the farming of bees. It was therefore not surprising that he wanted to take bees with him on his venture, either for the honey or more likely the wax.

Rev. Samuel Marsden, 1810

This portrait of Marsden dates from his residence at Cambridge University (1790-2). The original of it hangs in Magdalen College, Cambridge.

Crane’s contribution to The Hive and the Honey Bee in 1963 states “The first honey bees were landed in Australia at Sydney in 1822, and W. C. Cotton took the first consignment to New Zealand (from England) in 1842” (p.10). She was possibly aware of Gale's work and was referencing

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him. These dates have been updated in a later work by Crane in 1990. She stated “Honeybees had been transported successfully by ship to Australia in 1810, and New Zealand in 1839.”, presumably confirming the arrival of Marsden's honeybees and those of Miss Bumby.

Henry Hacker, an entomologist in Queensland and contemporary of Tarlton Rayment, must have done some original research as I can find no other author prior to him disputing the 1822 introduction as the first. In 1935 Hacker related “The First record of the actual introduction of bees occurs in a letter from Samuel Marsden to the secretary of the London Missionary Society, in which he mentions that on his way to the colony in the ship 'Ann' he purchased at Rio de Janeiro two hives, which were safely landed on 27th February, 1810, and placed in the garden of Government House in Sydney.” (p.1). Hacker was also aware of Blaxland's letter of 1 March 1805 to the captain of the William Pitt, requesting space for his swarm of bees ‘in cabin’, but Hacker made no mention of this, supposedly, aborted attempt to introduce bees.

Hacker’s facts about Marsden are reflected in the following entry. However the mention of England is in error as the bees were acquired in Brazil. The Australian Encyclopedia of 1958 states “The honey bee is not native to Australia. The earliest known attempt to introduce bees into the continent was made by Rev. Samuel Marsden, who imported an unknown number from England in 1810, but he was unsuccessful in establishing these and they eventually died out.” (p.472). The entry was supplied by James Stanley Eagland, referred to as “former President Victorian Apiarists’ Association”.

F. R. Beuhne, at the time of his writing in 1916, was a former bee expert of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. In his work Beekeeping in Victoria, a 1958 revision by officers of the Apiary Branch of the Department, is the following “The Black bee is stated to have been brought to Australia from Great Britain in 1822.” Note that he uses the phrase “is stated to have been” as if he had not seen any corroborating evidence or that he believed it possible that there were other earlier attempts.

In his own words to Mrs. Stokes (Mackaness, 1942) in his letter of 26 October 1795, Marsden wrote “I am a Gardener a Farmer a Magistrate & Minister”. Governor King, in a survey of the present state of New South Wales, dated 12 August 1806, wrote of Marsden “He appears to

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understand his business as an English farmer”. For a more detailed picture of Marsden, refer to the work by A. T. Yarwood (1977, p.79) or Bill Wannan (1972). To gain a small appreciation of his lifestyle, visit one of his homes. Mamre Homestead at St. Marys, N.S.W. has been restored to its 1820s state and is set in a delightful rural outlook.

What type of hive did Marsden ship his bees in? From Crane (1983), the Portuguese keep bees primarily in upright, cylindrical or rectangular hives of cork, being warm and weather-tight (p.95). As Portugal was Brazil’s colonial master at that time, it is reasonable to assume that Brazilian beekeepers may have followed similar methods.

Crane (1983) shows an illustration of a “Gourd hive for stingless bees under the porch roof of an old colonial house in Sao Paulo, Provence, Brazil, 1973.” (p.69, Fig. 66). Is it likely that the hive Marsden acquired was of this shape and contained stingless bees? He should have known what he was looking for. (The image below is that of a straw hive and honey super.)

As the hives were rain damaged at Sydney after being left in the open for three months, it is possible that they were constructed in an alternative material to cork, possibly some kind of woven thatch.

George Mackaness produced an Australian Historical Monograph in 1942 containing some private correspondence of the Rev. Samuel Marsden. The Reverend writes, “after a very pleasant passage of twenty weeks” dated 4 May 1810 “I also took out two hives of Bees from Rio and got them out safe but am afraid that many of them are dead since. I have had so much

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to attend to since we landed that I really forgot them and left them in the Governors garden, where I fear the heavy rains have injured them”. (p.42). From the date he arrived, January 27, to the date of this letter, is some fourteen weeks in which the bees were left to the elements. Time enough to swarm, though unlikely as Spring was long past.

The Museum of Sydney, opened May 1995, sits astride the foundations of Government House. Construction commenced 1788 and extended over the years until it was demolished in 1846. Some of the foundations are viewable from the forecourt adjacent to the roadway of Phillip Street. These are the foundations of the rear wall of the Governor’s house, the gardens of which sloped down to the waterfront of Sydney Cove. Standing on the corner of Phillip Street today, it is but one block downhill to Circular Quay. The water's edge would have been closer to the house in Marsden’s time. An easy row ashore with the hives, a short walk uphill and Marsden had deposited the hives brought all the way from Rio de Janeiro.

Government House, Sydney, about the time Marsden arrived

James Samuel Hassall's father, Thomas Hassall, married Marsden's daughter Ann in 1822. In James’ work In Old Australia, published in 1902, are included extracts of Marsden's letters dealing with Marsden's introduction of bees in 1810. The originals of these letters are included in the 'Hassall Papers' set of manuscripts held at the Mitchell Library, Sydney.

Are there elements in Marsden's letter which suggest that he was a beekeeper, though a forgetful one? Australia's first? In a letter dated 26 November 1811,

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Marsden spoke of “improving the fleeces of our Sheep” arguing that immense National wealth will spring from a modest start. He illustrates this by writing “The Bee can carry but little honey, but in time the Hive is filled.” (Mackaness, 1942, p.44)

Supporting this is the reference by Yarwood that Marsden “took on at Good's suggestion two hives of honey-bees which appear to have been the first such importation to New South Wales” (Mackaness, 1942, p.125).

Dr. John Mason Good was a staunch Marsden supporter, a medical practitioner and biblical scholar of Caroline Place, editor of the Eclectic Review, a publication of the Church Missionary Society. Was Good a bee-aware person whereas Marsden was not? Marsden’s behaviour in neglecting the bees indicates this. Beekeepers of the time housed their skeps under a roof so as to protect them from the weather. Any covering on the hives would have protected them from the traditionally heavy Autumn rains of Sydney.

In Two Years in New South Wales, published 1827, P. Cunningham, a Royal Navy Surgeon, was indeed observant “European bees were introduced some years ago, but falling into careless hands, little attention was paid to them for awhile.” (p.340). Cunningham does not mention the owner of the “careless hands” but he was probably being politically sensitive by not stating the likely candidate, Marsden, in 1810. The description of the bees as ‘European’ was a natural assumption, though was it based in fact?

Cunningham continued in a more optimistic mode “Lately, however, some swarms have been obtained by a careful individual, and we may soon hope to see the colony stocked with them.” Cunningham, again, did not mention names, but his “careful individual” was possibly Captain Wallis of only five years previously in 1822. A covering thrown over the hives, even one of thatch, would have done, rather then neglecting the hives and leaving them to the mercies of the weather.

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The illustration is of a hiveshelter of the period, taken from Edward Bevan’s 1870 book, The Honey Bee. The doors opened from the back, the flight entrances towards the front.

Marsden was a self declared gardener. In a letter dated 27 April 1803 he states “I am making great progress in my Orchard and garden. I have got many hundred of different Fruit Trees and great abundance of some kinds of fruit. I made more than 60 gallons of Cider this year which promises to be very good. This was made from peaches, though we have apples they are not of the cider kind.” (Mackaness, 1942, p.31). The native bees and other insects, it appears, had been doing a reasonable job of pollinating his peaches and apples.

Marsden wrote at least two letters mentioning his Rio bees. There may have been others as he complained in a letter that some of his correspondence is routinely stolen by the dubious characters who come and go within the Colony. He wrote to John Stokes, after apparently spending a month at Rio, 'On Board the Ann under Captain Clarke, dated 1 December 1809 “Two Hives of Bees I found in Rio and shall attempt to take them out.” (Mackaness, 1942, p.40).

The Marsden family country estate at "Mamre", established in 1804 with the homestead built in the 1820s would have been one site for Marsden to relocate his hives. Another was his home at Parramatta. Marsden’s chief agricultural interests were wool, sheep breeding as well as being an “experimenter with new crops, plants and livestock” (p.89). Bees?

There is no documentary evidence to indicate that these bees survived in situ or deserted their rain drenched hives located in the Governor’s garden in Phillip Street, possibly to set up in a hollow gum beside the foreshores of Sydney Cove. Nor is there testimony they were moved to another location such as his home at Parramatta or ‘Mamre’ at St. Marys. Rayment (1922) quoted from Heaton's 1879 Dictionary of Dates “A species of this industrious race was introduced into Parramatta some years ago, but

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lived only a short time.” This is very likely a reference to Marsden’s bees. Heaton reproduced this entry from the Sydney Gazette of 12 April 1822. Rayment (1922) commented on this observation “We have reason for thinking this latter statement to be incorrect.” (Australasian Beekeeper, Oct. 1922, p.72)

The belief of the current custodians of Mamre Homestead, the Catholic religious order, The Sisters of Mercy, is that Marsden established his Brazilian bees there. In The Mamre Project Foundation Book (1991) it is stated “On his 1,030 acres at Mamre, Marsden established an orchard with seeds imported from Europe and Asia and bees from Rio de Janeiro.” (p.19). Hives of Italian bees are kept there today to recreate the speculated 19th century establishment of bees at Mamre Homestead and also to support the serene atmosphere of this delightful refuge.

Marsden's letter of 4 May 1810 to Mr. John Stokes mentions the bees having been left in the Governor's garden “I have had so much to attend to since we landed that I really forgot them and left them in the Governors garden, where I fear the heavy rains have injured them” (Mackaness, 1942, p.40).

In The Australian Encyclopedia (1988) it is stated “The earliest known attempt to introduce bees into the continent was made by the Rev. Samuel Marsden, who imported an unknown number from England in 1810 but he was unsuccessful in establishing these and they eventually died out.” (p.472). Marsden's letter of 4 May 1810, explicitly mentioned that he brought two hives. The Ann sailed from Rio on 2 December 1809 and arrived Port Jackson, 27 January 1810, a voyage of 88 days. No small feat to keep the bees alive on such a long voyage. How did he do it?

In one of Marsden's letters he complained about the exorbitant cost of candles for his church. Having bees and harvesting the honey by suffocating the bees over the sulphur pit would have produced quantities of beeswax which could have been converted into candles.

I did wonder if Marsden had brought Brazilian native bees or the European honeybee? Crane (1963) states, regarding the European honeybee “they were taken from Portugal to Brazil around 1530” (p.10). Later, she indicated a reversal of the believed date of the introduction of the honeybee into Brazil. In 1975 she stated “We now know that honeybees were not introduced to

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Brazil until 1839 (Nogueira-Neto, 1962)” (p.477). There is another 20th Century reference in a book titled A Naturalist in Brazil in which the introduction of the European bees was dated as “the 1840’s”. Hopkins (1886) referenced Dr. Gerstaecker’s 1862 work Geographical Distribution of the Honey-Bee and its Varieties, where Gerstaecker gave the date of importation into Brazil as 1845, Buenos Ayres (from Chili), Argentina in 1852 (p.27). Nor could the bees have been brought into Brazil from other South American countries. Crane adds “they are believed to have reached Chile and Peru in 1857 (Beck)”.

Did Yarwood (1977) get it right? “One small setback was the injury suffered by the two hives of Brazilian honey-bees, many of which died upon being exposed in the governor's garden to Sydney's heavy autumn rains.” Yarwood described the bees as “Brazilian” and Brazilian they might have been, possibly the Melipona stingless bees. Did Marsden pass through Rio, twenty nine years before European honeybees were introduced, according to the Brazilian entomologist Nogueira-Neto?

Bob Gulliford, editor of The Australasian Beekeeper, had this to say after reading my manuscript, a week before this book was published “ It is unlikely, though not impossible, that the ‘Brazillian bees’ were Meliponins. With the Catholic church’s huge need for candles and the difficulties of getting wax from meliponin or other indigenous species of bees, the 1837 seems quite ridiculous.”. Gulliford went on to write that he was not convinced that “ .. bees were only introduced into Brazil in 1837.” He continued “The church had access to bees right from its earliest times and it’s inconceivable that they waited over 300 years to get them from Europe. I believe the 1530 date or something very much earlier than 1837 to be much more realistic.”. Following this feedback, I revised my assumption that Marsden must have brought meliponin bees from Rio.

Gulliford had more to add “ .. the bees obtained from Portugal would have been Apis mellifera iberica, the so-called ‘Spanish’ or ‘Iberian’ bee. This is a race of poor virility and productivity when compared to Apis mellifera mellifera or Apis mellifera ligustica, the European and Italian bees respectively, now so popular. Importations of this species to Australia were not likely to have survived because of their poor constitutions.”. I leave it to you the reader to form your own conclusion.

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An illustration from Cotton’s My Bee Book of 1842

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Captain Wallis and the Isabella, 1822

The Apis honeybee did not previously exist in Australasia, prior to 1822. Isaac Hopkins (1904) from New Zealand, the pioneer of modern beekeeping in that country, states “In the year 1862, Dr. A. Gerstaecker, of Berlin, first published the results of his investigations upon the 'Geographical Distribution of the Honey-bee and its Varieties’ (p.9) .. With reference to the countries of the New World, North and South America, and Australasia, Dr. Gerstaecker asserts that in none of them were any species of the genus Apis found until they had been imported from Europe.” (p.27)

The first successful introduction of the European Dark honeybee into Australia and New Zealand was achieved by Captain John Wallis in 1822. Wallis was commander of the convict ship 'Isabella'. She arrived at Port Jackson on 9 March 1822 after a voyage of 125 days. On leaving London, the Isabella went onto Ireland, departing Cork on 4 November 1821. She carried 200 male prisoners. The voyage was without stopovers, ignoring such traditional ports as Teneriffe, Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope along the way.

Mr. R. B. Gulliford, editor of The Australasian Beekeeper, put the situation rather well in a letter to me dated 18 February 1995 “The 1822 date was accepted for decades as the 'official' date of bees arriving in Australia. What seems to have been left out was that this was the first colony of bees to survive and reproduce. Reputed earlier importations may have actually hit the shoreline but they did not survive to reproduce.”

Typically known as the ‘English’ or ‘German’ black bee in contemporary literature, the recommended description of today, from Ruttner (1990) is the ‘European Dark’. Hopkins (c1904) was before his time “Neither of the names, German or Black, is a correct designation for the variety; for, as Dr. Gerstaecker has shown, it was by no means confined originally to Germany, and its prevailing colour is more brown than black; but these are the names by which it is now universally known.” (p.10)

The Isabella’s next visit to the Colonies was again from Ireland, also under John Wallis. She arrived 16 December 1823. (Bateson, 1969, pp.344-5).

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Wallis made two earlier visits as the master of a convict transport, one, a 146 day passage via Rio on the Fanny which arrived 18 January 1816. His first visit appears to have been aboard the Three Bees after a 149 day passage, arriving 6 May 1814, (Bateson, 1969, pp 340-1) making this an interesting co-incidence between the name of the convict transport and his cargo of eight years later in 1822.

Albert Gale (1912), a stalwart of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Richmond, New South Wales, at the end of the 19th Century stated “In 1822 the first hive bees were brought to this part of the world by a Captain Wallace, or Willis, in the ship 'Isabella'. From the bees thus introduced colonies were propagated and distributed inland.” The spelling of the Captain’s name by various authors has been inconsistent. Gale uses 'Wallace’, ‘Wallis’ and ‘Willis’ and Rayment ‘Wallis’. The spelling for ‘Willis’ is very likely a typographical error. Gale’s original story on the introduction of the honeybee appeared in The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, 1901 (pp.213-217), where the alternate usage was ‘Wallis’. The Sydney Gazette of 2 June 1822 has ‘Wallis’ and the same journal of 1 November 1822 gives ‘Wallace’.

How Many Hives Were on the Isabella ?Why is the number of hives of interest? The successful shipping of hives was such a difficult feat, that getting one or two out was a credible achievement. More than two was atypical and a major achievement. Wallismay well have started the voyage with more than were landed alive. Losses during the passage may have been as high as fifty percent. In Van Diemen’s Land, William Kermode’s delivery of one hive in 1821 was a total loss. Space on a small ship is always at a premium. Only because he had ultimate authority on board was Wallis able to carry this strange cargo. After all, his commission was to carry convicts, not bees. I wonder if his direct route was a result of his desire to get his valuable cargo to its Colonial destination as soon as possible?

The following extract appeared in the Sydney Gazette of 6 November 1823 “The bee-hives taken out by Captain Wallis, of the Isabella, fortunately arrived safe, and four of their thickly populated habitations are now in the neighbourhood of Sydney, where the valuable little colonizers seem to lose none of their forces from the change of climate, but rather to increase in thrift and hardihood. The owner expected to extend his four to twenty hives in twelve months, so congenial to their prosperity and

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nature is their newly acquired land.” So there were at least four hives. Others may have been moved beyond “the neighbourhood of Sydney”. (p.3, col.a) This article is largely a rewrite of the entry in the Sydney Gazette of 12 April 1822 “Mr. Parr has no doubt, with the exercise of proper attention, that the four hives might become twenty, in the space of only twelve months. The experiment is doubtless worthy of a trial.” (p.2b)

The statement that “The owner expected to extend his four to twenty hives in twelve months” seems optimistic for four hives to increase to twenty by repeated swarms issuing through a season. This would have been a significant increase during the first twelve months. Such expansion would require an average of four swarms per hive, an intolerable occurrence for a beekeeper of today where swarming is discouraged by the culling of queen cells, dividing colonies to produce an artificial swarm or breeding queens which exhibit a lower tendency to swarm.

An entry in the same issue of the Sydney Gazette tells of Mr Blaxland winning a silver medal from the Society of Arts for his work as a cultivator of the vine. There is no mention of his earlier attempt to introduce bees, successful or otherwise.

In Henry Field Gurner’s Miscellaneous Papers 1817-1873, held at the Mitchell Library, there appears a newspaper cutting, annotated as originating from the Morning Herald of 21 June 1824. It was credited as an extract from a private letter “The five hives of bees taken out by Captain Wallace of the Isabella, were thriving well and had thrown off many swarms, the greater part of which had escaped into the woods, where they will, no doubt, multiply fast, from the climate and country being so favourable to their propagation, so that wild honey and wax may hereafter become objects of interest to the colonist for domestic purposes and exportation, besides what will be produced from them in their tame state.”. So there were five hives?

In an early edition of The Australian Encyclopaedia is the following entry by Rayment “was first successfully introduced by Captain Wallace, of the convict ship Isabella, in 1822, when he landed 10 hives at Sydney. With the hives landed by Captain Wallace began the important industry of apiculture, and these and later importations of bees provided the origin of the swarms that abound in a wild state throughout the Australian bushland”. So there were ten?

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The Australian Junior Encyclopaedia of 1951 provides a variation on the ten hive story with an entry by Tarlton Rayment “The honey-bee of the commercial bee-farms is not a native insect, but was brought to Australia in the convict ship Isabella, commanded by Captain Wallis, in 1822, when twelve hives were landed from this vessel in Sydney. From these few hives the honey-bee has now spread over the whole of the six States”. So Rayment believed there were twelve?

The spread of bees throughout the Colonies was not only a result of the Wallis importation. There were other independent introductions of bees to the other colonies of Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia. It is certain that descendants of the Wallis bees spread throughout New South Wales and very likely descendants reached other colonies. Hopkins (c1904), after acknowledging the Wallis introduction, stated “.. as there appear to be no records of their having been introduced from abroad into any of the sister colonies, no doubt they were sent to or taken by early settlers to various parts of the continent from the mother colony, New South Wales.” Dr T. B. Wilson is reputed to have taken bees to Western Australia, around the year 1834. Very likely, there were many other frequent movements of bees by ship. The Imlay brothers took hives in April 1842 to New Zealand, only recently made independent of New South Wales on 16 November 1840.

How did Rayment calculate the number of hives? I believe he worked it out by studying the available newspaper reports of that time, though I disagree with his count. I think there were eight.

My calculation: seven were advertised for sale in the Sydney Gazette on 19 March 1822. An article in the Bulletin of 24 January 1924, authored by “F.A.” referred to the importation by Wallis “They were distributed about Sydney in hives, and according to Mr. Parr, of George-street, who had four of the hives, and by Mr. Icely, who resided in Macquarie-place and to whom the skipper had presented one ..” That would make it eight, if the gift to Icely was made before the auction notice was published, and more importantly, if the author ‘F.A.’ is to be believed. The story of a gift could be pure invention. (Refer “The Bulletin, 1924” on page 54)

The hive for sale by Parr in June 1822 had probably been unsaleable in April, as indicated by the relatively low number of bees, 476, left alive,

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and so may have been excluded from those offered on 12 April. Parr therefore, may have purchased five hives from Mr. Lord on 19 March. If the four that were for sale on 12 April were part of the earlier seven, then the count remains at eight. If they were separate, then the count would then be twelve, equal to Rayment’s figure.

According to Parr, this last hive had only 476 bees left alive, three months after their arrival. The number of bees landed alive may have been as low as fifty with the Queen surviving, thus allowing the slow build-up to 476. For one hive to be so low in numbers suggests to me that others may not have survived, the critical mass of bees having fallen below a viable number of around fifty. Not until its numbers showed a significant increase and acceptable state of honey stores could he honestly offer it for sale.

The count of bees at 476 seems more of a dramatic guess than an accurate count. For the bees to have dwindled from say 20,000 to 30,000 down to around 500 is an indication of the stress the bees were exposed to during the voyage. The small quantity of honey remaining indicates that a contributing cause of the loss of a hive was due to starvation.

The above illustration accompanied Rayment’s story Centenary of the Honey Bee in Australasia which appeared in The Australasian Beekeeper of October 1922.

Parr could not have counted the bees to come up with such a number. A skep does not permit easy access to the interior of the hive by a beekeeper.

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The only way to accurately count them would have been to suffocate them over a sulphur pit, but this of course would have defeated his purpose. I assume Parr was trying to demonstrate that he had something of value. Any relatively small number would do in the end. The method relied upon by early beekeepers to gain increase was the capture of swarms which were seen as a valuable occurrence, the reverse of today’s practice.

This basic technique coupled with the destruction of all the inhabitants of a hive in Autumn so as to harvest the honey crop acted over time to produce a strong tendency in surviving queens to favour the swarming impulse. After all, the beekeeper valued those colonies that swarmed repeatedly. The less prone swarmers were the ones suffocated after the hive was placed over a pit of burning sulphur.

There was at least one bee aware person in the Colony at this time. In the Sydney Gazette of 30 January 1823 there appeared a letter to the Editor “Sir, As bees have only 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. I am, Sir, your obedient servant. R.H.” (p.3c) The method described involved driving the bees from the hive by ‘beating’ against one end of the hive, whereupon the honey was then removed.

Mr. Parr, 1822I believe Parr was an entrepreneur of some note. He very likely bought five hives, or even all seven of them from Captain Wallis as a speculation. The following advertisement appeared in the Sydney Gazette of 15 March 1822:

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It reads “Sales by Auction, by Mr. Lord, At his Auction Mart, Macquarie-place, on Tuesday next, the 19th Instant at 11 o’clock in the Forenoon, THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES, without Reserve; seven hives of bees just imported from England; ..” (p.3b).

The Sydney Gazette of 12 April 1822 reported “Captain Wallis, of the Isabella, brought out a number of bee-hives on his last visit to the colony. Mr. Parr, of George-street, has four of these thickly populated habitations which seem not to lose any of their forces from a change of climate. .. 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 favoured spot that seems perfectly congenial to their prosperity and nature.” (p.2b) By 12 April 1822, one month after their arrival, Parr had only four of the hives. It appears he had already disposed of three of them.

The article in the Sydney Gazette of 2 June 1822 stated that he had one remaining hive, three apparently having been sold. On three occasions, Mr. Parr advertised his one remaining hive of bees for sale in 1822, on June 2nd, 14th and the 21st. Its text is as follows “Mr Parr has only ONE HIVE of BEES for SALE, having disposed of all the other hives imported by Captain Wallis, which are the only Hive Bees in New South Wales.- When the above Hive was landed the number of Bees were reduced to 476 and the quantity of honey to little more than half-a-pound; but now, although the depth of winter, the number of bees exceed 6000 and their stock of honey, about eighteen pounds - Mr. Parr will engage that this hive will cast a swarm in July next, and before Christmas three others may be expected.” (p.4b). This suggests that Parr bought all the seven hives offered for auction. The two that Wentworth had, as reported on 1 November 1822 in the Sydney Gazette, were therefore likely acquired from Parr. Icely had one in 1823 according to Heaton’s report of 1879. Icely had arrived in Sydney in April, but a month after the arrival of the Isabella. He was a beekeeper and connected with the shipping business, as well as the purported recipient of a gift of a hive from Captain Wallis. Was Icely the exporter of the bees?

No price is mentioned so it would seem that the vendor was expecting to choose between the various offers for the one remaining hive. Parr’s

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guarantee that the bees would swarm in ‘July next’ was a reasonable one, assuming he meant by July of 1823. If he meant July 1822, then this was a most optimistic promise. The estimated weight of honey at 18 pounds was likely determined by simply weighing the hive and subtracting its estimated earlier weight when it had been in a poorer state. The estimate of three swarms by Christmas was a realistic expectation.

Immediately above the Parr advertisement appeared the following entry which assists in painting a profile of the man acting as agent for the sale “Mr. Parr leaving this by the Shipley for England, where he intends to remain about 4 months to select such GOODS as he finds suitable for this Market, with which he intends to return by a certain Conveyance; begs leave to acquaint Gentlemen, Settlers, and Others, that he will engage to bring GOODS, of any particular Description, to Order, at the most reasonable Advance;- and, from his general Knowledge of Business, he flatters himself, that those Gentlemen, who may be pleased to favour him with Orders, will find considerable Benefit therefrom.” So, Parr was something of a businessman

Parr’s trading activities are made quite apparent throughout the Sydney Gazette. In the issue for 30 January 1823 “Mr Parr is very sorry to say that several of his numerous Customers have forgotten his Terms of Credit; viz. Christmas and June; - He therefore begs to remind all those whose Accounts were due on Christmas past, that if they are not settled on or before the 10th of February, they will, without exception, be handed over to his Solicitor.” (p.3b).

Heaton, 1879

Heaton’s 1879 Dictionary of Dates appears to have been a significant source of dates for many authors. Tarlton Rayment in 1922 used it. The Bulletin article of 1924 is almost a replica of it. Below is the extract from Heaton in its original form:

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Heaton gleaned his facts, in the main, from the Sydney Gazette of 1822 and 1823 and The Hobart Town Courier of 16 May 1834. I have yet to find the sources for the notes on John Hughes and Thomas Arkell. Somewhere, also, is an article providing the basis for Albert Gale’s account of the settler from Jervis Bay who bought two hives for £4 in 1840.

Thomas Icely, 1822An illustration was taken from William Charles Cotton’s 1842 work My Bee Bookt depicts a cloud of smoke and bees as the two men ‘work’ the straw skep hives. Notice the grooved entrance boards. The beekeeper on the right is using a smoker to quieten the bees while honey is being robbed. To the right of the other man, though indistinct, is a saucepan upon the ground, ready to take the stolen combs. Such was a common method of beekeeping in Icely’s time.

Thomas Icely was a pioneer pastoralist, born at Plympton, England in 1797. “He first arrived in Sydney in 1820 seeking a good field for commercial enterprise. He opened a business in George Street, Sydney, where he disposed of an assortment of goods he had brought with him. Having determined to settle in New South Wales he returned to England in 1821, purchased more goods, and reached Sydney again in April of the following year.”

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Icely may have been Australia’s first beekeeper, as indicated by the following extract from the Sydney Gazette of 30 January 1823 “Towards bringing the bees to perfection in this Colony, we shall ever be peculiarly indebted to the great attention and skill of Mr. Icely, of Macquarie-place. This Gentleman is in possession of one of the original hives brought by Captain Wallis, of the Fanny, when here last, from which have proceeded two generations; the last of which has been in possession of a new hive only about six weeks, which already contains sixty pounds of honey, more or less.” (Additional Supplement, p.2a). The reference to the Fanny apparently ignores Wallis’ more recent 1822 arrival on the Isabella, as his visit on the Fanny was in 1816.

The article continued: “They take their aerial excursions at pleasure, but never go beyond the sound of the bell, or any noisy instrument that may be intended to rally flying gentry to their quarters. Australasia may now boast of her bees; recollecting, however, that they are derivable from the common Parent - Great Britain.” The mention of bells and noisy instruments is a reference to the belief of the time that ‘tanging’ or the making of a metallic noise was capable of bringing a swarm to the ground. More (1976) in The Bee Book provides various explanations for this belief, one of which involves the Greek father of the gods, Zeus. Protected from his infant eating father, Chronos, by the Curetes, warrior-priests, and fed by Melissa’s bees “the bees were attracted by the clashing weapons of the Curetes; and to this day there survives a mistaken belief that the noise of iron and brass objects being ‘tanged’ together will make a swarm settle.” (p.9)

Icely returned to Sydney in April, 1822, one month after Wallis and the Isabella of March, 1822. He was “granted land in proportion to his capital” and “In 1823 Icely selected 2000 acres in the Bathurst district and commenced to breed stock there.” Between 1839 and 1862 he resided at his cattle and sheep property, Coombing Park, south west of Bathurst near the present town of Carcoar. From 1869 until his death in 1874, Icely lived at Elizabeth Farm House, which had been built by Captain John Macarthur and originally occupied by Macarthur in November 1793.

D’Arcy & William Charles Wentworth, 1822

Gale (1912) referenced the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser of Friday, 1 November 1822 “We congratulate our readers upon the

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complete establishment of that most valuable insect, the bee, in this Territory. During the last three weeks, three swarms of young bees have been produced from two hives, the property of D. WENTWORTH, Esq, purchased by him from Captain Wallace, of the Isabella, and placed at his estate at Homebush, near Parramatta.” (p.2).

D’Arcy Wentworth, like Thomas Braidwood Wilson, had been a surgeon on a convict ship. D’Arcy arrived in the Second Fleet on 28 June 1790. D’Arcy’s son, William Wentworth, had, in 1819, produced a statistical survey of the Colony of New South Wales. I could find no mention of hives in any of the inventories, though it may have been that hives were of too little significance to warrant inclusion.

In The New South Wales Calendar and General Post Office Directory of 1832, instructions are provided for the delivery of mail, from one delivery point to the next along the various routes of the day. The following example describes the former Wentworth Home Bush property “The cleared ground of Home Bush on the right, formerly the residence of D'Arcy Wentworth, Esq. a mile and a half, being the greatest extent of land cleared and stumped in the neighbourhood of Sydney.” (1966 facsimile edition, p.49)

Edward Henry Statham, 1844Edwin Statham, a member of the Parramatta and District Historical Society in 1921, made a contribution to their Journal and Proceedings, dated 21 January 1921. He quoted directly from his copy of the Sydney Gazette, 1 November 1822. He added some colour by giving the full text of the item, including “The fragrant shrubs and flowers of Australia are thus proved to be peculiarly congenial to the increase of this insect, and we trust that, in a few years, we shall be able to add honey and wax to our other numerous productions.” (p.17)

The native honeybee, Trigona, was well known to the aboriginals. In the earliest years of Australasian beekeeping, due to the absence of Apis mellifera prior to European settlement, it was not known by the colonists if the local flora would be compatible with the imported bee, hence the above comment ‘peculiarly congenial’.

Further colour is added by recollections of his father's apiary, around the year 1844 “My father, the late Edward Henry Statham, established an apiary

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at his farm at 'Arnold Grove,' near Parramatta, about the year 1844, and I have a distinct recollection of his having a considerable number of hives. I am not sure from whence the stock was procured, but it would most probably have been from the Wentworths, with whom he was closely associated as a journalist; he took over the 'Australian' newspaper from the Wentworths. Large quantities of wax were produced and used for making candles; we used to make our own candles in those days.”.

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.” Three convict ships 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. Bateson (1969) “The Phoenix, after disembarking her convicts at Hobart, sailed for Sydney, and early in August arrived off the entrance to Port Jackson.” (p.230) Several searches of the Sydney Morning Herald from August 1863 have failed to locate the item referred to by Gale.

Captain John Macarthur, 1825The Macarthur papers at the Mitchell Library give various details of farming, wool and horticulture at Elizabeth Farm and Camden. With such a diverse farm, where, in Elizabeth's words “We feed hogs, we have cattle, keep a dairy, fatten beef and mutton and export wool.”, it is highly likely that they also kept bees. There is also an obscure reference in these papers, a letter about bees at the Hawkesbury River in 1845.

In The Australian Encyclopaedia of 1958 “a colony of stingless bees was exported to the Horticultural Society of England by Captain Macarthur, son of John Macarthur, as early as June 1825. The bees were almost certainly Trigona carbonaria. They are said to have arrived ‘in excellent order”. For Macarthur to have located and hived a colony of native bees suggests to me that he had some knowledge of the habits of bees. He may have sent them back to England as a curiosity, distinct from the known habits of the dark European honeybee.

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It may have been that his wife, Elizabeth, who maintained the farm with convict labour during her husband's extended absences, was the one who maintained an interest in the normal agricultural practice of keeping bees. Later, in the early 1880’s, Elisha Wiggins built an extensive apiary in the Lower Blue Mountains at Springwood. It was he who had found work as a gardener at the Camden property of the Macarthur-Onslows.

The Bulletin, 1924In The Bulletin of 24 January 1924, there appeared an article, the author identified only by the initials “F.A.”. I do not know to whom this refers. The article is written as if the author had first hand information from Mr. Parr and Thomas Icely. It makes reference to Thomas Arkell. The article contains several errors and I suspect that it was made up to appear that authentic sources were being used. Even so, it is still worth reproducing here. My comments have been inserted where appropriate.

“The first bees to be imported to Australia were brought by Captain James Wallis (John, not James, was his name) of the ship Isabella. They were distributed about Sydney in hives, and, according to information supplied by Mr. Parr, of George-street, who had four of the hives, (note: this event was 102 years earlier, not recent and first hand knowledge gathered by ‘F.A.’) and by Mr. Icely, who resided in Macquarie-place and to whom the skipper had presented one, (note: this is the first and only reference I have come across that Icely received a present of one hive) the climate change didn’t affect the little toilers in the least. Getting bees across the Blue Mountains was another story, however, for although many attempts were made to land a live colony at Bathurst it was not until 1839 that John Hughes, of Sussex farm, got a working colony installed near the City of the Plains. To Thomas Arkell, of the same district, went the distinction of being the first successful bee-farmer; he sent the first plunder to Sydney in 1842. (note: honey was already for sale in bulk as early as 1840. It could be bought by the ton for 1s 6d per pound as advertised in The Australian of 17 September 1840) Dr. Wilson, a Government medical man, was the bees first foster parent in Tasmania; he commenced operations in 1823.” (p.3), (another error, it was 1831, and he didn’t “commence operations”, he left the hive in the Government Gardens while he continued his job as a convict ship’s surgeon.)

The author had apparently used Heaton’s 1879 Dictionary of Dates from which Rayment had also drawn details. The words “the climate change

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didn’t affect the little toilers in the least” are remarkably similar to Heaton’s “these thickly populated habitations .. seem not to lose any of their forces from a change of climate”. In addition, I counted ten identical points between Heaton and ‘F.A’. Indeed, the 1823 error can be accounted by F.A’s inability to copy accurately; 1823 was the date Icely was reported by Heaton as having “had one of Wallis’s original hives”. It is possible that F.A invented the Wallis gift of a hive to Icely. However, Thomas Icely was part of the shipping business. For example, in the Sydney Gazette of 4 September 1823, he was an agent for the sale of the brig Ann. For several years, he was part of the shipping firm, Icely and Hindson.

Thomas Arkell, 1842As well as the reference to Arkell by Heaton in 1879 and ‘F.A.’ in 1924, another appeared in the Western Stock and Station Journal of 7 November 1949. This article appears to have drawn many of its details from Rayment’s work as it mentions the same details for Wallis, Hughes, Icely, Payten and Arkell. These were attributed to an earlier article from the Journal, titled, “Where Did the bees Come From”. The 1949 article stated that “Thomas Arkell Smith, of Charlton, Campbell’s River, developed the bee industry in that locality. .. Thomas Arkell had property not only at Charlton, Campbell’s River, but at Trunkey .. the property was Mulgunnia. .. He took bees from Charlton to Mulgunnia, but the date is unknown.”.

The author’s source was Mr. Reg. C. Smith who was Arkell’s great grandson. The article was centred on the bees of Abercrombie Caves. “Bees can be seen to this day working in the cliff at the northern end of the caves. Mr Smith says ‘I have personally known the bees nest to be there for over 60 years, and others knew it long before my time. An attempt was made years ago by several persons to rob this nest. An actual start was made, but was stopped by my late father, Thomas Arkell Smith, Police Magistrate and Mining Warden, who reported the matter to the Department of mines. This lead to the Caves being made a sanctuary.” I wonder if they are there now?

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Sue Ellison of the North Shore Beekeepers supplied me with an extract from a letter sent to her by Miss Elizabeth Mocatta. Family oral history tells it this way “My sister, Mrs. R. Lumsdaine, has told me that our Great great Grandfather, Thomas Arkell; was the first person to take bees over the Blue Mountains to the Bathurst district. This was approximately 1825 - 1830. He was granted 1,000 acres of land by Governor Brisbane, Mulgunnia was what he named his property, it was situated 12m from the Abercrombie caves. Now it is said that the bees which are to be found in the caves are descendants of Thomas Arkell’s colonies. He is the only settler who has a Range named after him, ARKELL. This information has been passed down in our family for generations, so I thought it might be of interest.” The family oral tradition that Arkell took bees over the Blue Mountains between 1825 and 1830 pre-dates Heaton’s date of 1842. John Hughes may have been the first to take bees across the Blue Mountains in 1839, though no original references to support this are known. (Refer also the section on Thomas Arkell, Campbells River, 1840 on page 147).

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TASMANIA

Mr. William Kermode, 1821From the Australian Encyclopaedia of 1958 William Kermode, 1780-1852, was an early settler in Tasmania. “During the early years of the nineteenth century he commanded vessels trading to India and Australia, but while still young he apparently abandoned the sea as a career and took to commerce. In 1819-20 and 1821 he made trading voyages to Australia, in each case visiting Hobart and Sydney” (pp.441-442, Vol. 4)

James Fenton of Northern Tasmania wrote in his book Bush Life in Tasmania, Fifty Years Ago (1891), reminisces as far back as 1834 “Evidently they had sent out colonies long before I saw them at that time, for I find the following bit of information relating to bees in the Hobart Town Gazette of April 7th, 1821: ‘A hive of bees in the best possible state of health and condition has been brought out by the ship Mary from Liverpool, and has been presented by Mr. Kermode, owner of that vessel, to the Lieutenant Governor. The bee has not before been imported into Van Diemen's Land.’” The comment “best possible state of health and condition” was later shown not to be true as these bees did not survive. The article from the Hobart Town Courier of 16 May 1834 and from the records kept by H. M. Hull, show that the hive failed. Most likely, the Queen bee was dead and the hive inevitably dwindled away.

As a ship’s captain, Kermode was typical of people in such a position of authority to husband bees on a long voyage. His gift to the Governor was either a sensible commercial decision or simply one of benevolence.

Unknown, 1824In Beekeeping in Victoria by F.R. Beuhne (1916) “The Black Bee, it has been stated, was first brought to Tasmania from Great Britain in 1824. From Tasmania some hives were then taken to Sydney and from thence the variety has spread pretty well over the whole of Australia.” (p.13). This 1824 event appears nowhere else in all the material I have studied. It is not supported by the Tasmanian press of the period. Beuhne’s observation will have to remain a mystery for the time being.

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Matthew Hindson to the Editor, 1829A letter in the Sydney Gazette of 17 February 1829, from Matthew Hindson to the Editor, expressed, through loss of patience, the following “Game: Somewhere about three years ago, an Association was formed in HobartTown for the importation & propagation of British Game, and a considerable sum of money was, we believe, contributed and remitted home for that purpose. But it is long since any thing farther (has been heard) about that matter. Maybe we might.”.

Hindson’s letter continued “Has the bee been any where successfully propagated in other of the colonies?” This suggests he was aware of bees having arrived in New South Wales but sought to see if they had arrived in Van Diemen's Land and possibly at the Swan River Settlement. He was obviously not aware of the Hobart Town Courier report of 1821 regarding William Kermode’s unsuccessful introduction. Matthew Hindson needed to wait two more years for events to catch up with his query.

Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson R. N., 1831

Dr. Wilson, a Royal Navy Surgeon Superintendent of convict transports, was the first person to successfully introduce the honeybee into Van Diemen’s Land. The path to verify this has been circuitous, as the following demonstrates.

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Mis-informationAccording to Rayment (1922) “in 1834, Dr. Wilson introduced the honey-bee to Tasmania”. (p.270). No sources are cited by Rayment. From the following, this date is not correct. However, Wilson may have brought bees from Van Diemen's Land to New South Wales at a later date.

Regarding the common or black bee, Hopkins (1904) states “They were introduced into Tasmania by Dr. Wilson, R.N., from New South Wales in 1831.” (p.6). This prose can be interpreted in more than one way. Did Hopkins mean that the bees were brought to Tasmania from New South Wales or was Wilson from New South Wales and he brought bees into Tasmania? Wilson did bring bees direct to Van Diemen's Land from England. He had land granted to him in 1824 at what is now known as Braidwood, which he visited from time to time. He was not to take up permanent residence on this farm in New South Wales until 1836. He could, however, have seen to be ‘from Hobart Town’ where his brother George resided. Dr. Wilson’s arrival there on 28 January 1831 with his hive of bees on board was the result of his sixth voyage.

Gale's (1912) extract from The Sydney Morning Herald, given in his book Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture, like Hopkins, is also open to different meanings. Perhaps Hopkins drew his words from this newspaper. Gale reports “In the Sydney Morning Herald, of 10th August 1863, it stated that at a meeting of the Acclimatisation Society of New South Wales, bees were first brought to this country by Captain Braidwood Wilson, from Hobart Town, in 1831” (p.2). I have searched several times for this source but have been unsuccessful in locating it. Patricia Clarke (1986) observed that a hive of bees was left at the Botanic Gardens, Hobart, so it could not have come immediately onto New South Wales.

The FactsPatricia Clarke noted that Wilson was an expert publicist. His adventures were typically brought to light in the press of the time and therefore survive to this day. In the following, many details have been drawn from Patricia Clarke’s A Colonial Woman, The Life and Times of Mary Braidwood Mowle 1827-1857. After I wrote to Patricia seeking her assistance, she visited the National Library of Australia where her notes on her 1986 book are held, and hand copied some information for me. Such is a sample of the excellent support generously given to me from many people.

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Wilson’s initial voyage began soon after 31 October 1821 when “he received his first appointment as surgeon superintendent on the convict transport Richmond bound for Hobart.” (p.13). His voyages from England to Hobart, overseeing the welfare of convicts, were to continue until his “ninth and final trip as a surgeon superintendent, aboard the Strathfieldsay under Captain Phillip Jones which sailed from Portsmouth on 18 February 1836” (p.29).

Gale attributed his source to “For most of these dates and extracts I am indebted to Mr S.M Mowle, Usher of the Black Rod, of the Legislative Council, who married the only daughter of the late Captain Braidwood Wilson R.N.” (p.12). Stewart Mowle married Mary Braidwood Wilson at Oatlands, some 80 kilometres from Hobart, on 12 May 1845.

There are various references to Wilson as ‘Captain’ and ‘Dr’. These are easily cleared up. Heary (1995) stated that Thomas Braidwood Wilson was “a Scottish Royal Navy surgeon who worked on convict ships. In the 1820's, Dr. Wilson had been granted land in Tasmania where two of his younger brothers were to settle. He exchanged his grant for land in what is now the Braidwood-Bungendore area of NSW. He died on November 11, 1843, at 51. After her father's death, Mary went to Tasmania to live with her uncle George Wilson.”.

The ship Catherine Stewart Forbes, 1830I wrote to the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association, Southern Branch. Mr. Col Parker kindly replied with a timeline of the major events in Tasmanian beekeeping history starting with William Kermode in 1821. His response confirmed matters I had found elsewhere and added some new details. One item provided was that Wilson arrived on the ship Catherine Stewart Forbes.

A possible source for this was Thomas Lloyd Hood, an amateur beekeeper from around the 1880s when he resided in High Street, North Hobart. Isaac Hopkins, in his search for details on the introduction of bees into Tasmania, wrote to Hood. His response was published in the August 1885 issue of The New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Review. Hopkins was editor of the apiary section of this agricultural newspaper. Hood wrote “Bees were introduced into Tasmania by Dr. Wilson R.N., by the ship Catherine Stewart Forbes, in the year 1831. Great interest was taken on their arrival, and there was a general expression of gratitude to Mr. Wilson for the disinterested benefit he had conferred on the colony at

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considerable cost and trouble to himself.” Hood may not have come by this information easily, his investigations carried out fifty four years after Wilson’s achievement. He mentions “.. the difficulty in gleaning anything like authentic or definite information on the subject”.

In Bateson’s The Convict Ships (1969), the ship Catherine Stewart Forbes is cross referenced as the Katherine Stewart Forbes, a convict transport of 457 tons. Its voyage from Spithead, London, on 14 October 1829 via Cape of Good Hope, reaching Sydney on 18 February 1830, was under the command of Captain Thos. Canney. The surgeon was Pat McTernan. The cargo was 199 male prisoners and the voyage took 119 days, close to four months. On 18 October 1829, just four days after this ship left London, Dr. T. B. Wilson was at the Swan River Settlement visiting Captain James Stirling (Clarke 1986). Thos. Hood was obviously misinformed in naming this ship as the carrier of the bees.

The ship John, 1831From Clarke (1986) “On 14 October 1830 Thomas Wilson sailed from London on the transport John under Captain John Nosworthy with 200 convicts bound for Hobart, arriving 28 January 1831. In the few weeks he had been in England he had managed to bring on board a hive of bees and these he presented to the Botanic Gardens in Hobart. This was the first successful importation of bees into any Australian colony, bees being taken later from this original hive to New South Wales and Western Australia.” This was the first successful introduction into Van Diemen’s Land, but not into “any Australian colony”.

Information supplied by the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association contains this entry “The first hive was set up in Franklin Square (Then named or known as Government Gardens), where it produced 17 swarms in the first season. The swarms were distributed to any colonists who applied for them, and the number of hives rapidly increased.” This is supported by “1835 One hive at O’Brien’s Bridge, Glenorchy, produced 18 swarms.”. No source is provided for this last item.

Later, it is possible that Wilson took to New Soutth Wales, descendants or one of the two hives that stood in front of a stone wall at the Botanic Gardens, Hobart. The hives presence in the Gardens were noted by James Fenton, a recently arrived immigrant boy of 13, in March 1834. Fenton

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mentioned these hives in his book written in 1891. That two hives were there indicates the Wilson hive survived and reproduced.

Wilson had “sailed on the Moffatt to Sydney on June 1, 1834” (Clarke, 1986). Rayment's date of 1834 is likely a reference to this voyage by Wilson from Hobart to Sydney. Wilson probably went onto his farm at Braidwood. Or, the 1834 date may have come from the following entry in The Hobart Town Courier of 16 May 1834 “Not only is Van Diemen's Land stocked from the original hive brought out by Dr Wilson .. but New South Wales, and latterly Swan River, have been successfully planted from the same source with this valuable insect.”

Wilson had visited Captain James Stirling R.N. around 18 October 1829 at the Swan River Settlement in Western Australia when the settlement was about three months old. Wilson's visit lasted for almost two months, ending on 20 December 1829 when he departed for Launceston. There is then a personal link between him and Western Australia, giving some possibility that he may have been instrumental in sending bees there.

Clarke (1986) “Dr Thomas Braidwood Wilson, a surgeon superintendent on convict ships had, in 1825, been given a grant of 2560 acres for his services to the Colony. At first he selected land in Van Diemen's Land but in 1826 exchanged it for land on the southern border of ‘Strathallan’. When the site of the future township was chosen in 1833, the most suitable site was found to be the western end of his grant on the hill between Monkittee Creek and Flood Creek. It was resumed by the Crown, and a similar area added to the eastern end of his grant to compensate Wilson for his loss. He had named his land ‘Braidwood Farm’, and after his permanent settlement there with his wife and 2 children in 1836, and his adoption of a paternalistic role in the local community, the town was officially named Braidwood.”

Also supplied by the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association was this “In August 1832 the original hive was taken to Sydney by Dr Wilson and presented to the Colonial Secretary Alexander Maclean.” (note: ‘Maclean’ must be a typographical error, as Alexander Macleay held that office in 1832. The Australian Encyclopaedia of 1958 described him as a scientist, a member of the Executive Council, and that ‘before he came to Australia he had accumulated a remarkable collection of entomological specimens’). Wilson had travelled to Sydney from Hobart on the ship

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England, having arrived in Launceston with his wife some time in July 1832 (Clarke, 1986). “Thomas and Jane Wilson stayed in the colony of New South Wales for some time .. and almost certainly took her on the long trip south to his property in the county of St Vincent that he had called ‘Braidwood Farm’.”

Wilson’s journey from Sydney to Braidwood Farm would have taken around six weeks by bullock wagon. His movements in 1832 made a transfer of the bees possible but I’ve not found records to justify this belief. A letter dated 19 October 1995 from Netta Ellis, a prominent historian on the Braidwood district, in response to my inquiry on the early beekeeping history of the district, supplied the following “I am afraid I cannot help you with any resource material about the early beekeeping history of this district and with particular reference to T. B. Wilson. I have spoken to other local historians with a negative result.”

The 1831 passage to Hobart was Wilson's sixth of nine voyages, the trip taking 107 days. The bees may have been confined for this time plus however many days before sailing they were closed up and moved on board ship. In accepting the bees aboard his ship for the voyage, it appears that Captain John Nosworthy did not have the same reservations about this cargo that I suspect Captain John Boyce had for Gregory Blaxland’s intended companions.

Blaxland’s status as a passenger must have rated much less authority than that of Wilson. Clarke (1986) states that Wilson was “the second most senior person to the captain, being responsible for the entire management and responsibility of the convicts travelling to Australia.” He was required “not only to officiate as physician, surgeon, and apothecary, but also as clergyman, schoolmaster, justice of the peace, inspector of provisions etc.” (p.13). Being a convict transport surgeon-superintendent must have made a lot of difference regarding the latitude which might be allowed to him for ‘strange’ baggage. Space was always a premium on ships then, even as it is today.

Clarke’s belief that “this was the first successful importation into any Australian colony” is based on the following “The Hobart Town Courier of 5 February 1831 said the introduction of honey bees had been 'long desired' and they had arrived 'in the most healthy and vigorous state'.” Either the Courier journalist was referring only to Van Diemen’s Land

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regarding the “long desired” importation of bees, or was unaware of Wallis’s introduction of 1822.

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A ProfileClarke supplied an interesting comment on the type of people that attempted to introduce flora and fauna to the colonies “On this trip Thomas Wilsonalso brought several species of the moss rose, lilac, laurel, lauristinus and other plants and shrubs not introduced into Tasmania previously. In introducing these plants and bees he was following a longstanding tradition of surgeon-naturalists. Surgeons were often the only members of the ship's crew with scientific training and there had been several examples of surgeons who had achieved fame through the collection and study of specimens of plants, animals or minerals.”

Wilson was “A man of wide-ranging curiosity and involvement with people and places around him (he was later a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society) and with an unusually keen interest and knowledge of agriculture, plants and animals” (p.15).

Recognition, 1831-1832Following Wilson’s seventh voyage, his efforts were to be publicly recognised. “After an uneventful voyage of 104 days” Wilson and his wife Jane “arrived in Hobart on 20 July 1832. .. During their stay a group of prominent citizens presented Wilson with a snuff box as a tribute for 'the importation of a hive of the honey bees' and for the interest he had taken in the welfare of the colony.” (p.26).

Wilson’s success is supported by Don Norman, great-grandson of George Wilson. George and Thomas were brothers. In Don’s words of 5 May 1995 “in 1980 I researched a great deal of the life of my great-grandfather’s brother, Surgeon Thomas Braidwood Wilson who did, indeed, introduce the honey bee to Van Diemen’s Land.” Patricia Clarke kindly introduced me to Don and a most useful correspondence resulted. Don supplied the quote from an issue of The Hobart Town Courier of Saturday 5 February 1831. “Dr Thomas Braidwood Wilson R.N. Surgeon and Superintendent of the ‘John’ has, we are happy to announce, done the Colony the kindness of introducing to what it has long been a desiratum amongst us, namely an excellent hive of bees. They have come out in a most healthy and vigorous state, and we no doubt consider they will thrive and multiply throughout the land, the climate and indigenous plants of which (singularly enough they cannot boast the honey bee) are nevertheless so admirably adapted to the nature of this most useful and interesting animal.”

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In The Hobart Town Courier of 27 July 1832 appears this reference to Wilson who arrived in Hobart on 28 January 1831 “to whom the colony is already so much indebted for the valuable introduction of the honey bee, brought out by him in the John last voyage”. In The Hobart Town Courier of 17 August 1832 is this announcement of a tribute to Wilson

“To Dr. T. B. Wilson Esq., R.N. etc., Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land

We, the undersigned, on behalf of ourselves and fellow colonists, beg leave to offer to you the public appreciation of our thanks and gratification for the benefit conferred on this Colony by the importation of a hive of honey bees, which, had never before been accomplished, by any individual, and not only for this act of kindness, but also for the general interest you have taken in the welfare of our Island. We have the honour to request your acceptance of this (box) as a token of our regard, and the grateful recollection of the benefits conferred on the Colony.

We have the honour to beSir

your faithful and humble servants, the CommitteeA F KempJ H Moore

Mames J RossWm WilsonSamuel HullJames Scott”

Information from the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association states that “there is some uncertainty as to who was responsible for introducing the honeybee into Tasmania. In The Hobart Town Courier (10 August 1832) Dr T.B. Wilson was publicly thanked for the importation of the hive of honeybees ‘which had never before been accomplished by any individual’. However, in an obituary for Mr. George Wilson, The Mercury Supplement (18 April 1874) states, ‘there can be little doubt that the credit (for the introduction of honeybees) is due, as we originally stated, to Mr. Wilson, though his brother, Dr Wilson, shared with him in the work’.” I wonder. After the public acclamation Dr. Wilson received and the presentation of an award, I find it hard to accept that Dr. Wilson was an assistant rather than the prime mover.

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The ship Medway, 1827In The Hobart Town Courier of 16 May 1834 appears “Dr Wilson must be much gratified with the uncommon, and we may say, providential success that has attended his introduction of the honey bee into these Australasiatic regions, which though introduced many years ago by Mr Kermode, and attempted we believe on one or two other occasions by other individuals, has always failed. Not only is Van Diemen’s Landstocked from the original hive brought out by Dr Wilson in the Medway, but New South Wales, and latterly Swan River, have been successfully planted from the same source with this valuable insect.”

The mention of the Medway, I believe, is in error. The Medway was indeed a convict transport. She made five voyages to the colonies between 1821 and 1842. Bateson (1969) The Convict Ships, provides the surgeon on the 1821 and 1825 voyages as Thos. Davis and Gilbert King. There is no record of a voyage for the Medway in 1831. I assume the confusion with the ship arose from Wilson’s arrival in Hobart on his fourth voyage on the Governor Ready on 3 August 1827. The Medway arrived in Hobart Town some two weeks later on 18 August 1827. The comment “has always failed” clearly indicates there must have been several previous and undocumented attempts. It also illustrates the degree of difficulty encountered by others.

Chronicler Hugh Munro Hull, 1804 - 1872In a work titled Chronology of Tasmania by Hugh Munro Hull, compiled between the years 1804 to 1872, is a small but significant contribution on bee history. Among his hand written entries in an alphabetical list, appears this entry “Bees were introduced into Tasmania by Dr Wilson RN in the convict ship John which arrived 27 January 1831; They had been previously introduced in a hive by Mr W Kermode in April 1821 but the Hive failed. Dr Wilsons Hive produced no less than 17 swarms within the year.”

Hull was Clerk of the House of Assembly and Librarian to the Parliament of Tasmania. He was author of two other works Experiences of 40 Years in Tasmania and Tasmania in 1870. As a librarian and chronicler in a responsible Government posting, Hull's commentaries should be treated with a high level of credibility.

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In the chapter on Hunting, in the book Experience of 40 Years in Tasmania, Hull wrote “To Bees the climate is most kind. The flowers of the eucalypti and mimosa furnish food for them; and our honey, which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace, was much admired.”

“In some parts of the Colony, as at Perth (note: Perth in Van Diemen’s Land, not Western Australia), Bothwell, Ross, &c., old tea-chests and boxes are used for bee-hives, and honey is procured by the ton. It is sold in the interior from fourpence to sixpence a pound; and is used by the settlers either in comb or as mead, or in the manufacture of beer. Swarms of bees which have escaped, take possession of hollow trees; and I have seen more than a hundred pounds of honey taken from a hole in a gum-tree.”

“A medical gentleman informs me that when living in the country, combining rural with his professional occupations, the wax he obtained from his bees, with a little mutton suet, supplied his household with candles for the whole winter. He says he has had thirteen swarms from one hive in a season.”

Colonial Visitor, James Backhouse, 1832James Backhouse, visiting Van Diemen's Land in 1832, documented his travels in A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies published in 1843. Whilst at Hobart Town, is the entry “We walked to the Government-garden, which is situated on the beautiful banks of the Derwent, about a mile from the town, and comprises several acres, enclosed with a wall, except on the side next the river. Bees have been lately introduced: the first hive swarmed sixteen times this summer!” His description of the garden and its wall enclosure has a similarity to that of James Fenton's description of two hives before a stone wall at the Botanic Garden, Hobart, presumably the same as that which Backhouse visited.

Backhouse’s description of the “bees .. lately introduced” leaves me to wonder if he actually saw the hives in place as here was an opportunity to add colour to his narrative. Possibly the bees were not something which caught his interest, although the exclamation mark following the number of swarms indicates that this natural increase was certainly worthy of note. The swarm count of sixteen occurs in other places, including West's History of Tasmania that R. A. Black was aware of in 1920. His description was likely an implied

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reference to the 1831 introduction by Thomas Braidwood Wilson. The 1821 attempt by Mr. William Kermode may have been unknown to him.

An Anecdote from Australia, 1852The following story appeared in The Leisure Hour of Thursday, 25 November 1852, titled An Anecdote from Australia. I purchased this issue, a small journal subtitled A Family Journal of Instruction and Recreation, originally priced at one penny, for only a few dollars. I saw it in the catalogue of an antiquarian book dealer in June 1995. It was described as containing information relating to the introduction of bees into Tasmania. What a find, and published but twenty years after Wilson brought his bees.

No author is supplied but it was written on the 16th of January, 1851. The story tells of “the efforts of two individuals .. (who) have been attended with widely different results, little anticipated by the one party at least; and as their acts forcibly illustrate the great difference betwixt a wise action and a foolish one”. It is a tale of “the introduction of bees and thistles into Van Diemen’s Land”.

“A gentleman named Dr. Wilson, who had made several voyages to Van Diemen’s Land, had observed that there were not any bees producing honey; he therefore, on one of his voyages, took with him a hive of bees. It was placed on deck, and the little voyagers were liberally supplied with moist sugar; and I understand the bees had perfect liberty, and however far they might have flown across the watery waste, always returned to the hive, and were conveyed 16,000 miles to Hobart Town.”

“Dr. Wilson generously placed the hive at the disposal of Governor Arthur. It was placed in Government Garden; and so abundant was the food, and so adapted the climate to the bees, that I was told that a single hive of bees would produce twenty stocks in a year, the first swarms each yielding new swarms.” Who then had related these ‘facts’ to the author? Had he gleaned some details from newspapers?

“The governor politely presented his friends with hives of bees, so that, in a very few seasons, most gardens in the colony were furnished with them.” This is consistent with the information from Col Parker of the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association that “the swarms were distributed to

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any colonists who applied for them”, presumably from the Government Gardens.

There is a lot here to comment upon in this story by an unknown author. Wilson’s brother George was alive at that time to verify the facts to any inquirer had they sought him out. He states that the hive was placed on deck. Journals of the period written on voyages to the Colonies depict the danger to deck cargo during rough seas, so I don’t see how this could be the case. He also states the bees were allowed to fly. This mystifies me. Had the bees flown but a short distance from the hive, always facing it in their typical orientation flights, then could it have been possible? All others attempting to ship hives did so invariably by confining them. Was Wilson’s method the exception? The one detail that is easily accepted is that the bees were fed using moist sugar, a most sensible and viable action during the voyage.

The author had first hand contact with bees. “I still recollect the very pleasing sensation produced in my mind when I first saw and heard the bee in Van Diemen’s Land. It was Sunday, and I had retired to a shady walk in a garden in the country for study and meditation. An unusual sound struck my ear - familiar, though not immediately remembered. I sought for the little humming insect, when, to my great surprise and delight, I discovered a bee; it was gathering honey from the blossoms of the gooseberry. Now the bee is found in all the settled districts of the colony. In summer, many swarms are found in the bush, and large quantities of honey are frequently found in the hollow trees. It is so plentiful that, in the summer season, it may be bought for fourpence per pound; and it is probable that, before long, bees-waxwill form a staple article of commerce, and thus assist to enrich the colony.”

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Mr. James Fenton, 1838I first came across a reference to Fenton in Charles Ramsay’s book, a history of the settlement of North West Tasmaniacovering the Latrobe and Devonport Municipalities “Bees were introduced to West Devon by Mr. Fenton in the forties, when he got over two swarms from Port Sorell soon after he settled at Forth.”

In James Fenton’s own words in his 1891 book Bushlife in Tasmania Fifty Years Ago, James relates “It occurred to me soon after I went to the Forth that the English honey bee would do well there, as there were none in the bush at this time, and my hives would have the flowers all to themselves. Accordingly, I got over two swarms from Port Sorell. The rapidity with which they made honey the first few years, and sent out fresh swarms which I mostly succeeded in securing, was something to be remembered.”

These words clearly state that bees were in North West Tasmania by 1840. He was 19 years old when he bought land at Forth. He was a beekeeper by then with hives at Port Sorell. This trip was made “in 1840 .. I took a solitary bush journey westward from Frogmore to the River Forth”.

James Fenton was not a hobbyist beekeeper. “My hives were of the roughest description - tea chests and grocery boxes. One swarm would fill an 80 lb. tea-chest during the summer; so that I had quite a large bee establishment, and sent away probably a couple of tons of honey.”. How well suited the English bee was to this area of Tasmania is captured by the following “In spite of my efforts to keep the swarms from escaping into the bush I lost several from time to time; the wild bees rapidly increased,

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and asserted their equal right to extract the honey from the wild flowers and eucalypti, so that my harvest of sweets soon experienced a sensible diminution. It was surprising how quickly the bees spread along the coast after I introduced them to the Forth.”

Bees had been introduced to the Tamar River area prior to 1838 as Fenton reports “When I first went over Badger Head (in 1838) they were to be seen in considerable numbers, probably the offspring of hives on the Tamar; but they only made their appearance farther west at a later date.”

The following supports Wilson as the first to introduce bees to Tasmania in 1831 “I very much wondered to see the busy bee at work on Badger Head in 1838; for I had been under the impression that the first hives introduced to the colony were two which in March 1834 stood in front of the stone wall at the Botanic Gardens, Hobart.” James Fenton's family arrived at the mouth of the Derwent on 18 February 1834. He was 13 years old when he saw these hives at Hobart.

Mr. Charles Meredith, 1846Mr. Charles Meredith had links with beekeeping. Detail supplied by the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association is as follows “1848-1850 Mr. Charles Meredith transported two hives of bees from Port Sorell to Swansea. Within two or three years he increased to about 23 swarms.” This event is referenced from My Home in Tasmania by Mrs. Charles Meredith. Also supplied was the following, indicating that bees were now well established “1860: Many swarms were reported in the bush and honey was selling for 4 pence per pound.”

I recently found a copy of Meredith’s book. Around January 1846, Louisa Meredith moved to her new home, ‘Poyston’ at Port Sorell, about twelve miles west of Badger Head. Access was via Launceston, George Town and then another three to four hours by steam boat. Mrs. Meredith wrote “We also commenced keeping bees, which thrive well at Port Sorell, the abundance of sweet wild flowers there affording them most dainty food, judging from the quality of the honey they make; some of which, from hives kept in the Bush, far from all gardens and ill-flavoured flowers, exceeds in fine delicate flavour any other I ever tasted, the famed honey of Narbonne not excepted. Such portions of the virgin honeycomb as become candied, and cut solid, like cheese, are the nicest of all

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sweetmeats. Numbers of bees are now wild in many parts of the island, and hollow trees are frequently found in the bush filled with honeycomb. Several species of wild native bees or wasps are also numerous;” (p.220).

Mrs. Meredith also provided a short description of the Government Gardensat Hobarton, where T. B. Wilson had left his hive. “The Government Gardens here, although not comparable with those of Sydney, are finely situated on the sloping shore of the Derwent, and charmed me by their verdant and shady aspect.” (p.28).

As early as May 1841, Mrs. Meredith was aware of bush bees. In describing the ‘Lightwood’ of ‘Blackwood’ tree, Acacia melanoxylon “The little round blossoms of palest yellow, which in spring come out all over the tree, give a soft fresh bloomy aspect to its evergreen garb, and perfume the air with their hawthorn scent; when near an apiary, they are ever ‘musical with bees,’ and seem to yield the busy little creatures an ample store both of wax and honey.” (p.161). Her home was then at ‘Spring Vale’, seven miles inland, north of Cambria.

In June 1843 she wrote “All the Eucalyptus family bear an abundance of bloom, in constellated wreaths of starry flowers, sweet as the rich honeywhich the labouring bees suck from the crystal stores that lie deep within the fringe-bordered cups;” (Vol.II, p.68).

Sanctuary at Tarraleah, 1856In the Australian Encyclopaedia of 1988 it is stated “In Tasmania, there is a sanctuary for an isolated population of what is understood to be the original European black bee which was introduced into Tasmania in 1856.” (p.407) The Concise Encyclopaedia of Australia of 1979 repeats this item. I have been unable to trace any references to an introduction of bees in 1856. Even so, these ‘1856’ bees were not the result of the original introduction.

In Backyard Beekeeping in Australia and New Zealand by C.N. Smithers “It is believed that the original European race (Apis mellifera mellifera) cannot now be found in a pure form except in Tarraleah, in Tasmania, to which it was taken in early days and where it has not been in contact with other races and hence is still typical of the original race.” (p.2)

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From correspondence with Laurie Braybrook of Victoria, I was put in contact with Don Cunningham in Tasmania. His words are worthy of inclusion here “The bees at Tarraleah are of interest. Tarraleah is cold and wet and I recall that the day I located and inspected the local apiary I was astonished at the fact that these very black bees were as quiet as Italians, and they worked in colder weather and longer hours. A very desirable feature!” Don wrote that this incident occurred twenty five years ago, around 1970. “Ultimately, specimens were sent to .. a bee anatomist in Germany, who .. found a difference in wing venation and declared they were original European stock.”

Ruttner (1990) states “.. in Tasmania .. a large feral population has retained the characters of the dark honeybee up to the present.” (p.10) “This race is best adapted to regions with cool climate and scanty flow.” (p.9) “The bees of the large feral population in the eucalypt forests, as well as in the managed ‘Black’ colonies in the central region of Tarraleah, retained the typical values of the English bee in most characters.” (p.16)

Don “pushed to have the area declared a Sanctuary because Italian type bees could easily have been brought into the area by migratory beekeepers.” My next inquiry was to the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries to see if they could confirm the status of the Sanctuary today.

The Librarian in Charge at the Department was most helpful to my inquiry. The reply, dated 3 October 1995, in part, is as follows “.. unfortunately we are unable to help. We have no information on the topic in the library. I contacted the Department of Environment and Land Management into which our Parks and Wildlife Service has been incorporated, but they have no information either. We no longer have a senior apiary officer and none of our officers are aware of the bee sanctuary.” The future of this Sanctuary, it would appear, is totally within private hands.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Captain John Molloy, 1830Captain John Molloy, with three other households, were the first settlers at Augusta. “Molloy, over fifty and a veteran of the Peninsular War and of Waterloo, had arrived at Fremantle in the Warrior early in 1830 with his

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youthful bride and his sixteen servants, his tools and animals and his hive of bees, all ready to begin life as a gentleman farmer on the grant that he expected on the banks of the Swan.” (Bassett, 1954, p.264). Bassett supplied no source for her reference to bees. Under Governor Stirling, Molloy was the leading settler at Augusta and became its Resident Magistrate and Commanding Officer.

From Portrait with Background by Alexandra Hasluck (1955), a story about Georgina Molloy, wife of John Molloy, there is supplied a list (p.263) of the property imported by Molloy on the Warrior (WAA 36/6, p.104). In the section on live stock, no mention is made of bees. This does not preclude that Molloy brought out bees.

The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958) supplies the Molloy’s date of arrival as 12 March 1830. Nine years later, they “moved north to the Vasse River, near Geographe Bay, where the town of Busselton was to develop.” (Vol.6, p.117a). They may have taken bees with them if the original hive had reproduced.

Another date for the early introduction of honeybees into Western Australia, available within a 1992 report by Robert Manning of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture, is a note as follows “First honey bees arrived in Freemantle 1846.” The report was titled Honey Production, Economic Value and Geographical Significance of Apiary Sites in Western Australia. Robert kindly supplied this report in response to my letter to the New Zealand Beekeeper.

Henry Camfield, 1830Henry Camfield, a gentleman settler of the Swan River, writing for the second time to his sister Maria back in England, provided a list of things which were important to bring, should they decide to come out from England “mosquito nets, preserves, meats, pickles, vinegar, honey, molasses, bees (in wire cages)” and other items.

Here is an explicit mention of the method used to contain bees, presumably within a hive, identical to that proposed by Gregory Blaxland in 1805. By this mention, the technique moves from a ‘once off' to possibly an accepted method of the time. I can only assume that Camfield drew his information on how to ship bees from his observation on the means used by Molloy.

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On his own advice, Camfield's family did not leave England for the Swan, so others may have taken up his advice on bringing bees with them. Camfield’s letter reached England in April 1831 (Bassett, 1954, p.158) so his letter must have been sent in late 1830. Henry had arrived at Swan River soon after 12 October 1830, some seven months after Molloy’s arrival.

Bassett (1954) in The Hentys, An Australian Colonial Tapestry, gives an account of the voyage of the Caroline which brought the advance party of the Henty family bound for the Swan River Settlement. Henry Camfield was also aboard the Caroline. Bassett paints a picture of the animal and plant accommodation available “The Caroline had a small elevated deck aft, the poop deck, above the cabin accommodation and the cuddy; on this deck were the hen-coops, possibly the pigeons and rabbits. On the open deck below the poop there were the stacks of hay, the pigs, sheep, and some of the larger stock, including the two milch cows in the long-boat; the rest of the heavy animals were in the stables on the lower deck, where also were the living quarters of the steerage passengers. Somewhere amongst all this were the fruit-trees, currant bushes, and rose bushes for the colonial gardens-to-be.” (p.51)

A hive of bees, like the other livestock, would have suffered a rough passage at times. “Henty's animals were tended by the farm servants who had handled them for years. With familiar words, and in familiar garb, the men could bring some comfort to the beasts in their strange surroundings; but no Sussex lore of byre and stable and fold could teach them how to protect their charges from the power of the sea.” (p.51)

A letter from James Henty to his father Thomas, dated 18 June 1829, described some of the violence of the seas upon the stock “a heavy swell .. rolled and tumbled the stock about dreadfully”; and of another animal “from the violence of her falls on board (she got) an abscess in her chest which we have opened” (pp.51-52). A preceding ship, the Calista, lost 9 out of 13 horses and 100 out of 200 sheep.

The Caroline, having left Rio in August 1829, “met their first gale; the sea came over the poop and deck in tons, setting the coops and hay adrift, knocking passengers about, and killing two pigs.” (p.68). From this description, any hives aboard would certainly have been below deck, possibly in cabin or adjacent the stables, possibly along with the fruit trees, bushes and other plants. In James Henty's words “The rushing of the wind, screaming

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of the women, suffering of the animals, and torrents of water poured in occasionally on deck, made altogether a scene which beggars description. .. had one of the heavy seas come on board everything on deck must have gone.” (p.69)

Thomas Braidwood Wilson, 1829Clarke relates “In the short time he was in England Wilson put a case for another free land grant to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, citing his services in the exploration of Western Australia.” (p.24). There is then a tentative link between Wilson's exploration contact with Western Australia and her statement that bees were taken later from his original hive, then in the Botanic Gardens, to New South Wales and Western Australia.

Thomas Wilson had visited, or at least passed by Rottnest Island on 16 October 1829 and then “two days later .. visited James Stirling the governor of the three-month-old settlement at Perth. On 19 November 1829 he left the Swan River settlement” (Clarke, 1986, p.21). It is possible that Wilson was the one who later organised the transport of bees to the Settlement, having had a month in 1829 to acquaint himself with the area.

If Captain Molloy did bring bees to Swan River in 1830, then any introduction by Wilson could only have been after Wilson first brought them to Hobart in 1831. The Hobart Town Courier of 16 May 1834 stated “Not only is Van Diemen's Land stocked from the original hive brought out by Dr Wilson .. but New South Wales, and latterly Swan River, have been successfully planted from the same source with this valuable insect.”

SOUTH AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA & QUEENSLAND

Hopkins (1886) “I have not been able to obtain any information as to the introduction of the German bee into South Australia, Victoria, or Queensland. Probably the importations may have been made from New South Wales or Tasmania, and not direct from Europe. To Mr. C. Fullwood, of Brisbane, I am indebted for much information as to the progress of bee-culture in Queensland.” (p.14). Subsequent editions of

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Hopkins’ book, the third in c1904, fifth in 1911 and the sixth in c1924, added no new details for these three States.

Weatherhead (1986) “The earliest printed record so far is in 1851 when W. T. Lyon of Oxley tells of arriving in the second immigrant ship to Moreton bay and seeing bees belonging to Mr Fox in Racecourse Road, now Brunswick Street. He also told of the next door neighbour, Mr Bailey having three hives.” (p.10). Apart from these two references, one hundred years apart, nothing else on these three States has come to my notice.

NORTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND

Miss Mary Anna Bumby, 1839Hopkins (c1904) stated “The first bees to land in the North Island of New Zealand came in the good ship ‘James’, and were embarked at Mangunga, Hokianga, on or about March 13th, 1839”. Hokianga is high on the north western tip of the North Island, on the opposite coast to the Bay of Islands, a very remote setting.

Hopkins cited these details from a letter written to him by Mrs. Gittos, wife of the Rev. W. Gittos, and daughter of the late Rev. John Hobbs. The letter states “This ship brought a party of missionaries, among others the Rev. J. H. Bumby and his sister - Miss Bumby, who accompanied her brother as housekeeper. This lady brought with her the first bees I ever saw. There were two straw hives, and they were placed in the Mission Churchyard as being a safe place, and free from the curiosity of the

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Maoris ..”. Mrs. Gittos was nine years old at the time. “Some years later on I was writing to a gentleman friend in Tasmania who had been one of the party I have spoken of. I was anxious to know if he remembered their first Sunday in New Zealand his taking us little children .. to see the bees from England. He replied that he distinctly remembered bees having come in their ship ..” (p.5).

It is now clear from Dawson’s research papers why Hopkins gave credence to Mrs. Gittos. She was the second daughter of Rev. J. Hobbs. Miss Bumby’s diary entry for 18 March 1839 “took supper with Mrs. Hobbs”. This was the day that the Bumby’s went ashore from the James after having unloaded their possessions. So Mrs. Gittos is all but confirmed as having been an on the spot witness. The Hobbs - Bumby association continued; the diary entry for 9 May 1840 “Mr. Hobbs and family came this morning”.

The Hobbs family were part of the founding team of the missionary station at Mangungu. In Elder (1934) Marsden’s Lieutenants, regarding the Weslayan missionaries “In April, 1828, Stack and Wade with their wives, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs and Miss. Bedford, established the Wesleyan station at Mangungu in Hokianga Harbour. Cf. ‘The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, p.42” (Notes to Ch.10, p.240)

A portrait of Rev. J. H. Bumby.

Dawson (1979) in the The New Zealand Beekeeper of March 1979, supplied details regarding Rev. John Hewgill Bumby and his sister, Mary Anna

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Bumby “They boarded the good ship ‘James’ about noon on Thursday, September 20, 1838.” Dawson supplied the following from an unpublished manuscript by the late C. G. Hunt (1971), of the Waikato Historical Society “Leaving her home on August 16th 1838, she and her brother embarked on the sailing ship ‘James’ at Gravesend .. The vessel reached the Hokianga River on March 18, 1839”. (pp.19-22)

The name Bumby lives on in Thirsk, Yorkshire, from whence the Bumbys departed. Hunt supplied a description of Miss Bumby, taken from The New Zealand Methodist of 1891, ‘from one who knew her intimately’ “.. she was a vision of delight. Soft brown hair, worn in ringlets after the fashion of that time, a complexion that entitled her to the name of the ‘Bonny English Rose’, and a smile that lighted up gentle hazel eyes, out of which beamed only loving thoughts.” (Vol. 8, p4). Thanks to Chris Dawson and his contact with a Bumby descendant, Mr. Overton, a picture portrait of her now hangs in the Mangugnu Mission Station. The portrait depicts a young woman with rosy cheeks.

An extract from The Life of the Rev. John Hewgill Bumby by Rev. Alfred Barrett, 1852, contains entries from Mary Bumby’s diary “Sept. 20, 1838, about noon, mission party went on board ‘James’ at Gravesend for Hobart Town and partook of social repast provided by Mr Lidgett, the owner”. So, the James was to travel with a stopover at Van Diemen’s Land. On December 4, 1838 “First saw Southern Cross”; January 27, 1839 “Most tempestuous, we had to go under bare poles”; January 29 “Wind subsided - mountains of Van Diemen’s Land in view”; January 30 “on shore at Hobart Town”; March 7 “still at Hobart”; March 9 “left Hobart”.

The stopover in Hobart provided a spell of around thirty six days during Summer, in which the hive could have been taken ashore and the bees released to void themselves following their confinement as well as stock up on pollen and nectar. A beekeeper concerned with the health of the hive occupants would not have hesitated in taking advantage of the extended stay in port.

The unpublished Hunt manuscript (c1971) titled Some Notes on the Wesleyan Mission at Aotea, adds some useful details. It was supplied to Chris Dawson by Leslie Gilmore of the Wesley Historical Society. The manuscript contains extracts from Miss Bumby’s diary. The voyage was not all smooth sailing; the Bumby diary entry of Sunday evening 23 September 1838 “Wind strong

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and contrary. Obliged to put in at Portsmouth. Last night the waves were so rough and boisterous that the vessel was literally tossed by the elements.” December 20, 1838 “On Tuesday evening about eleven o’clock, we safely anchored in Table Bay.” I wonder if the bees were released on board or taken ashore?

Hunt’s notes state that “On January 31st, the ship sailed up the Derwent River and at 10 o’clock anchored at Sullivan’s cove.” It would appear the ship stayed for around five weeks, the entry for March 9 “Left Hobart-Town and after a pleasant and expeditious voyage, found the long-wished-for mountains of New Zealand were in sight.”.

An entry dated 18 March 1839 “At twelve o’clock we crossed the much dreaded Bar of the Hokianga River, Captain Young the pilot soon came on board to take us up the river a distance of about twenty five miles.” 21 March 1839: “We have been very busy all day getting our goods on shore”. So it would seem the bees made it to shore as late as March 21, not March 13 as previously believed.

From a 1986 hand written extract from Miss Bumby’s diary, copied by Patricia Adams, Research Officer of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, there is a copy of a letter from Miss Bumby to Mrs. Peart (or Pert), dated 20 June 1839. It gives a glimpse of the travelling time by sea to more civilised towns “We get supplies of goods from the Colony. The voyage to Sidney (sic) is eight days, that to Hobart Town ten.”

From The Journal of Rev. William Woon of 11 August 1840 is an entry dealing with John Bumby, who appears to have been a beekeeper along with his sister “On his arrival here he brought with him a swarm of bees which were kept in his garden at the back of the Mission House. The day the Rev. John Waterhouse arrived in the Triton he went with Bro. Creed to examine them and found a little ‘maiden honey’ which he was collecting in a plate, and just as he uttered the words ‘I will send this down to Mother Woon’ Mr Waterhouse was announced as being at hand and he was so overjoyed as to forget the honey and everything else, and hastened to welcome him to New Zealand, and great was his rejoicing with his friend and father with whom he was immediately at home. We never heard anything more of the honey.”

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Rev. Richard Taylor, 1839A letter to the Editor of The New Zealand Farmer of July 1885 suggested that the Rev. Taylor was an early introducer of bees to the North Island “I hope to be able, before long, to furnish you with accurate information re ‘Introduction of Honey Bee to New Zealand,’ Being a friend of the family of the late Richard Taylor, I forwarded a copy of the Journal to Mrs. Harper, who promises to refer to her father’s journals and papers, and if she can find any mention of the subject, to copy and forward to me. She mentions the fact that her father came to New Zealand in 1839, and remained in the North at Waimate until the year 1843. She well remembers the fact of their having bees, and from my own remembrance and knowledge the Rev. Richard Taylor, I am sure a garden would not be started under his auspices without a hive of bees. .. New Zealand is indebted to Mr Taylor for the introduction of numerous shrubs, trees, and flowers, and his garden at the Mission Station at Putitri, in Wanganui, was most interesting to visit” (p.208). The letter was dated 18 May 1885 and was signed by E. Halcombe of Lichfield.

Hopkins (1886) stated “Dieffenbach, in his Travels in New Zealand, mentions having seen (in December, 1840) a hive of bees, thriving remarkably well, with the Rev. Richard Taylor at Waimate, but says ‘the bees had been introduced into New Zealand from New South Wales.’ This may be an error. It is not improbable that the hives referred to may have been stocked with some of Lady Hobson’s bees, but it is also quite possible that they may have been brought from New South Wales where they had been first introduced in 1822.” The editor of the journal, The New Zealand Farmer, was Isaac Hopkins. As he makes no mention of the Rev. Taylor in later editions of his Australasian Bee Manual, it might be assumed that Hopkins received no further communication from Halcombe, or the lead proved false.

However, Taylor himself sets the record straight, at least to the best of his knowledge, in his 1868 work The Past and Present of New Zealand “Captain Hobson brought the first hive of bees to the island, but they did not increase. Mr. Cotton, The Bishop of New Zealand's chaplain, was more successful, and from his hive both islands are now well stocked.”

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‘A Shareholder’, 1841In The New Zealand Journal of 27 November 1841, there appeared an undated letter from ‘A Shareholder’ recommending the importation of bees to settlements of the New Zealand Company. “There is a source of profit peculiarly within the province of the farmer, and one which would greatly increase, with proper management the amount of his yearly income. In every point of view it would seem desirable that bees should be cultivated .. From the commencement of history to our own day, bees have been an object of attention; honey has been used, and wax has been an article of commerce. In fact, the amount consumed of the former for food, medicine, &c., and of the latter for various purposes in the arts, would astonish those who have never turned their attention to the subject. In the savage and civilised state, wherever there has been sun enough to mature a flower, every individual of the community is as familiar with the luxury of honey, and the merits and uses of bees-wax, as with the daily food that is consumed.” (p.297b).

Another correspondent to the New Zealand Journal of 6 September 1851 gave favourable reasons for the management of bees “Long before bee-keeping becomes a lucrative branch of rural management, I look for wax and honey being, the former a large article of export and the latter a great addition to our comforts.” (p.437d). How successful the bees had been in multiplying is demonstrated by the following “Only within the last four years have they been fairly tried, and already it is evident that, from the length of our flowering season, they will produce more wax and honey, in proportion to their numbers, than in almost any other country. They multiply rapidly too, swarm frequently, and there is no keeping them from the woods. .. Though but a few swarms have been imported, and only within the last four or five years, honey may be had all over our district for a shilling a pound. In time it will be as cheap as in New South Wales, where it may be had for 4d. a pound; and the quality here is better.

The Shareholder quoted the same recommendation from the Hon. Mr. Petrethat the Rev. William Charles Cotton, chaplain to Bishop George Augustus Selwyn, was to use as his inspiration to take bees to New Zealand.

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Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842

His MotivationThe following quote, used by Cotton himself, may have been the inspiration for his decision to transport bees to New Zealand. Cotton (1842) “One fact has not, to my knowledge, been mentioned. The flowers of the plants abound with honey, which the natives frequently suck. Thus, should bees be introduced into New Zealand, and I see no reason why they should not, they will find abundance of food in the flower of the Phormium Tenax, as well as in others. I mention this, in case any one should be disposed to take bees as an experiment. (Honourable Henry William Petre on the Settlements of the New Zealand Company p. 60).” (p.355)

Cotton was not the only person to take note of Petre’s observation. In a letter to the Editor of The New Zealand Journal of 27 November 1841 “Sir,-In a small pamplet, (sic) lately published by the Hon. Mr. Petre, there is a suggestive passage, .. calling .. to the attention of those who may be disposed to emigrate to, or have already established themselves in New Zealand.” (p.297). The writer continued with Petre’s recommendation as quoted by Cotton.

The HogsheadCotton planned ahead as to exactly how he was to achieve his task. His words explain his intentions very clearly: “The Bee of England, like the man of England, if he be but good of his kind, is, I think, surpassed by none in the world. I will not get Bees from India-nor Bees from South America-nor Bees from New Holland, but carry them direct from England, sixteen thousand miles over the sea. How is this to be done?-By putting them to sleep, by keeping them at a low temperature, by burying them, and keeping them dry.” (p.357) Cotton knew that ice had been successfully used to pack fresh salmon on a voyage from North America to Calcutta. It was also to be his answer. He was apparently aware that bees could be obtained from New Holland (Australia) but had decided to rely upon his own stock.

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Cotton’s work My Bee Book, written in 1839 before his departure for New Zealand, and published in 1842, provided the following details, supporting his diagrams of a recycled wine barrel, a hogshead. Probably of either fifty six or one hundred and twelve gallons capacity, it would be the shipping container for his hives “The diagram is a vertical section of an old hogshead, which I

have had fresh coopered, and the joints properly fitted. It is lined throughout with a coating of thick felt, which is, I believe, one of the best non-conducting things. The bottom has a pipe and tap to carry off the leakage, and is filled with broken crocks, that the drainage may be most perfect.” (p.358) From his illustration it was capable of holding at least three hives, and more likely, four of them.

“As the ice melts away-as melt it will-though I trust two-thirds of it will safely cross the Line, I shall draw it off through the tap, and by measuring the waste every day, know how much I have left. .. we have a hundred thousand passengers on board-which is about the crew which will be shipped in ten Hives. .. Now, without some care we should have a pretty mess of half-melted ice .. together with dead Bees and spoilt honey, if the Hives had been permitted to rest on ice, and sink down with it as it melted.” (p.359)

“I have thought of this: and the same diagram represents a wooden frame, which is fixed firmly across the inside of the hogshead, about an inch above the ice. The Bees will be moved from their bottom boards on some cold November day, and securely tied, each in a square cloth of dairy canvas. (note: dairy canvas was used to strain milk) The Hives will then be placed on the top of this frame, and well dried cinders, from which the moisture has been all baked out, will be poured in from above, till the hogshead is quite filled. By these means light and heat will be both excluded, and the Bees will be put into a deep and long sleep; though I hope not an eternal one. But some one

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who doubts my success may say, “Your Bees will be stifled; they can get no air, and air is necessary to their life.” I do not think so. A friend has written to me about some Bees which were buried last winter, and were not supplied with any air, but that which was drained, you may say, into them through the earth; and they, without air, lived passing well .. But in order to give my Bees every chance of a long life and a happy one, as well as a long voyage .. Each Hive has a pipe leading from the outward air to its T hole (note: T hole - meaning the top hole, which was either plugged or provided access to a honey skep above);-this will supply fresh air. But you well know, that you cannot put any thing into a full bottle, except you first take something out. So I must remove the foul air before I can put any fresh in. How then is it to be got rid of? Why, by a pipe to be sure, leading also into the outer air, but, as well as the other, guarded by a piece of perforated zinc, that the foul air may pass out without allowing one single Bee to accompany it. This will carry away all dampness, an well as foul air; the Bees’ breath may be condensed in an inverted bell glass .. It will then trickle down in the shape of water .. Thus, I trust, my Bees will arrive safely at New Zealand;” (pp.360-361)

EvaporationCotton planned not to rely solely on the hogshead method “In order to give myself every chance of getting some Bees, at least, safe to New Zealand, I am not going to confine myself to the ice method alone, but I shall try to keep one or two stocks cool by means of evaporation. .. The Hive is placed on a board resting on springs, that the motion of the ship may not disturb the Bees. .. A wall of water entirely surrounds the Hive. Fresh water is perpetually running in from the double case in which the Hive is placed, from the ship’s cistern. The two cylinders of zinc, in which the Hive is placed, are open at the top, so that the water is exposed to the open air. A piece of rag, which will suck up the water, is laid between the two zinc cylinders. This will conduct the water on to the top of the Hives; evaporation will be always going on, and, as I believe, will keep the Hive so cool that the Bees will remain asleep. A few cinders will be also poured in between the Hive and the cylinder, to keep the Bees quite quiet. A pipe also will be fitted to the T hole to supply them with air, just as I did to those in the hogshead.” (pp.261-362)

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GimblesAnd a third method “Another I have suspended on gimbles, by the aid of which it will always remain quite upright.” (p.361). A set of gimbles is a device used to keep a ship’s compass level, despite the roll and pitch of the vessel.

Observatory HiveNot satisfied with the above three methods, a simpler fourth technique was to be adopted “I shall also take an Observatory Hive in my cabin; they, of course, will be affected by every change of temperature, so I shall feed them by putting glasses of honey over the holes at the top of the Observatory Hive.” (p.362)

From the 1881 First edition of Hopkins The Illustrated New Zealand Bee Manual “For the introduction of Bees into this Colony we are indebted to the late Rev. William Charles Cotton and Mrs. Allom, mother of our respected and esteemed citizen A. J. Allom, Esquire, of Parawai. With regard to Mr. Cotton’s success I quote the following from the British Bee Journal of January 1st, 1880.” (p.4). Though the above declaration of the introduction of bees was amended by Hopkins in later editions, it shows how confusion can result by referencing only earlier editions of his book. The quotation continued “In 1841 Mr Cotton became chaplain to the late Bishop of New Zealand, Dr. Selwyn, with whom he embarked on board the Tomatin at Plymouth, on 30th December of that year. .. Mr. Cotton took with him four stocks of bees; and many marvellous stories are told of his mastery over his favourites on ship board.” (p.4).

I wonder what these stories were? A pity that some details were not related within the British Bee Journal. It would have been interesting to know if he

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used all or only some of his proposed methods of transporting the bees. The quotation continued “New Zealand is such a good country for bees, that Mr. Cotton told me, one stock had increased to twenty-six in one year.”

Nicholson states in The Log of Logs that the Tomatin departed Plymouth on 16 December 1841 and arrived Sydney, New South Wales, on 14 April 1842. The ship stayed in port until 17 June 1842. Cotton is reported to have arrived in Auckland on 29 May 1842. I have not been able to resolve the inconsistency between these two dates.

Cotton also produced a beekeeping manual in 1848. Another manual was published in Maori. More (1976) adds “Once there, Cotton soon produced a Manual for New Zealand Beekeepers, for the craft was already gathering momentum”. In it are described more methods for shipping bees “.. if you want to take your bees to a great distance, down the coast for instance, and the voyage may last a week or a fortnight .. tie it up securely in a cloth .. The cloth which is tied over the bottom of the hive must be of such an open texture as to admit air freely, and yet not so open as to let any bees out. .. hang it somewhere in the ship out of the light, or at all events, screened from the sun, where it can swing freely without fear of knocking against the side of the vessel, and then you may carry your treasure to the most distant part of these islands in safety. A common straw hive is certainly the most handy for carrying bees any great distances, for the cloth is more easily tied about it. You may look at it every now and then to see whether the bees are forcing their way out. They will try to do so, and when the cloth is taken off you will find that portion of its surface which was exposed to the bees carded into a sort of lint, by he action of their jaws. You will see their feelers pushed through the canvas in great numbers, searching for a passage into the open air. If you find that they are making a hole, through which they will soon force a passage out, nothing is easier than to tie another fold of cloth over the bottom of the hive.” (pp.9-10). The cloth Cotton referred to is clearly described “The stuff which I use for the purpose is that which is, I believe, called dairy canvas, and is made for straining milk.” (p.9).

He also provided instructions for box hives “Should the swarm be in a wooden box, the best way of securing it is to lash it firmly to a bottom board, with no door at all cut into it, and then push in little wedges between the box and the board, so as to raise the hive about an eighth of

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an inch all round. This will both tighten the lashings, and also give the bees a sufficient supply of fresh air; as it is much better to give it them in this way than at one single doorway, through a piece of perforated zinc or tin. For, in this latter case, the bees seeing the light at only one point will often crowd so much to it, as to prevent the free entrance of the air. Such few bees as die on the passage will also be carried to the entrance, where they will help to block up, so that at last the whole swarm may be stifled. But by wedging up the box all round, the bees will have breathing places everywhere, and you will see them, if you peep in, not struggling to get air at one place only, but running about in every direction on the floor board ..” (pp.10-11).

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Was He Successful ?More (1976) adds these interesting details on Cotton “He had written My Bee Book two years earlier while at Oxford, and in it he explained exactly how he proposed to carry his beehives to the Antipodes aboard ship. .. He tried this, but the superstitious sailors thought the bad weather they encountered was caused by the bees, which they threw overboard, to Cotton's dismay.”

Daphne More, author of The Bee Book, replied to Chris Dawson of New Zealand, in a letter dated 4 December 1977. The source for the ‘thrown overboard’ story is revealed “I can recall where the story of the superstitious sailors came from. I read of it in Bee World, wrote to the author of the piece, and discovered his source was a letter from ‘A Devonshire Beekeeper’ printed under the heading ‘The Late Rev. W. C. Cotton’ in a magazine called The Cottage Gardener, Country Gentleman’s Companion and Poultry Chronicle. The date is 1859.”

Cheshire (1886) identified the ‘Devonshire Beekeeper’. “M. Hermann, a bee-cultivator, Canton Grison, Switzerland, transmitted the first consignment of living Italians that reached our shores to Mr. A. Neighbour - the late Mr. Woodbury, the ‘Devonshire Beekeeper,’ receiving in the same package, a queen and her attendants. These arrived July 19th, 1859.” The article in Bee World referred to by More was by D. A. Smith, Secretary of the Bee Research Association. It was titled Reprints of Early English Bee Books. Smith’s comment on My Bee Book was as follows “Cotton sets out his plan to take bees from England to New Zealand. .. Cotton later made the attempt but the sailors, believing that the presence of the bees in the ship was the cause of bad weather, threw them overboard - to his great dismay.” (p.17)

Accounts of Cotton successfully bringing bees to New Zealand in 1842 may be incorrect. This superstitious reaction by the sailors could have been the reason for Captain John Boyce's earlier possible reluctance to carry bees for Gregory Blaxland in 1805. By this time, whether Cotton was successful or not, there were bees present on both North and South Islands. It appears that Cotton imported bees from New South Wales. From Remarks on the Past and Present State of New Zealand by Walter Brodie, 1845 “Mr. Cotton (Chaplain to Bishop, Dr. Selwyn) had a hive of bees sent him from New South Wales which in one year increased sevenfold.” Why would

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Cotton send to New South Wales when he was supposed to have brought his own bees? Was he supplementing his stocks, or was the story of his hogshead of bees having been thrown overboard true. Hopkins (1886) was adamant that Cotton was successful.

Hopkins relied upon a report in the British Bee Journal of 1 January 1880 “Mr. Cotton took with him four stocks of bees; and many marvellous stories are told of his mastery over his favourites on ship board. .. Before the introduction of the honey bee into New Zealand, they had to send over to England every year for the white clover seed (Trifolium repens), as it did not seed freely there, but by the agency of the bees they are now able to export it. ” (pp.8-9). In The Honey Bee by Rev. Thos. James (1852) “Mr. Cotton has taken out with him four stocks of bees” (p.56). The mention of “many marvellous stories” is not consistent with his proposed method of skeps of bees packed away inside a hogshead where no attention was required until they were unpacked on arrival. Might Cotton have abandoned his grandiose methods for some simpler technique where the welfare of the bees could be closely monitored?

From Tucker (1879) is a letter from Bishop Selwyn to his mother, dated 13 April 1842, written while the Tomatin stood off Sydney “Our passage through the tropics, contrary to my expectation, was exceedingly pleasant; the thermometer never rose above 83 Fahrenheit in the shade; and in general we were refreshed by the trade winds, which were carrying us along at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour. Even during a short calm which occurred on the line, we did not find the heat so oppressive as we expected; our cabin, having two windows opening to the stern and one to the side, was always cool and airy ..”. Such conditions were in favour of the packed bees not being subjected to excessive heat.

By 1842, importation of bees from New South Wales appears to have become an organised business. In the New Zealand Journal of 19 October 1842, the following advertisement appeared “Bees for Sale. Expected from Sydney, a few hives of bees; orders will also be taken for the importation of bees to the extent of from twenty to thirty hives. For price, apply at the ‘Gazette’ office. September 20 1842.” (p.4a) This notice ran for several weeks throughout September and October. The name of the importer was not provided.

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Selwyn’s journal for 31 May 1842 noted “Went to stay with the Governor and Mrs. Hobson, whom I found most hospitable and agreeable.” The Hobsons had brought bees with them from Sydney in 1840, though Rev. Taylor states that this hive did not increase.

Rev. Taylor (1868) leaves little doubt as to Cotton’s success: “Captain Hobson brought the first hive of bees to the island, but they did not increase. Mr. Cotton, The Bishop of New Zealand's chaplain, was more successful, and from his hive both islands are now well stocked.” Note that Taylor states “from his hive”. Whether this is a generic term for four hives or it literally means one hive only, is unclear. Taylor gave no dates for the Hobson introduction. From this report, it would appear that Captain Hobson's hive failed to produce a swarm and the inhabitants died out. A possible reason would have been their loss of resilience during the voyage from New South Wales. Note the mention of Cotton’s one hive. What of the other three hives? Neither Hobson or Cotton were the first. Miss Bumby has than honour.

Taylor continued in an expansive state “They have increased to such an extent, as to have become wild and fill the forest, so that the bee may be said to be already more established in New Zealand than it is even in England, where it requires much care to preserve it through the winter, whereas in the mildness of the New Zealand climate it is quite as much at home in its forest mansion, as in its artificial ones, and actually for several years honey was far more reasonable in New Zealand than in England.” Taylor was a fellow missionary. He wrote to Miss Bumby on 11 July 1840, sympathising with her on the recent and sudden death of her brother. Why he made no mention in 1868 of her introduction of bees in 1839 is a mystery.

Lady Hobson, March 1840In 1882, Isaac Hopkins stated in The New Zealand Bee Manual, following correspondence from a reader, William Mason “Shortly after the first edition was published .. I received a letter from a gentleman calling my attention to the fact that I had made a mistake in giving the credit to Mr. Cotton .. stating that the first bees arrived in the ship ‘Westminster’ in the early part of 1840, nearly two years before Mr. Cotton came to this colony. These bees belonged to Lady Hobson, wife of the first Governor, and were watched over on board the vessel by Mr. McElwaine, the Governor’s gardener. They were landed in the

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Bay of Islands.” (p.5). Captain Hobson had preceded her to the Bay of Islands. “In the month of February, 1840, H.M.S. Herald arrived at the Bay of Islands with Captain Hobson bringing full powers, as Lieutenant-Governor ..” (Hunt, 1971).

That the bees were “watched over” and particularly by the Governor’s gardener strongly suggests that the bees were not stowed and forgotten for the duration of the voyage. Some care was obviously required. The most likely assistance for the two week voyage would have simply been the provision of water. Nicholson, in The Log of Logs, reports that the Westminster arrived Sydney from Plymouth on 7 January 1840, stayed until 4 March 1840 and arrived at the Bay of Islands 17 March 1840. (p.583).

Hopkins (1886) did not trust alone in Mason’s first correspondence. “From further inquiries made, I feel quite satisfied that to Lady Hobson belongs the credit of being the first person who introduced bees into this country;” Hopkins wrote “In a subsequent letter the gentleman - Mr. William Mason, who was, at the period above-mentioned, Government Architect and Inspector of Public Works - told me that he distinctly recollected the bees on board the ship, and stated that they were in straw hives, wrapped in blankets;” (p.8). Whether the hives were on deck or below is not clear. The method of wrapping the hive in blankets suggests to me that the bees were always contained within the hive and in a manner which would allow adequate ventilation.

However, Hopkins was again to revise this statement in the fourth edition of his work. Hopkins (c1904) “The difficulty of tracing the particulars of most circumstances where public records have not been kept has been exemplified in the matter of the first introduction of bees into New Zealand. I did my upmost when getting the three previous editions of my book ready for the press to obtain the true facts of the case, and each time was led into error. I have, however, at last managed to get what I feel certain is the correct information, and which I am very pleased to be able to place on record.” (p.4).

George Graham, 1841The Beekeeping Notes section of The New Zealand Farmer of October 1885 reported “Mr George Graham, in a letter to his son, states that the first bees that came to New Zealand were brought at his request from Hobart

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in 1841, not 1840. The bees did very well. A swarm from the hive settled near Government House. Mr Cleghorn took it, and it did very well. The vessel’s name in which the bees (two swarms) came was The Sisters; captain’s name, Clark. One swarm died, but the other one, as above mentioned, did well. Mr. Graham gave Bishop Selwyn the others swarms as they multiplied. The cost of the two swarms was £5.”

Mr. John Carne Bidwill, 1842The staff at Nelson Provincial Museum provided a copy of some pages of a book to Chris Dawson in 1973, but they were unmarked with title and author “.. The first bees actually landed alive at Wellington were brought from Sydney, by Mr. John Carne Bidwill, in the same year.” ie., 1842 (pp.170-175). No other information is available but the fact that they were brought from Sydney and not England is interesting.

Dr. Pompallier, 1845From notes supplied by Chris Dawson, there was an entry extracted from Remarks on the Past and Present State of New Zealand by Walter Brodie, 1845 “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.”.

This is the only reference I have seen on Dr. Jean Baptiste Pompallier. The mission’s achievement was therefore 1845 or earlier. I understand that the hive or hives acquired by Pompallier’s Marist Fathers, among many other items, were donated by members of the Catholic community in Sydney, as the mission at the Bay of Islands was short of resources. My research in this matter will continue.

SOUTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND

Dr. Imlay, 18 April 1842Andrew Matheson, now Director of the International Bee Research Association, wrote an interesting article for The New Zealand Beekeeper of December 1982. He had earlier been researching some family history at Nelson Museum. He quoted the Nelson Examiner for Saturday 8 October 1842 “When Dr Imlay visited Nelson in April last, he brought with him,

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as a present to Captain Wakefield, a hive of bees. These interesting and useful colonists are, as usual, among the busiest of our settlers.” This extract then precedes the acclaimed introduction by Mrs. Allom, detailed in the next section.

The extract continues “It is difficult to ascertain where they obtain their wealth at this season of the year, but they do find it somewhere, and return with well-laden thighs. The vessels from the Australia continent will most likely bring us some hives after the coming swarming season; at least it is hoped so. If there must be luxuries, let them be ‘home made’.” This latest comment suggests that other consignments of bees may have occurred, in that it may have been an irregular practice for bees to be brought over on the relatively short ten day voyage from Australia.

Matheson stated “Dr. Imlay had chartered the barque Brilliant to bring stock from Australia to Nelson for Captain Wakefield.”, arriving 18 April 1842. He quoted from The Nelson Examiner of Saturday 23 April 1842 “The barque ‘Brilliant’, Captain Ritchie, arrived here on Monday morning last in 10 days. Dr Imlay, by whom she was chartered arrived in her. Her cargo was stock from his well-known herds and flocks.” Matheson adds “The hive from Dr. Imlay must have survived the winter, as on August 1, 1842 Captain (Arthur) Wakefield wrote to his brother William: ‘I have got a fine hive of bees doing very well’ ”.

In The New Zealand Journal of 25 November 1843 “Colonel Wakefield has received bees from Sydney; in April last he had five swarms; he uses Nutt’s collateral hives”. (p.305). These ‘Sydney’ sourced bees were possibly those brought out in April 1842 (assuming ‘April last’ refers to 1842 and not 1843) by Dr. Imlay and the report corresponds with Matheson’s findings. It is also consistent with Mrs. Allom and her dispatch of Nutt’s hives, sending them under the care of Rev. Saxton. The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958) provides more detail on the Imlay brothers. There was Peter; George who was a surgeon-superintendent and who arrived on the Roslyn Castle in February 1833; and Alexander, an army surgeon (p.65, Vol V). They were described as pioneers of the coastal district between Bega and Twofold Bay in south-eastern New South Wales. They were involved in cattle stations, whaling and the shipping of cattle to Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand. It would also appear that they had an interest in bees. From the investigations by Matheson, they became the first

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to introduce them into the South Island of New Zealand, a matter of a few weeks ahead of Mrs. Allom.

Mrs. Mary Ann Allom, April 1842Hopkins (c1904) stated “the credit for sending the first bees from England to the South Island successfully lies with Mrs. Allom, the mother of A. J Allom, Esq., of Parnell. they arrived in the barque ‘Clifford’ in May, 1842 and were consigned to Captain Wakefield. For her successful introduction .. the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Adelphi, London, awarded Mrs. Allom the silver Isis medal in 1845.” (p.5).

Within the archives of what was the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, I found a 1903 work of reminiscences by Captain Barry titled Glimpses of the Australian Colonies and New Zealand. In it there is mention of Mr. Albert James Allom, son of Mrs. Mary Allom. At the age of 16 he went to New Zealand on 9 February 1842. In Barry’s words, Albert Allom “was a cadet on the survey staff of the New Zealand Land Settlement Company in the affairs of which Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a close personal friend of the Allom family, played so important a part” (p.187). Albert Allom returned to England in 1848 and “during the next three years he resided for the most part with Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield at Reigate, Surrey, acting as his private secretary, in preparation for the projected Canterbury Settlement.” (p.188). The Wakefield and Allom families were therefore well known to each other, possibly explaining why the hives were consigned to Captain Wakefield.

Captain Arthur Wakefield of the Royal Navy arrived in Wellington on 18 September 1841 aboard the Whitby leading the Nelson colony. The Captain should not be confused with his brothers Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who “was one of the chief advocates and organisers of the colonization schemes associated with the settlement of South Australia and of New Zealand.” (p.ix) and Colonel William Wakefield, agent for the New Zealand Company, or Edward Gibbon's son, Edward Jerningham Wakefield.

The integrity of the details supplied by Hopkins first edition is high as he was in contact with her son. “Mrs. Allom .. sometime in 1842, (as I am informed by Mr. Allom) sent some colonies of bees to Nelson and Wellington; those sent to Nelson were consigned to Captain Wakefield,

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the then head of the settlement, and reached their destination safely, while those forwarded to Wellington died before arrival.” (p.4)

In Matheson’s 1982 article from the New Zealand Beekeeper of December 1982 (p.13) he mentioned the journal of J. W. Saxton, brother of Rev. Charles Saxton. Charles was the chaperone of the hive being forwarded by Mrs. Allom on the Clifford. The journal, held at the Nelson Museum, has in Saxton’s words, written in London, 17 December 1841 “Miss Wakefield came on board with a party of friends. One of them, a Mrs Allom, explained to me an ingeniously contrived hive of bees which was going to New Zealand in the charge of Charles who had not yet arrived on board.”

This ingeniously contrived hive is described as follows in The New Zealand Journal of 1 October 1842 “we invented a glass feeder, so that any of the persons who chose might enjoy the sight of their feeding on the passage, and accordingly sent one half hundred of honey (ie. 56 pounds, half a hundred-weight) for their food. .. These I conveyed safely on board the ship ‘Clifford,’ on the 18th or 19th of December, but entrusted to the care of the Reverend Mr. Saxon (sic), .. in January I sent out a second hive by the London, .. which sailed, on I believe, the first of that month.” (pp.237-8). The Clifford began its voyage 18 December 1841, arriving Nelson, April 1842. The London departed 2 January 1842, arriving Wellington, 1 May 1842. Remember that T. B. Wilson was reputed to have fed his bees also.

Matheson cleared the confusion regarding the bees, in Hopkins words, having been “consigned to Captain Wakefield”, which it appears they were not. “J.W Saxton records that the bees were sold to Wakefield. On June 3, 1843 he wrote: ‘Went to a sale of Charles’ effects. Captain Wakefield bought the hive.”. I wondered if Matheson had related all the details from the diary, so I wrote to the Nelson Museum. The reply stated that there was no further detail about the hive in the diary. Matheson observed that Wakefield did not buy the Clifford hive until the next year, having first acquired the Imlay hive, which arrival pre-dated the Allom hive.

It would seem then that both Arthur and William Wakefield were beekeepers. William received a hive in April 1842 from Imlay and Arthur purchased the Saxton hive in June 1843.

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I have a photocopy of some pages of a book, title and author unknown, sent to Chris Dawson from the Nelson Provincial Museum in 1973. “The earliest attempt to introduce bees from England was made by Mrs. Wills, in May, 1842; but this first colony died on the passage. Shortly afterwards, a healthy hive, sent by Mrs. Allom, of London, arrived safely, and was established at Nelson. ..” (pp.170-175). The article goes on to discuss beemaster Cotton and his Essays on the Management of Bees which were published in newspapers, but makes no mention of Cotton’s introduction of bees, successful or otherwise.

In the New Zealand Journal of 10 December 1842 there is an article on bees by “W” recommending the sending of bees to New Zealand as practiced by Mrs Allom “It is to be hoped that many will follow her example, since Mr A. Perry states that some which Mrs. Wills had taken had arrived alive and well.” (p. 293).

From The New Zealand Journal of 1 October 1842 (and reprinted in the British Bee Journal, 28 June 1969, pp.150-151), under a banner titled “Bees for New Zealand”, is Mary Allom’s description of how she organised the shipment of the bees:

“To The Editor of The New Zealand JournalSir,-As I am a constant reader of your interesting Journal, I trust you will not deem the following out of place; and should opportunity and space offer in your forthcoming Journal, you perhaps may like to make some reference to it. You are aware that my son formed one of the ten cadets who sailed last year, in the Brougham, for Wellington, Port Nicholson. .. After he had gone, I began to reflect upon the many things he would feel at a loss for when he arrived, one among the many, butter; this I thought might be remedied by substituting honey, when I found there was no bees, at least honeybees, in New Zealand, I accordingly deter-mined that I would send some if possible; but many friends attempted to dissuade me, thinking it could not be accomplished; but I still persevered, and after some little trouble procured a hive and bees from Kennington, and this in December.

I had them removed to my house at Hart Street, Bloomsbury, and sent for a person who had long made the rearing of bees his study, and in

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my presence remove a small portion of the cement which is generally placed round the straw hive to keep them secure from vermin. We soon found they were uncommonly healthy, and quietly captured them.

Then came the consideration how they should be packed for a long voyage; and I at last determined upon placing the whole within the wooden case, the top to be of perforated zinc, and room left for them to get exercise, but without getting out to annoy any one, should they by possibility swarm on the voyage; and we invented a glass feeder, so that any of the persons who chose might enjoy the sight of their feeding on the passage, and accordingly sent one half hundred of honey for their food, with several extra hives, called improved Nutts hives. These I conveyed safely on board the ship Clifford, on the 18th or 19th of December, but entrusted to the care of the Reverend Mr. Saxon (sic) .. In January I sent out a second hive by the London, with a greater quantity of extra hives, which sailed, on I believe, the first of that month.- I have the honour to be Sir, yours very truly, Mary Ann Allom.” (pp.237-8)

A version of the Nutt ‘Collateral’ hive, as used by Colonel Wakefield

This was followed by a note from the Editor “We are very much obliged to Mrs. Allom for her very interesting letter. .. By this time, we hope the colonies swarm with the offspring of her proteges. Let her excellent example stimulate others.”

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A letter from ‘A Subscriber’ to the Journal on 12 November 1842, raised doubts as to he true success of Mrs. Allom’s initiative “I fear her praiseworthy attempt .. will not be attended with the beneficial results it so richly deserves; and that the winged emigrants, if they reached Port Nicholson alive, will be in so unhealthy a state as to render the chances very few of their surviving so long a voyage, exposed to temperatures so varied as those they must experience in the varied latitudes through which the vessels must pass on their passage out. The alterations of torpor and animation resulting from the passing through cold and warm latitudes, cause greater exhaustion and loss of physical power than would be occasioned by a continuance of uniform torpor.” After long justification of the above, the Subscriber wrote “dysentery .. proceeding from long confinement in bad air, is invariably fatal .. this is another reason why I fear for the success of Mrs. Allom’s praiseworthy efforts.” The author then suggested that should her experiment be a failure “They might be transported .. (from) New Holland .. in a much shorter space of time, without being subjected to frequent variations of temperature, and without being confined in a close and unwholesome atmosphere, the consequences of which are so fatal.” (p.273). Cotton, already in New Zealand for six months, would have had the knowledge to write this letter, but the author remains a mystery.

In The New Zealand Journal of 10 December 1842 “All must acknowledge their obligation to Mrs. Allom, for the pains which she took to forward a hive to Wellington; and not only in doing so, but described the manner of doing it.” (pp.293-4).

In The New Zealand Journal of 10 December 1842 “The season has commenced for sending out bees; if those gentlemen would procure some hives, and adopt Mrs. Allom's plan as to what may be called packing them, it would remain for them to find some emigrant who would undertake their care during the voyage. The ships going with cheap passages afford an excellent opportunity of doing this. Any passenger engaging to take care of five hives, should receive one for his or her trouble; that is, suppose (one) were to send six hives properly packed on board, the care-taker is to deliver five to the agents of these gentlemen; if one is lost out of the six, the loss must fall on the care-taker, if more than one is lost, the agent at New Zealand should be authorised to remunerate the care-taker with 5s. per hive, for those

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delivered. This mode of payment would insure care being taken of the hives during the whole voyage. .. there are other ladies who have maternal feelings besides the excellent Mrs. Allom, and many a mother upon reading this will send her sons a hive of bees. .. let all be asked when an engagement for the passage is made at New Zealand House, whether they will undertake the care of bees. If this is done, few vessels will part during the season without many hives of bees; and many to whom it may not be exactly convenient to purchase a hive, and the honey wanted for the food during the voyage, will arrive at New Zealand, the owners of a hive of bees, or in the care of single hives, will receive 5s." (pp.293-4).

This scheme was suggested by a contributor identified as ‘W’. A possibility is that this contributor could have been either Captain or Colonel Wakefield. A postscript by the Editor “If any reader .. would favour the Editor with information as to the readiest manner of buying bees, it would be useful at this season.” Both writers were unaware of the earlier September/October advertisements in the Journal advertising bees for sale which were imported from Sydney.

A short article in The Dominion of 14 May 1938, by H. Maynard, Hataitai, Wellington, stated: “The first hive sent out was lost, all the bees died. They were on the London, which arrived at Wellington on May 1, 1842, on her second visit. Prior to this bees had been brought to the Bay of Islands in 1840.”. Hopkins supported the view that the first lot of bees died..

Hopkins quoted the letter that accompanied the award presented to Mrs. Allom by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, London. I assume he was shown it by her son, Mr. A. J. Allom, then of Parawai. It was dated 23 May 1845 and is as follows:

“Madam,I have the pleasure to inform you that the Society have awarded you their silver Isis medal for your communication respecting your successful introduction of bees to New Zealand. I enclose your card of admission, and am

Your obedient servant,(Signed) Francis Whishaw

Secretary.”

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The method by which the bees were transported safely, was to remain cryptic until I found the following entry during a visit to the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. It appeared in the New Zealand Journal, 1845 “Society of Arts: The Secretary read a paper, by Mrs. T. Allom, ‘On the Introduction of Bees to New Zealand.’ The attention of the author was first drawn to the subject by hearing from her son of the high price of butter in the colony, for which article she conceived honey would form an excellent substitute. The danger of the bees being neglected on the voyage was urged by many as a reason why she should abandon her project. She, however, set to work to contrive a method of transporting her ‘tiny colony’ to New Zealand. The contrivance is as follows - a large oblong box of wood having its top, and also front of perforated zinc, containing in the centre a common straw hive, which answers as the pavilion, and has an entrance in front; on either side is a wooden breeding box communicating with the pavilion; on the top of the case is a circular feeding trough, furnished with a cylindrical passage from the interior of the case, through which the bees pass to a perforated zinc floating stage above the hive, on which they rest while feeding; the feeding trough is filled with liquid honey, through a funnel-shaped opening on the side - a glass top enables the apiarian to inspect the insect while feeding. During the voyage the bees were fed twice a week, with two-thirds of honey and one-third of water - they arrived safely.” (p.143d).

Mrs. Wills, May 1842

From a a photocopy of some pages of a book, title and author unknown, sent to Chris Dawson from the Nelson Provincial Museum in 1973 “The earliest attempt to introduce bees from England was made by Mrs. Wills, in May, 1842; but this first colony died on the passage.” (pp.170-175). In The New Zealand Journal of 10 December 1842 there is an article on bees by “W” recommending the sending of bees to New Zealand as practiced by Mrs Allom, and saying “It is to be hoped that many will follow her example, since Mr A. Perry states that some which Mrs. Wills had taken had arrived alive and well.” (p. 293) The “alive and well” description is inconsistent with the previous report that the hive perished on the voyage.

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Part III - The Italian ‘Apis ligustica’Langstroth (1889) supplied details on the earliest importations of Italian bees into America. Without attempting a detailed investigation into this topic, the dates provided give a good guide as to how close the Australasians were in tapping into the benefits of the Italian race “An attempt was made in 1856, by Mr. Wagner, to import them into America, but, unfortunately the colonies perished on the voyage. The first living Italian bees landed on this continent were imported by Mr. Wagner and Mr. Richard Colvin, of Baltimore, from Dzierzon’s apiary. Mr. P. G. Mahan of Philadelphia, brought over at the same time a few colonies. .. the first large successful importations were made by Adam Grimm of Wisconsin, in 1867, from the Apiary of Prof. Mona of Bellingona, and by us in 1874, from the Apiary of Signor Giuseppe Fiorini of Monselice, Italy.” (pp. 287-288).

NEW SOUTH WALES

T. W. Woodbury, 1862

Hopkins (1886) “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 ..” (p.15).

Rayment says of Woodbury’s effort “.. they arrived in good condition.” (p.271). In Root’s 1947 edition of The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture “.. Neighbour (1866) reported that colonies of bees shipped by him from England to Australia arrived there safely after being 79 days on a sailing ship.” (p.444). More (1976) wrote, using his correct initials of ‘T.W.’ “The first Italian bees to arrive in Australia were sent out by T. W. Woodbury of Exeter, England, in 1862: the voyage took 79 days.” So the success or failure, according to the conflicting opinions, must remain in doubt.

As Woodbury was involved in the exportation, the bees may have been packed in a hive of his design which carried his name. It adhered to Langstroth principles with a top bee-space which held ten 13 1/2 inch x 8 3/4 inch frames. More (1976) supplies this note “To make it more acceptable to

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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)

Unknown, 1876James Stanley Eagland, a former president of the Victorian Apiarists’ Association, supplied the following in The Australian Encyclopaedia of 1958, “The Italian bee was first introduced in 1876, since when numerous importations have been made.” (p.472). No further details are provided as to when and by whom these introductions were made. Beuhne (1916 ) from Victoria stated “The Italian Bee was introduced in the seventies.” No more information is supplied. This may be a reference to this 1876 introduction, given that Eagland and Beuhne were both based in Victoria.

Peterson, 1877Henry Neary (1940), in Ghosts of the Goldfields - Pioneer Diggers and Settlers of the Turon, tells of a beekeeper from the goldfields of New South Wales. “Bee-farming at Wattle Flat would seem, at first thought, a somewhat incongruous industry to spring up in a mining centre, yet Peterson, the man who first interested himself in this enterprise, lived to make quite a fortune out of it. The scene of his operations was at a place called ‘Nuggety’ at Wattle Flat. Peterson began with the common black bee, caught in the surrounding bush; in the year 1877 he sent to Italy for an Italian queen bee which cost him only thirty-five shillings .. from this single queen evolved an apiary of hybrids. Peterson later imported more queens, which he would lovingly place on the palm of his hand and fondle, much as one would admire a rare jewel. His hives were not the miniature castles provided by present-day apiarists, but were made from a number of crude wooden boxes obtained from the local store-keepers.”

Peterson was personally known to Neary, so his information would seem to have been gained at first hand. “In 1893 Peterson built a new house for himself with some of the profits from bee-farming .. Peterson, in those days, had full control of the honey market, there being no opposition, and he made thousands of pounds from this business. He .. did not resort to the practice in operation to-day of engaging stands in various districts to catch the different flows of honey.”

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Mr. S. McDonnell, 1880Gale (1912) quoted from Hopkins (1886) “Mr. S. McDonnell, of Sydney, imported two colonies from America in 1880, and succeeded in raising stock from them.”. This was prior to the arrival of W. Abram and the establishment of the Italian Bee Company at Parramatta with McDonnell.

Mr. W. Abram, 1881Hopkins (1886) states “Mr. Abrams, a German bee-master, brought some colonies with him from Italy in 1883, settled in Parramatta, and having succeeded in rearing a pure race from his queens, started an apiary for the Italian Bee-Farming Company, of which he is the manager and Mr. McDonnell secretary.” (p.15). Gale (1912) repeated these details, mentioning that Abram was now located at Beecroft. In Pioneers of Hornsby it is stated that at the Horticultural Show in 1893 “There were non competitive exhibits including a trophy of honey from the Beecroft Bee Farm.” (p.163). By 1893 it would appear that Abram already had a presence at Beecroft. Dorothy Carmichael in Tales of Beecroft (1965) states “W. Abram, of the Italian Bee Co., importer of bees, moved from Pennant Street, Parramatta, in 1889 to the house which he built in Railway Parade. On his land extending from Beecroft Road to Railway Parade and Chapman Avenue, he grew an orchard and vineyard and established his bees. However, the site was too windy for his bees, so he moved to Malton Road (no. 32) and built the first house there in the bush.” (p.6).

An article included in the New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Review of August 1885, under the title ‘TasmaniaNews’, supplied “At Kissing Point, below Sydney, a bee farm has been established by the Italian (or Ligurian) Bee Company, and it bids fair, at no distant date, to be so profitable a concern that similar establishments may be anticipated throughout that and the other colonies. .. In the Kissing Point apiary .. there are now over 80 colonies of Ligurian bees at work,

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and the establishment is being conducted on the most approved method; and the common species has been totally eliminated from the premises.”

In The Australasian Beekeeper of May 1956, F. L. Morgan supplied one section of his series ‘History of Australian Beekeeping’. He was quoting from the Australian Bee Journal of 1886 “Mr. Abram arrived in Australia in 1882. Writing in the July issue of the ‘A.B.J.” in 1886, he stated that before his arrival in Sydney, no well known bee master had landed in Australia, with the express intention of making beekeeping his only occupation. He claimed that in consequence of his company’s persevering efforts, beekeeping then stood acknowledged as an industry.” Well, Abram was very likely correct. Shallard would not have disagreed. Morgan’s paraphrasing continued “He stated he had commenced operations with only a few stocks and now, in 1886, he had 250 hives and that season had produced 60,000 lb. of honey, and had raised 500 queens.” (p.79).

M. A. Shallard had a great liking for Abram. In one of Shallard's numerous communications with the editor of the Australasian Beekeeper, he wrote “the ‘Yanks’ did not know what a correct bee space was. The Germans did, and I got my knowledge from old William Abram. For a long time Mr. Abram used only Berlepsch hives, but subsequently worked into Langstroths. The Berlepsch hive is difficult to work, but excellent for queen rearing.”

The Italian Bee Company was formed with six shares of 600 pounds each. Mr Abram was given a share, presumably in recognition of the skills he was able to contribute to the venture. “Mr. Abram was appointed managing director, and Mr. S. McDonnell secretary. He then started the queen-breeding industry, and in a very short time this was the chief business of the Parramatta apiary. The first stock of the apiary was bought out by Mr. Abram, and he imported from Italy up to a recent date. After managing the apiary for ten years he decided to start of his own account. Mr. Abram decided to move to Beecroft, where he carried on the apiary until recently with the aid of a son.” His son enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War and “on his return, son and father decided to go into partnership.”

A letter from a customer of Abram, to the Editor of The New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Review of June 1891 “I procured two choice stock

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hives of Italian bees from Mr W. Abram, of the Italian Bee Farm, Beecroft, .. and being close to the northern railway line, it is very accessible to those who are desirous of visiting it.”

During a talk on my research, given at the Bee Garden clubhouse of the Illawarra Beekeepers, a member, one Peter Ramm, sensibly suggested, as many others have done, that the village of Beecroft gained its name from the presence of Abram. The prefix 'Bee' added to 'Croft', being the Old English for a small farm or an enclosed field, was possible to have been the root of 'Beecroft'. Carmichael (1965) sets the record straight “many people think Beecroft was so named after his bee farm, but this was just happy co-incidence.” Sir Henry Copeland, Minister for Lands at the time, married in sequence the sisters Mary and Hannah Beecroft. When his first wife died he sometime after married her sister. Their maiden name was Beecroft, thus endowing their name on the suburb.

From the Daily Telegraph of 6 June 1918, in the obituary on Abram, it states that he “started bee-farming at the age of 13. After serving a six years apprenticeship at a large apiary in Italy he received the appointment of manager of one of the largest queen-breeding apiaries in Europe. After four years' successful management there he came to Australia.” Mr. Abram's son, Mr. E. E. Abram carried on with the queen-breeding apiary after his father's death.

Of interest is “Abram's first house became the police station from 1898-1916.” The house was demolished in the 1960s. The obituary states “Mr. Abram was awarded by the Government a certificate and bronze medal for the best and most up-to-date bee farm in New South Wales.”

Much discussion and conjecture abounded in the bee press of the early 1900s dealing with the success and, more often, failure, of the shipment of queen bees to Australia. Since Chas. Fullwood's first attempt in 1862 until as late as the early 1940s, the success of bee imports fluctuated. The Australian Bee Bulletin of 1894 and 1895 contains some interesting correspondence from those striving in this area. The participants in the attempts would all have been well advised to refer to Mr. Abram who successfully brought Italian bees with him to Australia as early as 1881. The advertisement below, taken from Hopkins’ 1911 fifth edition of his Australasian Bee Manual, declares that Abram’s bee farm was “Established 1881”. This would be a reference to the Parramatta apiary, before he moved his operation to Beecroft. The bees

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were carried in the bulky Berlepsch hive, reputed to be very suitable for queen breeding. It was in this hive type that Angus Mackay chaperoned bees from the Harbison apiary in California in 1877.

The Rydalmere Agriculture Research Institute today would be very close to the site of Abram's bee farm as its grounds are bordered by Pennant Street and the busy thoroughfares of Victoria Road and James Ruse Drive. The railway came to Parramatta in 1855 and reached Hornsby in 1886. This service would have facilitated the safe relocation of Abram's bee establishment to nearby Beecroft. This would have made the relocation of hives and equipment much easier than by road transport.

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In an article in the Town and Country Journal of 24 November 1883, the following article appeared, titled ‘Bee Farming in N. S. Wales’. The illustration is a caricature of Abram with his pipe hive smoker.

“The operations in bee culture going on in Parramatta, and depicted by illustrations in this issue, are well deserving of being ranked as bee farming; and as will be seen, the operations are carried on after the most approved system of the German apiarians, which differs only in the form of hive used, and a few minor details from the approved system followed in Britain and America.

The advantages of following any system which the bar-frame hive is used intelligently are so manifest, in comparison with the keeping of bees in ordinary boxes, that, as the former become more common in the colonies, we can see a great future for the honey industry in this country, and an early approach of the time when, instead of importing, we shall be heavy exporters of honey of quality unsurpassed by any in the world.

But to get to the history of the company whose operations are illustrated in this issue: It appears that in December, 1881, a skilled bee master, Wilhelm Abram, arrived in Sydney from Germany, where bee-culture is a recognised industry. There are institutions which are subsidised by the State, and are under the care of scientific entomologists, for the purpose of teaching the art of bee-culture to those desirous of making it their study, and at such an institution Mr. Abram was trained. he brought with him certificates of qualifications from no less an authority than that of the celebrated Dathe.

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On his arrival in Sydney Mr. Abram placed himself in communication with Mr. S. MacDonnell, of this city, an enthusiastic amateur bee-keeper. Mr. MacDonnell saw the opportunity which the advent of Mr. Abram gave to establish a bee farm on a commercial scale and conducted by a skilled apiarian, and conceived the novel idea of working it as a joint stock venture. Four well known gentleman in Sydney joined him and Mr. Abram in the venture. As it was intended that the operations of the company should eventually be with Italian bees, a race superior in many important respects to the ordinary black bee, the concern was

named the Italian Bee Company. Mr. Abram was appointed salaried manager, and Mr. MacDonnell honorary secretary.

Mr. Abram, before leaving Germany, had purchased some of the prize swarms at an exhibition of Italian bees in Germany, and the Italian Bee Company commenced operations with these on a rented piece of ground at Parramatta, in January, 1882. An importation of prize queens from America was made, and the operation o queen rearing was entered on. In the meantime a number of colonies of the common black or English bee afterwards had been secured, and transferred to frame-hives, and as Italian queens were reared, the black queens were removed and replaced by Italians, the progeny of which replaced the black bees, as the latter died out.

Much attention was not paid to producing honey until the race of Italian bees should have been firmly established, and the result was that in the spring of last year there were about 80 colonies of gold-banded Italians actively at work. The company before this secured the fee simple of a piece of ground in Kissing Point-street, Parramatta, where operations are now conducted. There, a few weeks since, on visiting the establishment, we saw the hives opened, the frames containing beautiful sheets of comb removed (the gentle Italian bees showing no signs of anger during the operation) the comb was then

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placed in a centrifugal machine, which threw the honey out by centrifugal force, leaving the comb undamaged and ready to be returned to the hives for the bees to fill over and over again with nectar.

The bee-master is an adept at his profession. Pipe in mouth, he opens hive after hive, blowing a whiff of smoke upon them, to give the bees something else to think about when they seem any way refractory, a projection from the stem of the pipe allowing this to be done conveniently. The hives used are of the German bar-frame kind. They open from the back, and each hive is two stories high, so that ample space can be given to the bees when they are storing honey rapidly. The main house is about 150ft in length, 10ft high, 10ft wide, and two tiers of hives are arranged on each side, as shown in the sketch.

The queen-breeding hives are much smaller than the others, and are arranged at distances of about 20ft apart alongside the fences. Two or three frames of

brood-comb are put into each hive, with a queen well coming to maturity. When the queen bee hatches out of the cell she makes a flight (the only flight of her life) in order to meet a drone or male bee. She is then fertilised and becomes the mother and queen of a family, laying eggs at the rate of 2000 daily when the season is good, and stores abundant.

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One of the objects of the bee farm at Parramatta is to send out queens and improve the race of bees, as well as the hives, and the quality of the honey. There is abundant room for improvements of this kind. From this country the very finest honey ought to be exported in quantity .. The bees at Parramatta are doing excellently well this season, as are also the Italians recently received by us from Queensland. The plucky effort of the bee company deserves the most abundant success.” (p.985)

From The New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Review, of August 1885, an article titled “A Beekeeper’s Rambles” by C. Fullwood, a description of Abram’s apiary was provided. “When in New South Wales I visited the apiary at Parramatta managed by Mr. Abram, a German, on what we know as the Stander Hive System, as given and illustrated in Dzierzon’s celebrated work. The hives are mostly twin stocks, two storey, opening from the back. The frames of combs slide in and out. I cannot say I admire the plan. The hives are ranged in rows under a shed, the shed having two rows on each side and scantling shelves, one above the other, the lower one about 18 inches from the ground; the rows facing in opposite directions, with sufficient space between the rows for all requisite manipulations. The apiary is well kept, the gravel path fronting each side of the shed and within being free from weeds and rubbish, evidence of order and method all round. The bees, with one or two exceptions, were nice looking, lively, healthy Italians. Unfortunately the manager was not at the apiary during our visit; hence we could only obtain information by personally prying into things as we found them. We observed in a window some jars of what we supposed to be orange blossom honey.” (p.238).

TASMANIA

Thos. Lloyd Hood, 1884Hood credited himself with the first introduction of Italian bees into Tasmania. . In the August 1885 issue of The New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Journal, Hood responded to Isaac Hopkins’ request as follows “Italian bees were first introduced into Tasmania by Thos. Lloyd Hood of Hobart, on 4th October, 1884. Note, they have done remarkably well though kept in the city, and increased to five strong colonies and two rather weak ones, but progressing; two, if not three, swarms were lost. Though living in the city I have at my residence a good sized garden, but

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being away from home most of the day, and there is not always somebody in the garden, hence lost swarms.” (p.239).

Also in the same issue of the New Zealand Farmer, additional details are supplied on Hood. “It is with pleasure, therefore, we learn that Mr. T. L. Hood, who is an enthusiastic amateur apiarist, has imported a colony of Ligurian bees, with all the requisite improvements in the shape of bar frames, and other latest contrivances in hives, so that the acclimatisation of this favourite species will receive a fair trial in Hobart. The hive, which contains a very large and healthy colony, was obtained in Sydney, and brought over by Captain Bennison, of the S.S. Flora , to the order of Mr. Hood, who informs us that, thanks to Captain Bennison's care, the little imports arrived in first class condition. So much so, indeed, that within half an hour of the frames being opened the industrious little fellows were observed returning to their new home laden with pollen.”

These details were repeated in the 1886 third edition (p.16) and the c1904 fourth edition (p.6) of his Bee Manual. Hopkins (c1886) quoted Hood “Though kept in the city they increased the first season to five strong colonies and two rather weak ones. Most of the young queens are hybrids.” (p.16)

The information on Hood supplied by the Tasmanian Beekeepers' Association, corroborating the S.S. Flora introduction, was possibly drawn from an 1885 issue of The New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal, (Vol II, No. 19), edited by Isaac Hopkins. This journal ceased publication in June 1885 and was merged into the New Zealand Farmer.

VICTORIA

Edward Wilson, 1862In the December 1885 issue of The Australian Bee Keepers Journal, I found an entry reporting that Edward Wilson had imported Italian bees into Victoria around 1865. Hopkins (1886) states “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;”. This attempt must have failed as Hopkins report continues “But I am informed that no successful attempt had been made to establish the race until quite recently ..” (p.15).

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Mr Herman Naveau, 1884 Hopkins continued from his mention of Edward Wilson “.. when, in he latter part of 1884, Mr. Herman Naveau, of Hamilton, obtained some of those bees from Queensland, and has had great success with them.” (p.16).

QUEENSLAND

James Carroll, 1872, 1873, 1881Weatherhead (1986) reports from an article he found in The Queenslander of 6 December 1873 that James Carroll was unsuccessful “.. Mr Carroll has again failed in an attempt to introduce Italian bees to Queensland. Last year he had two stocks forwarded from one of the largest apiaries in America, per Californian mail; and upon arrival nothing but a mass of dead bee-moths and their refuse was found in the hives .... earlier this year, finding that a friendly Queenslander was about to visit England, he arranged for a stock of Italians, under his care, from the famous apiarians, Messrs. Neighbour and Sons, of London. The stock arrived by last mail - every bee dead.” (p.11). Weatherhead further supplies “In 1881, in The Queenslander, it is stated that the Italian bees had been landed in the Colony by Mr Carroll but they proved a failure, most likely through the enfeeblement of the queens owing to long confinement.” (p.11).

James Carroll through Angus Mackay, 1877Hopkins (1886), after mentioning the failure of Woodbury’s 1862 venture, states “It does not appear, however, that these stocks succeeded and propagated their race, any more than a colony which Mr. Angus Mackay .. subsequently brought with him to Brisbane, at great expense, from America.” (p.15). Gale (1912) repeated this opinion. Weatherhead (1986) states that in an article in The Queenslander of 1881 “.. there is doubt cast on the purity of the 1877 consignment.” (p.11). An article in the Australian Bee Bulletin of 23 September 1893 also expressed doubt on the success of this importation.

Mr. Chas. Fullwood, 1880Hopkins (1886) stated “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. In 1882 he got twelve

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queens sent direct from Charles Bianconcini of Bologna, and of these five arrived alive; and again in 1883 he got a second consignment of twelve, of which seven arrived safely.” (p.15). Weatherhead (1986) supplies the following on the 1880 importation “They all survived and credit is given to the constant daily attention by Mr Fullwood when on board ship.” (p.11). These details appear to have been sourced from The Queenslander of 1881.

Queen breeding must have been good business in those days as Gale (1912) states “In these early years of the introduction of the Italian bee into Australia, the price of pure-bred tested queens, reared in the colony, was from £2 to £3 each; and I have heard that in some cases as high a figure as £5 had been asked. Of late years I have seen three advertised for 7s 6d.” (p.5).

Hopkins (c1904) states “Although it is said that Italian bees were introduced into Australia as early as 1862, it is pretty certain there were none there in 1880, until Mr. C. Fullwood, then of Brisbane, brought some queens with him from the Old Country in that year. He subsequently imported a number of others direct from Italy.” Hopkins adds “In the same year (1883) Mr. C. Fullwood sent a colony of Italians to Adelaide, from whence they were sent to Kangaroo Island.” (p.6).

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Chamber of Manufactures, 1883Hopkins (1886) states “In South Australia, as Mr. Bonney informs me, the Chamber of Manufactures imported a colony of Italian bees from Mr. Fullwood, of Brisbane, in December, 1883, and succeeded in establishing them on Kangaroo Island, where they are doing remarkably well.” (p.16).

The Kangaroo Island Sanctuary, the oldest bee sanctuary in the world, is protected by the Ligurian Bee Act of 1885. In The Modern Encyclopaedia of Australia and New Zealand (1979), some out of date information may be found “The discovery of large swarms of a pure Ligurian strain of bee (strain is docile enough to be handled without smoke) in caves on Kangaroo is (S.A.) probably introduced by early German settlers ..”. This reference cannot be correct as the bees were introduced by Chas. Fullwood of Brisbane in 1883 at the request of the South Australian Chamber

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of Manufactures. A summarisation of this erroneous entry also appears in The Concise Encyclopaedia of Australia (1979)

From The New Zealand Farmer of October 1885, the origin of the Italian bees on Kangaroo Island is made quite clear “That the South Australians are determined to propagate a pure race of Italian bees may be gathered from the fact that a bill has just been introduced into their House of Assembly, the object of which is to exclude all other bees from Kangaroo Island. The Chamber of Manufactures, Adelaide, have already distributed Italian bees among the residents there, and, we are informed, have just sent an order for another 12 queens for further distribution. ..”

In The Australian Encyclopaedia of 1958, James Stanley Eagland, a former president of the Victorian Apiarists’ Association, supplied the following “To ensure the maintenance of pure stock, sanctuaries have been established for the Italian type on Kangaroo Island, S.A., and for Carniolans on a portion of the Coorong, S.A., and at Rottnest Island in Western Australia.” (p.473). The Concise Encyclopaedia of Australia “Bee-farming is still one of the island's industries however, and Ligurian strain protected in Flinders Chase, a large flora and fauna sanctuary on the island.”

In The Sydney Morning Herald of 1 February 1977, an article appeared mentioning some nominations to the Heritage Commission for inclusion on the Heritage List as areas deserving of preservation. “Among the most unusual nominations is the habitat of the Ligurian bee on Kangaroo island, South Australia. The Australian Honey Board, which submitted this nomination, said Kangaroo island was the only habitat of this variety of bee in the world.” (p.10g).

Mr. Bonney, 1884Hopkins (1886) “Mr. Bonney .. successfully imported queens direct from Italy, a parcel of twelve from Bologna, to his order, having arrived safely in September, 1884, at Adelaide.” (p.16)

NEW ZEALAND - NORTH ISLAND

Hopkins (1886) “Previous to the year 1880 several unsuccessful attempts were made to introduce ligurian bees into this colony. I believe the Honourable Thomas Russell, C.M.G., spent a large sum of money to secure this object, but in vain. The hot weather encountered

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in the passage from America to this country, and also the imperfect knowledge as to the best mode of packing bees to travel long distances, acted as almost insuperable barriers to their introduction. By these repeated failures, however, apiarists gained knowledge, and as a result ..” (p.9).

J.H. Harrison, Coromandel, Sept. 1880Hopkins continued “.. two splendid colonies of Ligurians were landed in Auckland - one consigned to the Acclimatisation Society, Christchurch, the other to Mr. J. H. Harrison, Coromandel. Too much praise cannot be given to Captain Cargill, 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 Angeles County, California ..” (p.10).

Isaac Hopkins, 1880, 1884Hopkins (1886) reported that following the successful importation to Harrison and the Acclimatisation Society “.. 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 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.” (p.10).

“An event of considerable importance in the history of bee-keeping in New Zealand was the first successful importation of queens direct from Italy. After some correspondence with Mr. Fullwood, of Brisbane, I decided to give the matter a trial, and the result was that four out of eight queens shipped at Naples by Mr. Chas. Bianconcini on 10th November, 1883, arrived in good condition at the MatamataApiary on the 11th of January, 1884. Another shipment was made later in the same year, when six out of twelve queens arrived alive.” (p.10).

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NEW ZEALAND - SOUTH ISLAND

Acclimatisation Society, Christchurch, Sept. 1880Hopkins (1886) “.. two splendid colonies of Ligurians were landed in Auckland - one consigned to the Acclimatisation Society, Christchurch ..” (p.10).

Part IV - Bees Afloat

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC TO NORTH AMERICA, 1622Root (1983) reports on North America “The Black bee from Northern Europe and Central Russia was probably the first one imported here by the early settlers. They are believed to have been brought here before the middle of the sixteen hundreds. It was the bee that the settlers had known from the 'Old Country'. The first importation was from the vicinity of London.” (p.559)

Crane noted the introduction of the honeybee to the east coast of North America around 1622 “Once a colony of bees had survived the Atlantic sea passage, the bees could themselves colonise any area with adequate nesting sites and bee forage, where the winter was not too long or harsh. The bees often moved inland ahead of the settlers, especially towards the south and west.” Cotton (1842) reprinted a story of an 1832 prairie bee hunt which includes “It is surprising in what countless swarms the Bees have overspread the far West within but a moderate number of years.” Crane (1975) “Honeybees were taken to the west coast of North America in the 1850s, both in ships and overland at the rear of covered wagons.”

Smith (1976) in Bee World magazine, supplied an article titled ‘The first honeybees in America’. Details of a letter dated 5 December 1621 from the Council of the Virginia Company to the Governor and Council in Virginia, stated “We have by this ship and the Discovery sent you divers sorte of seed, and fruit trees, as also Pidgeons, connies (rabbits), Peacock maistives (mastiffs), and Beehives, as you shall by the invoice perceive; the preservation and encrease whereof we recommend unto you. .. Whether the bees had arrived safely I cannot discover.” He goes on “In Part 1 of his article 'Bicentennial Bees' (Am. Bee J. 116(2):70 (1976)), Dr Oertel assumes 'that at least some of the colonies could have arrived

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alive' after a voyage in winter; colonies are known to have survived 79 days on board ship to Australia in the 1800s.”

This is a good assumption by Oertel, however Gale (1912) does not believe that the attempts in the 1860s and 1870s by Chas Fullwood of Brisbane were successful, despite the colourful account of the 1877 voyage from Harbison’s California apiary to Brisbane via Honolulu and Sydney. Certainly the 1880 attempt was successful.

Root (1983) reports the following regarding North America, giving no details on the method of importation: “The first Italian queens are believed to have been imported here in 1859 or shortly thereafter .. Langstroth participated in supervising importations in 1860.” (p.558)

HOW WERE BEES SHIPPED TO THE 1850S ?

Dawson’s question, 1995From Chris Dawson’s notes there is the beginning of a story, unpublished, about how the bees were transported “Early immigrants had successfully introduced shrubs and plants from the old world but those requiring insect pollination did not thrive until after the first bees arrived. How to care for bees during a sea journey of five to nine months was a problem that had been considered by prospective settlers. Bees cannot be confined for long periods if their surrounding atmosphere is warm enough to encourage them to eat their food after which they absolutely must fly to make excreta.

It is not known how the bees were cared for on the journey but the first bees to arrive were seven months on the way and sufficient arrived in healthy condition to start the first colonies of bees in New Zealand on Hokianga Harbour in March 1839. The big question - how was it done?”. Very simply, in some cases, would seem to be the answer.

The methods of shipping the bees prior to the 1860's was a mystery to me until research slowly uncovered a variety of methods. Rev. Charles Cottondescribed his hogshead ‘ice box’ technique in 1839. He also proposed to take a hive cooled by evaporation, one kept level on a set of gimbles and another in an observation hive in his cabin. Blaxland and Camfield proposed the use of a wire cage and Wilson is reputed to have used one to contain his bees. Mrs. Allom placed her skeps in a box capped with punched zinc sheets.

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Skeps wrapped in blankets seems to have been another means as used by Lady Hobson. Cotton recommended skeps be wrapped in dairy canvas. These were either swung from a beam or possibly carried upside down in some sort of a stand. Feeding the bees with a mixture of sugar and water or honey was sometimes used. Ventilation was always important.

Mr. R. B. Gulliford, Editor of The Australasian Beekeeper wrote to me as follows “A gentleman I met while in South Australia in 1976 told me that he believed that a good many sailing ships carried bees. But most of them died for one or more of several reasons. This gentleman was more of a local historian than a beekeeper and therefore could be right. He believed that the long journey and more importantly the time of year when the colonies left England and the time when they arrived provided our first quarantine barrier (diseased bees died before they could be landed .. He even believed attempts were made to get bees from South America and/or the Cape to reduce the time but he could never confirm it.” Gulliford closed with “Unfortunately that gentleman is now deceased”. Well, this gentleman was certainly on the right track as demonstrated by Marsden’s importation from Rio de Janeiro.

The reason why Lady Hobson is said to have delivered her hives wrapped in blankets is made clear from Quinby (1865) in Mysteries of Beekeeping Explained. “Have ready some carpet tacks, and pieces of thin muslin about half a yard square. Invert the hive, put the cloth over, neatly folded and fastened with a tack at the corners, and another in the middle of each side. .. If bees are to be taken some distance, and must be confined for several days, the muslin will hardly be sufficient, and wirecloth must be substituted. .. Whatever conveyance is employed, the hive should be inverted. The combs will then rest on the top, and are less liable to break than when right end up, because in the latter case the whole weight of the combs must come upon the fastenings at the top and sides, and these are easily broken.” (p.338).

The method of skep inversion for transport on land by wagon is also supported by Dzierzon (1882) in Rational Bee Keeping as this demonstrates “Ordinary skeps it is usual to reverse or put on their crowns, so as to prevent the combs breaking down.” (p.215)

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Blaxland’s ‘wire cage’, 1805Blaxland wrote in 1805 to the ship's captain detailing the goods he intended to take which included “swarm of bees in cabin with wire cage over the hive”. Was this method Blaxland's idea or a commonly known technique?

Blaxland's method in 1805 of using a wire cage would have allowed him to supply water and syrup via sprinkling over the wire. Wilson in 1831 may also have had the bees confined within a cage. Information supplied by the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association states, regarding Wilson’s introduction “During the voyage the bees were allowed to fly within the constraint of a large wire frame until shortly after they had ‘passed the torrid zone’, when the bees were confined to the hive. The aperture was opened weekly to allow the dead bees to be removed. Although the mortality rate had been high, there were enough bees to propagate their race (The Mercury 31 March 1874)” I would like to know where the newspaper acquired these details so as to add credibility to the method thus described.

Skeps or Boxes?Apart from Wilson’s mysterious box and the combination method of a skep within a ventilated box as used by Mrs. Allom, bees were typically transported in straw skeps. However, Tarlton Rayment (1925) argued “We doubt very much whether any of the straw skeps ever reached Australia with bees in occupation, for the Stewarton Octagonal Hive which had lead bar frames, was invented by Robert Kerr, of Ayrshire, in 1819”. Straw hives certainly reached New Zealand in 1839. I believe that it is most likely Captain Wallis also used this simple method in 1822.

Rayment continued with the following reasoning “All these hives of the period, it is safe to say, were well-known to progressive beekeepers of the day, and only one in the forefront of apiculture would attempt the task of transporting bees over the long journey to Australia. It is probable then that the first hives that arrived were of the Stewarton pattern.”. He let his imagination run with “.. her skipper, Captain Wallace, has on board the greatest population he has ever carried, for, stowed away in the best place, are an uncountable number of industrious insects now furiously demanding their liberty. Over the side they go in queer shaped boxes ..”. What is equally likely is that everyday people wanted to take bees with them to the Colonies. They did this by using the simplest technology known to them - a skep wrapped in some form of sturdy cloth.

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Regarding tiered hives such as the Stewarton, as shown on the left, Crane reports “The first of these hives was designed by the Rev. William Mew in Gloucestershire in 1649, and Christopher Wren made a drawing of it which was published in 1655 in Samuel Hartlib's book The Reformed Commonwealth of Bees. This hive was used by a number of educated and influential people.” This hive could equally have been the mechanism by which the bees were carried, either with a form of wire tent or cage over it or with the entrance and ceiling ventilated with gauze thus blocking the bees flight.

Another hive type was that devised by Rev. Stephen White in 1756 where “three 9 inch cubical boxes set side by side, with adjustable passage-ways between; the central box was the brood chamber and the side boxes were for honey. When the honey in one box was to be removed, access for the bees was adjusted so that they flew out of this box and returned to the central box.” Later came “Thomas Nutt, whose 1832 book Humanity to Honey Bees made it widely known.” (Crane, 1983)

Were the Bees Allowed to Fly at Sea?Many beekeepers, when questioned on the method of transportation of bees over the oceans, are stunned into silence by the technical difficulties such a trip would present. I put the following question to various people, some with considerable beekeeping experience “How were the bees transported to the Colonies where the trip took one hundred days plus up to eight weeks of stopovers?”. Some answered along the following lines “they came over in dome shaped straw hives. The bees were allowed to fly as the ship sailed

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and they were fed with sugar.” Others added “When in port the bees were allowed to fly and forage. Anyway, they would have clustered for most of the trip if they left in the winter time.” Some couldn't see any problems in transporting bees on long voyages. I was sceptical of the view that the bees were allowed to fly free, but this doesn’t appear to have been too far from the truth.

As Rayment points out in his 1935 A Cluster of Bees “The hive-bee will not foul the interior of the home, and detention in the hive, from any cause, always results in dysentery, with severe mortality, when the condition is prolonged.” (p.532). Someone bringing hive-bound bees such a long distance taking over three months in the first half of the nineteenth century would have been keen to land the bees as soon as possible. This would have allowed them cleansing flights and thus avoid the risk of dysentery.

I originally believed that the bees were kept continuously confined, except possibly when provisioning stops were made at the Cape and Rio or elsewhere. A ship swinging at anchor, either from the tide or the wind, would have repositioned the ship in such short periods as to make the hive difficult for returning bees to find, especially if it was anchored in the vicinity of other ships. A relocation of a ground situated hive by more than three feet or a metre can leave the returning bees gathering on the ground to die, unable to find their home.

Even though a sailing ship would be at anchor while visiting such ports as Rio de Janeiro or Cape Town, there would be nothing to prevent the hives being rowed ashore and the bees released for the days that the ship remained in port to take on provisions. The bees could perform their cleansing flights and add to their provisions, just as Angus Mackay allowed his previously confined bees their one day of shore leave once the City of New York was tied up to the wharf in Honolulu.

There may have been no problem releasing the bees on becalmed days, as long as the threat of storm or strong winds was not present. I thought that allowing the bees to fly while the ship was under sail, even at a speed of five knots, would see the ship removed around 90 metres, allowing a bee flight of only 30 seconds. Except for short orientation flights, to the bee, the ship would no longer be where it was when the bee left the hive, and thus would be unable to find its way back.

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Bees aren't attuned to their hive being constantly on the move. Trees containing a hive in a hollow certainly don't walk the countryside. The bee would simply return to where the ship was, not to where it had subsequently sailed. All such flying bees would have to land on the water and drown, or would they? Chris Dawson of New Zealand, an accomplished queen bee breeder with thirty years experience, saw no difficulty in allowing the bees to fly in good weather, even though the ship was on the move. The very featurelessness of the ocean, with the only identifiable object available, the ship, would provide an easy marker for the bees to home onto.

I came across a letter to the Editor of the Australasian Beekeeper from a sailor on a coastal motor vessel that sailed the east coast of Australia. A swarm had alighted on the ship while it was in port. The seaman hived the swarm and kept it on deck. The bees were at liberty to fly even when the ship was underway. The seaman claimed that little or no loss of bees resulted.

Wilson’s Box, 1831The route taken by ships from Great Britain to the Australian colonies took them south past the western extremity of Europe, down past the north west coast of Africa, south through the Atlantic Ocean to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, east, again traversing the Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, across the Indian Ocean, below the Australian continent, to swing round Van Diemen’s Land for Hobart Town or north to New South Wales. Some voyages were direct. The first landfall in the Australian Colonies that had some form of settlement was either at Swan River or Hobart.

Wilson’s voyage with the bees to Hobart took 106 days. The bees would have been confined for a period of days before departure. Having left on October 17 in the middle of Autumn, the bees activity would have been slowing down in preparation for Winter. On approaching the equator and passing it, the calendar for the bees as governed by temperature would have accelerated towards Spring and Summer in the Southern Hemisphere, whereby the bees activity would have livened. In a more active state and denied the ability to fly they would have consumed the food stores far more rapidly than in their Winter cluster of low energy use and low food consumption. Supplementary feeding would then have been necessary as administered by Mrs. Allom.

A ‘fact sheet’ generously supplied by the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association states the following “Dr. Wilson R.N. set up a hive (skep, box or gum) on

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the deck of the ship .. The bees were free to fly on the voyage from England to Van Diemen’s Land. They were fed on sugar syrup and were conveyed to Sydney. However, they were off loaded and presented to Governor Archer and placed in the Government Gardens because of the flora present. (now Franklin Square).” No reference is given for the source of this information. The mention of Governor Archer is an error, Sir George Arthur being the Governor between 1824 and 1836.

I suspect the bees were set ashore at Hobart rather than Sydney, to allow them to be released earlier due to the suspected or actual high level of mortality. The bees could then fly to cleanse themselves and gather nectar. The time required to complete the voyage to Sydney may have been seen as too great a risk to their welfare after the long voyage to Hobart. In John Rawson Elder’s work of 1929 The Pioneer Explorers of New Zealand, in the chapter on ‘Missionary Pioneers and Explorers’ “It is to be remembered that the voyage in small sailing vessels over the tempestuous waters of the Tasman Sea occupied usually a fortnight, and frequently involved considerable hardship”. (p.17)

Wakefield in New Zealand used the Nutt collateral hive. Might the box used by Wilson have been a Nutt hive or the Stewarton hive? Don Wilson, great-grandson of Dr. David Wilson, one of Dr. T. B. Wilson’s brothers, responded to Don Norman in May 1995 in his search for information for me on how Wilson might have transported his bees. “Don Wilson is an expert on the Wilson family, and .. I phoned him in connection with the problem of the transportation of the bees, which were undoubtedly brought to Van Diemen’s Land by Thomas Braidwood Wilson. Don told me that there is no doubt whatever that the bees came in a box. When Thomas Braidwood left Van Diemen’s Land for N.S.W. he gave the box to his younger brother, George, at Mt Seymour, now Ceres, a beautiful stone mansion still standing in good repair today. The box was at Mt. Seymour for many years. The present Don Wilson never saw it himself but he heard tell of it many times by his grandfather and father. He told me that many people called at Mt Seymour to see the box before it was lost forever. After George Wilson senr’s death on March 27th 1874, long after he had left Mt Seymour, the box was never heard of again. Don Wilson has no idea whatever happened to it. All he is quite sure of, and I am too, because my grandmother told me so, is that the bees came out in the John in a box.” This must have been an interesting box to have drawn

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the attention of many people over the years and also to have generated family lore.

Don Wilson added “they sprinkled water about so that the bees would think it was raining and, if out, would go back into the box again.” This is a little puzzling. If the bees were in a wire cage, what did it matter whether they were in or out of the hive? After contacting the Beekeepers’ Association, Don Norman then wrote to me “It is quite true that Surgeon Thomas Braidwood Wilson brought the bees out in the John in a box which was enclosed in a large wire box like frame which allowed the bees to leave the wooden box and fly about but not to escape. The bees were much cared for when the ship was in the tropics when the bees were lightly sprayed with water.” I am not clear on how much of this is conjecture and how much truth. Were the bees in a wooden box or a wire box, or was a wooden box contained within another ‘box’ of wire? Were they allowed to fly free or only ‘free’ within the confines of a wire cage? The supply of water to cool the bees certainly makes sense.

A Season for Shipping to the Colonies, 1838An article from Bee Craft of August 1979 was a paraphrasing of Dawson’s 1979 New Zealand Beekeeper article. The author wrote a line of conjecture on the preferred time of departure for shipping bees to the colonies “As far as packing the colonies for the voyage was concerned the sailing of the ship was timely. It left Gravesend on September 20th, 1838. The bees would have their winter stores by then, but presumably they had already made a less than comfortable journey from Yorkshire to Kent. They were not due then for a quiet winter rest for the next six months. Not only were they to be tossed about in a sailing ship during the storms, but would also have to endure the heat of the tropics, through which the ship had to pass.” (p.182).

Bevan (1870) in his book The Honeybee gives some clue on the time of year in which bees could be shipped safely “.. if the interment were to take place before midwinter, the mortality which regularly takes place towards the close of every year would be productive of great and fatal evil, for the hive-floor would be so strewed with dead bees as to cause both putrefacation and an obstructed portal. This is a condition of the bee-hive which I once experienced.

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Having once sent my apiary down the Bristol Channel late in October (two thirds through Autumn) the vessel was wind-bound for nearly two months, during the whole of which time the bees were confined to their respective boxes; and, on reaching their destination, three-fourths of them lay dead on the floor, completely obstructing the ingress of air through the regular passage, and, but for a wire-guage opening in the lids of the boxes, I have no doubt that every bee would have perished.” (p.109)

Ruttner (1990) provides some answers supporting why the dark European bees were able to survive long voyages. On wintering he states: “All authors unanimously attest to an excellent wintering ability of the dark bee even under harsh conditions. As the colony size is moderate throughout the season the winter cluster is small but very tight. In consequence of the restricted brood activity, the bees excel by their longevity and by a moderate food consumption. The colonies have a high chance of survival with a minimum of assistance. .. Winter bees are physiologically different from summer bees; they have accumulated protein, fat and a substance called Biopterin in the food glands and the fat-protein body of the abdomen. The capability of the rectum to store large quantities of faeces seems to be improved by an increased catalase production by the rectal glands in autumn.” (p.21).

This facility may partly explain why Dark bee importations had relatively more success than the Italian bee importations during the reign of sailing ships. Where the journeys were commenced in Autumn or Winter, the recognised season for sending bees to the Colonies, the Dark bees, being in ‘Winter’ mode, were more resistant to the dangers of dysentery, caused by the over long retention of faeces. Once steam ships were used for the transport of the Italian bees, either from Italy or California, the faster journeys significantly lessened the sometimes fatal incidence of dysentery. During Angus Mackay’s voyage in 1877 to Brisbane on the City of New York, the bees, when released in Honolulu, spilled onto the deck, depositing faecal matter: “.. they fell sprawling on the deck in masses, ejecting matter which their bodies were gored, for want of exercise.” The temperature on the voyage had been high and so food consumption was correspondingly high. The Dark bee it would seem was better suited to enduring long confinements during sea voyages of 15,000 miles.

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“The Dark bee is suited to long confinement on a diet which contains much solid matter, the foreign bee requires a diet free from waste matter.” (p.24). I assume ‘waste matter’ is a reference to crystallised honey, ignored by ‘foreign’ or Italian bees unless there is a supply of water with which to liquefy the crystals for use as food.

Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842Cotton wrote a book titled My Bee Book, which was published in 1842. It contained detailed instructions as to how he would take skeps of bees on the long voyage to New Zealand. Were these methods in use many years prior to 1842 or were they Cotton's invention? The way he wrote of his plans, the impression given is that he thought through the problem and came up with his own solutions.

Cotton's idea of packing the bees over ice was a result of observation of the bees behaviour during winter when the temperature dropped to such a level that all flying ceased, the bees formed a cluster (imagine a hollow spherical formation of bees transposed over the combs) so as to maintain the appropriate hive temperature. Activity was largely curtailed with a slow circulation of the cooler outside bees to the centre and the warmer ones moving to the outside. The rate of food consumption reduced dramatically. A rise in outside temperature beyond the 'clustering temperature' would have the bees disbanding the cluster, moving about the hive and consuming food stores at a faster rate.

LATE 19TH CENTURY BEE SHIPPING

The North American Experience, 1874In the section titled ‘Shipping Queens’, Langstroth (1889) supplied the following “It was in the numerous and partially successful attempts, which we made before 1874, to import bees from Italy, that we became acquainted with the conditions necessary to the shipping of queens.

When they are to be confined a long time, the question of food is the most important. Many were the blunders made by the first shippers, who imagined that they required a large amount of food, and literally drowned them in honey. By repeated and costly experiments, we ascertained that the bees that arrived in the best condition were those that were fed on the purest saccharine matter. Those that suffered the

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most, were those that had the most watery, or the darkest, honey. Water, which some Italian shippers persisted in giving them, in spite of what we could say, was noxious; as the consumption of it, with the food, helped to load their abdomen with matter that could not be discharged, causing what is improperly called dysentery. Water is needed only in brood rearing.

Old bees, or rather, bees that have begun to work in the field, will stand a longer trip than young bees, as the latter consume more honey, and need to discharge their abdomen oftener.

The shipping boxes in which bees are usually sent from Italy, are about three inches deep, by three inches in width, and four inches in length, with two small frames of comb, one with thick sugar syrup, the other dry. From fifty to seventy-five bees are put with one queen in each box. Air holes are cut into the sides of the boxes, and these are fastened together in a pyramidal shape, with an outer covering of tin, to which is fastened the handle. Queens thus put up, have reached us after thirty-six days of confinement with very little loss, and it is in this way that the greatest number of imported queens are received.

The usual transit from Italy to New York, takes from ten to fourteen days. If the importer receives his bees, through a custom-house broker, they will not be delayed in the custom-house, but, if this precaution is neglected, the bees may be held at the custom-house for clearance, and the poor insects will die, martyrs to the protection (?) of the country’s interests.

We might mention in connection with this, an oft-repeated incident, so touching and sweet, as to seem more like a romancer’s fable, or a poetic idyl, than a mere fact. On receiving the boxes containing Italian queens, we noticed that frequently all the bees shipped with the queen had died, she being the only one alive in her prison. We afterward found out that the faithful little subjects had denied themselves nourishment, and starved to death, sacrificing themselves, that their queen might not be deprived of food.” (pp. 310-311)

Langstroth mentioned in 1889 having received queens and attendants after a voyage of thirty-six days “with very little loss”. The Australasian experience was of a similar nature, as illustrated by the following article in

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The New Zealand Farmer of October 1885 “Already a good deal was done in the way of importing bees from Italy, and inasmuch as they could not be carried a longer voyage than about thirty days without considerable loss, Kangaroo Island would form a useful depot for the culture of the bee, whence the other Australian colonies and New Zealand could draw their supplies of pure stock.” (p.311)

The British Experience, 1859Cheshire (1886) supplied the following interesting detail regarding the British experience “M. Hermann, a bee-cultivator, Canton Grison, Switzerland, transmitted the first consignment of living Italians that reached our shores to Mr. A. Neighbour - the late Mr. Woodbury, the ‘Devonshire Beekeeper,’ receiving in the same package, a queen and her attendants. These arrived July 19th, 1859.”

Voyage of the Berlepsch Hive, Angus Mackay, 1877Angus Mackay described his 1877 voyage from California, accompanying a hive of bees aboard the City of New York is worthy of inclusion here. Trevor Weatherhead found the following article which appeared in the Australian Bee Bulletin of 23 September 1893. Angus Mackay was an Instructor in Agriculture at the Technical College in New South Wales. Trevor reproduced Mackay’s article in his book Boxes to Bar Hives. It describes one technology of shipping bees and says a great deal about the knowledge, or lack of it, that surrounded the shipping of bees up to 1880.

“In 1877, it was my good fortune to bring from California the first lot of Ligurian bees, so far as I know, that have reached this section of Australia. I got them from Harbison, of the Santa Clara Valley! They were in a Harbison hive, about 20" square at sides and about 3 1/2 feet high. There were millions in it! The Pacific Mail Company very considerately gave me the use of a cabin forward on deck of the fine ship City of New York. Captain Cobb, a grand old American salt, was in command. We had heavy, muggy, hot weather, after leaving the American coast.

The bees suffered fearfully. During several days I took out fully a 1/4 of them daily, assuming they would all perish, as 3 or 4 previous lots sent out as freight had done. I got up early in the morning, very early, before daybreak and edged the big hive out on deck, to give the bees air. The sailors noted quietly what I was about, but said little. But the

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news spread, and was noted that some of the passengers located where the bees were, and I was asked if anything serious would happen to the ship if they got loose! If they would slaughter all hands! Captain Cobb somehow was interviewed, and with his first officer he came to see about it.

“It's a big, big job you've on hand”, he said. “I hope it's alright and there's no fear of a rampage from them insects, as you say. It's the first time, though, I've run such a livestock farm on this ship, and I do hope nobody will get hurt. Though some of the folks are mighty scared. I tell you that's so!”

The poor bees were having a fearful time. It's really a cruel procedure sending or taking them on a big journey. They suffer so badly from want of water and from their dead. It was then I learnt how short is bee life, and how confinement kills them. I made a cage promenade for them by wiring in the top, and it was a sight to see the little maiden workers come up in the mornings and drink the water sprinkled upon them. The weather was hot as we approached the Sandwich Islands, and the bees able to come up, soon as drops of water are sprinkled on them, ran below the God given fluid to the suffering hosts. From under the cage attached to the bottom board in the hive I took away the dead and dying several times daily, as the workers carried them out.

Interest soon began to be taken by the ships company in the bees, and some days before reaching Honolulu ring bolts were fixed in various parts of the deck for fastening the hive in favourable places for air and shade, and the livestock had become the biggest attraction on the ship. Even the chief engineer, who for a time, had doubts on the subject, became convinced that, should a lot of the bees get loose at any time, they would not make for the engine room and machinery room first thing!

Captain Cobb was a man; his first officer, engineer, cabin room bosun were men also. To this day I believe it was arranged amongst them to reach Honolulu at daybreak, and leave before nightfall, to give the bees a chance. Perhaps the ship might have got in during the night, and left next day. The City of New York was tied up at the wharf about 4.30 am. The bees were then located up on the promenade deck.

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I knew the ship would not leave till after nightfall. The bees were let loose! Poor things! Thousands of them had been born at sea, and they fell sprawling on the deck in masses, ejecting matter which their bodies were gored, for want of exercise. But, within a half hour of arrival, they were streaming back to the hive loaded with pollen and honey! Very few were picked up dead. After a struggle for a few minutes, they got wing and were off.

The town visited in Honolulu was a garden then! It may be so still. How the bees worked that day! I tried to keep the proceedings as quiet as possible, and comparatively few knew of the livestock farm on the upper deck. I was asked seriously, “Now are these bees likely to come off from such a glorious shore, and into the box again at night? They look as though they had more sense”. Well, by the time the word “Let's go!” was given it was dark then. I do not think there was an absent bee that was able to fly back. The good old City got all her passengers that trip.

The remainder of the voyage was easier upon the livestock. They had a spell in Sydney of a week, and landed safely in Brisbane. What a delighted man was Jas Carroll to get the first lot of Ligurian bees, and the bees were then as full, to all appearance, as when Bee Master Harbison put them up.”

Angus Mackay travelled in style on his trip from California on the City of New York. His forward cabin on deck was in the first-class section on the upper deck. From The History of Ships by Peter Kemp, the style of passenger ship taken by Mackay “the main passenger lounge and the first-class cabins were accommodated in wooden deckhouses built .. on the upper deck, with the less expensive cabins and the steerage accommodation on the deck below” (p.174). A ship similar in design to the City was the White Star liner Oceanic. She had “her first-class accommodation amidships with larger cabins and scuttles (windows) than ever before. She also had a promenade deck extending the full width of the ship above the cabins and lounges, and thus set a pattern which was to be followed in all future liner design.” The Oceanic can be taken to be very close to that of the City of New York and her sister ship the City of Paris. Owned by the Inman Line, they were built of steel and powered by steam having “two engines, driving two shafts, with two propellers, one on each quarter. When the ships

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came into service they were voted the most comfortable and the most handsome ships on the Atlantic run.”

Parsons (1979) stated that the City of New York and another sister ship, City of Sydney, flew American colours and were owned by The Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company. These ships ran on a mail service to the South Pacific from San Francisco to Hawaii and on to Sydney via New Zealand.

The City was 560 feet (170.7m) long with a beam of 63 feet (19.25m) and a displacement tonnage of 14,500. Using Captain Cook's Endeavour as a guide to the size of convict transports, she was but 98 feet long with a beam of just over 29 feet and of 368 tons, dwarfed by the size of the large passenger liners of 100 years later.

It is no surprise that his cabin was as far away as possible from most of the other passengers, being “forward on deck”. The booking agency being “very considerate” were more likely being very careful of this delicate and, to their mind, potentially hostile cargo.

The loss of “3 or 4 previous lots sent out as freight” had obviously demanded that some skilled person accompany this consignment. When the bees spilled out on deck in Honolulu, he recorded “It was only then I learnt .. how confinement kills them”. His voyage from California on a modern and luxurious liner at a speed of more than twenty knots would have been very different from that suffered by the first bee hive custodians fifty five years earlier, travelling in much slower and smaller sailing ships. Yet it would seem more knowledge on bee hive transportation was possessed by those earlier bee men and women.

The cage provided at the hive bottom for removal of dead bees suggests that he must have expected casualties. Unless Mackay had supplied the bees with water and rigged a wire “cage promenade” in the top of the hive, which allowed through ventilation from the wire cage beneath, this colony would almost certainly have perished.

The City of New York tied up at the Honolulu wharf, a luxury most likely unavailable to the earlier sailing ships that would have had to swing at anchor. This situation provided a fixed platform for the bees to be released and thus be able to return to a hive in the same position as where they left it, not tens of yards away as the ship swung with the tide and breeze. Such

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displacement, greater than one yard, may have made it impossible for the bees to find their home.

When the bees were released “they fell sprawling on the deck in masses, ejecting matter which their bodies were gored, for want of exercise.” Bees do not foul their home. In a healthy state they only defecate on the wing. The bees on deck were voiding themselves. If this condition had been left to continue then they would have likely succumbed to dysentery, if not to the heat, water shortage or starvation.

The spell of a week in Sydney, presumably where the bees were allowed to fly would have enabled them to bring pollen, water and nectar back to the colony. Without the chance to fly to the garden shores of Honolulu or at least the provision of improved ventilation and a supply of water by Mackay, this cargo would likely have seen the same fate as the earlier unaccompanied hives. It is surprising that Isaac Hopkins did not believe that this 1877 importation was successful.

The Harbison hive was a copy of the design invented by a German, Baron of Berlepsch, of Seebach, Thuringia. The picture shows a rear ventilation panel, however, from Mackay's description, his Harbison version does not appear to have had this facility.

Isaac Hopkins relates that this hive “was known in Californiaas the 'Harbison' hive, after the name of one of the original and most extensive beekeepers of that State, who was using such hives. It was, however, as I afterwards discovered, a German hive, made and used by the Baron

of Berlepsch, and known as the 'Berlepsch hive'.”

From Crane (1975), a little is learned of the beekeeper from whom Fullwood sought to obtain Italian bees. “A development that gave the buyer comb honey as the bees made it, but in a much smaller package than the honey-super, was originated in 1857 by J. S. Harbison of California: the ‘section honey-box’ ”

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Hopkins went on to describe the Berlepsch hive. “It consisted of a long box standing on end, with a door at the back, exactly like a small cupboard; the moveable-frames were in a compartment at the bottom; it was a difficult job to remove them.” Hopkins, who first saw this hive style in 1876, was not impressed “I gave them a trial later on, but soon discarded them.”

Albert Gale (1912) provides more on the Berlepsch “The hives are worked from the back, where the manipulator stands. The back is a moveable door or shutter; in some cases it swings upon hinges, but more frequently it can be detached and removed.” The frames “instead of being placed in position from above, they are inserted from the back of the hive. One great drawback to these hives is the difficulty in manipulating them. If there are eight or ten frames in a hive, and you wish to remove the one nearest the entrance, all the others must be lifted out .. and again replaces in the same order as they were taken out.” No wonder Hopkins “soon discarded them” as well as Gale who “soon abandoned it for the Langstroth.” (p.230)

Thos. B. Blow, Cyprus to England 1882The Rev. Jenyns (1888) provided the following story concerning Apis mellifera cypria “A well known bee-keeper went to Cyprus in 1882, taking the long voyage for the purpose of bringing home to England a great many of these bees. He tells us how, after much trouble, he bought forty hives in one place, and carried them a long way over rough mountain roads, on the back of mules, each mule carrying two colonies in the earthen hive of the country, slung, one on each side of the mule.” (p.26)

As I began to read Jenyns words I thought I had stumbled on the manner in which he had shipped his bees. My anticipation was not to be rewarded. Unfortunately he leaves the reader hanging and doesn't provide any detail of the return sea voyage.

Two days later I picked up Jeremy Evans (1989) book The Complete Guide to Beekeeping, for a browse. I found a reproduction of an advertisement, circa 1929, from a catalogue by Thos. B. Blow, Welwyn, Herts. Shown is a ‘Box for Travelling Bees, No. 12f.’ Its price is 5/- (five shillings). The accompanying text states “In this box with Combs secured with Rakes

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bees will travel safely for an unlimited distance. Bees brought from Cyprus in 1882 by me were conveyed in similar boxes.” (p.179).

Blow's illustration shows a full depth nucleus box of around 5 to 6 frames width, topped with a carrying handle. The entrance is closed with what appears to be wire gauze and the lid is heavily perforated with holes for ventilation, and possibly for the provision of water.

I had found a link in my research. The words of Thos. B. Blow, undoubtedly identifies Jenyns 'well known bee-keeper'. Using a Langstroth style hive, Blow moved his hives in a manner identical to that which I have used - gauze wire closed entrance with a top screen for ventilation and the supply of water simply by sprinkling it over the top.

Blow’s adventure was not without its mishaps as Jenyns relates “On one occasion, however, the bees quite lost their temper. Perhaps he shook them, or disturbed their homes in too rough a manner; and then, to teach him to be more gentle and careful, they punished him with a hundred stings.” (p.27). Root (1983) describes their nature, describing the Cyprian bee as “.. more reddish. It has largely disappeared because it was aggressive in stinging ..” (p.560).

On Cyprian bees, Jenyns states “Unfortunately, they are very bad-tempered” and “notwithstanding their angry disposition, some say they

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are the best of all bees.”. These were the bees which, after already giving him an illustrative ‘hundred stings’, Blow proceeded to transfer with combs from the earthen hives into his Langstroth style hives. Did he again suffer their anger?

An illustration of cylindrical clay hives in Cyprus, 1977, appears in Crane's archaeological work “The Roman recommendation of three tiers on a platform is still adhered to.” (p.72) The picture shows stacked rows of baked clay hives. For Blow to transfer the bees and comb, it is possible that he had to smash the clay cylinders. Alternatively, the presence of a rear detachable door for robbing may have enabled him to cut out the combs. Yet again, he may have drummed them out first into a frame hive then cut the combs away from within. Either way he likely got a good stinging.

Benton Mailing Cage, 1883Root (1891), on the Benton shipping and mailing cage “This cage was first introduced to the public in 1883 by Frank Benton, formerly of Munich, Germany, and was devised by him solely for the purpose of sending queens across the ocean to the United States by mail; and, furthermore, it is used by him for that purpose with remarkable success. .. The queen breeders of this country have now tested it for long distances in shipping queens. In our queen-breeding department we use it successfully for sending queens across the continent - nay, even across the ocean, clear to the other side of the globe. We have sent queens in it by mail to Australia, New Zealand, and the West Indies, with entire success. In the first instance, the queens were on their journey 37 days. They arrived in good order, and were successfully introduced. The great secret of success lies in the fact that, with the exception of the wire cloth, it is constructed entirely of wood. The compartments are small. The end hole is filled with Good candy. The two other holes are used for the occupancy of the bees.” (pp.186-187). The ‘Good’ candy referred to was a preparation made of warmed honey mixed with pulverised sugar, stirred and kneeded and supplied in the cage as a food for the bees.

There are two or three sizes of Benton cages, the smallest being used for ordinary distances, say a thousand miles; the medium size for two or three thousand miles, and the largest size for trips across the ocean or to the islands of the sea.”

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Illustrations of Doolittle and Benton Mailing Cages (c1881)

Charles Dickins, Travelling Nucleus Boxes, 1887Charles Dickins of Charles Dickins & Son, Manufacturers of Beekeeping Supplies, Adelaide, produced a book titled Australasian Bee Keepers Guide Book for Amateurs in 1887. An illustration in it shows a ‘box for travelling bees’. The supporting text states “In this box, with combs secured with rakes, bees will travel safely for an unlimited distance.” (fig.39, p.27).

The illustration and words are identical to that in Blow’s catalogue. Dickins states “In packing bees for travelling, particular attention must be paid to ventilation. Skeps are to be turned bottom upmost and strong cheese cloth tied over them.”

Blow managed to take his bees from Cyprus in such a ventilated box. The instructions for an 'unlimited distance' may have held for a voyage of thousands of miles to Australia. The inversion of skeps covered in cheese cloth is a variation of the method used by Cotton and Hobson, and possibly Bumby.

Some Australian Queen Bee Importers

A. C. Bonney, 1885From The New Zealand Farmer of October 1885, in a letter to the Editor “I have just received another package of twelve Italian queens from Mr. Bianconcini, Bologna. The bees were shipped on board the Sorata at Naples on 31st July, and reached me 2nd Sept. (a trip of 34 days) Eleven

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queens were alive, but one was so weak that she died a few hours after being released. The remaining ten are very lively. It was delightful to see how healthy the accompanying bees were in most of the boxes. On removing the lids they promptly rushed out and stung me. I notice a different arrangement for the water supply in this shipment. Instead of the necks of the zinc bottles being turned down into little troughs, a piece of calico was simply tied over the mouth of each bottle. In all twelve boxes the honey in one only of the three combs had been consumed.”. The bees were transported in three comb boxes. Water was observed as a necessity and the calico provided a damp base from which the bees could drink.

Mr. Mansfield, 1894From The Agriculturist of 1 February 1894, a monthly agricultural newspaper, a visitor to the Hunter River Apiary of Mr. Mansfield of Largs, near Maitland, in The Hunter Valley, provided the following interesting details “As a visitor passes with his guide down the lines of colonies he cannot fail to pick up useful hints from so experienced a beemaster, and in answer to questions respecting the method employed for transmitting queens long distances we get some interesting facts. For importing queens from Italy for instance: a small hive about six inches square is prepared. It holds three combs containing honey for food on the journey and two small tin tanks of water are placed inside with their mouths downwards. The whole is freely ventilated, and a package containing several of these small boxes is placed on the deck of the steamer. The queens are in a laying condition when sent from Italy .. these queens are used for breeding other queens from.”.

I am thankful to this visitor for asking this particular question of Mr. Mansfield and again for reporting the answer as details on the methods of importing bees have been most difficult to find in what remains of beekeeping literature from this period. “.. Mr. Mansfield and others are constantly importing new queens from Italy and America to improve the strains they already possess.”. The methods used had obviously improved greatly since 1877 when Angus Mackay chaperoned a queen and bees in their hive from California, where the hive, rather than six inches square, was three and a half feet tall.

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M. A. Shallard, 1894In an 1894 issue of The Agriculturist, M. A. Shallard of the Blue Mountains Bee Farm at Glenbrook, offered one year old “choice pure breed queens” at 15 shillings each or two for 25 shillings. Untested queens were 7 shillings and sixpence each or 4 for one pound. Shallard's advertisement ran almost every month throughout 1894 “Here is a chance for you to get stock bred from the best imported strains at half cost.” He followed the practice of re-queening all his hives each Spring and therefore did not keep queens over one year old. Shallard had no problem singing his own praises “I have built up the largest bee concern in Australia, and I did not do it by keeping poor stock.”. Tested queens from D. Campbell of the Black Ranges, Stawell, Victoria, were 8 shillings.

An entry in the June 1894 issue of The Agriculturist was headed “Importation of Queen Bees” giving the following details “On her last trip the Mariposa brought a shipment of queen bees for Major Shallard, of Glenbrook. These are from the well-known apiary of Mrs. Jennie Atchley of Texas, U.S.A. This lady has come to the front as a queen bee breeder during the last two years, and last season she despatched upwards of 5000 queens to various parts of the world.”. The SS Mariposa was operated by the Oceanic Steam Ship Company on the San Francisco, New Zealand and Sydney service. She was a passenger steamer of 3,158 tons, with a single screw and capable of 15 knots.

Shallard could boast the quality of his queens as he quoted from another source he obviously rated highly, G. M. Doolittle “Just as soon as the Queen marked xxx reaches you, go to breeding from her, for she is all right, BEING ABOUT THE BEST BREEDING QUEEN I HAVE EVER OWNED, and worth 50 dols or £10 for that purpose.”

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The method by which Shallardreceived his bees from Californiawas superior to the use of cages such as the Benton. Queen bees travelling within a hive have a far better chance of arriving in a healthy state than those within a mailing cage “with attendants and candy enclosed in the cage with the queen” due to the ability of the larger number of bees within a hive to cluster and therefore maintain the optimum temperature for the queen. Dunhum (1988) gives the following details. Multiple queen cages are packed within a boxcontaining a mass of attendants clustering around the cages

“Optimum temperature for a queen is around 90 degrees F. A laying queen should never get below 60 degrees, if that low, but it gets a lot colder in the back of a mail truck. A few attendants can't do much to keep a queen warm, but half to three-quarters of a pound of bees clustering around the queen cages can maintain the temperature”.

The April 1895 The Australian Bee Bulletin carried the following letter from G. M. Doolittle, headed ‘Shipping Queens to Australia’. It is very descripitive of the method he used to ship queens, not in a small cage just with candy for their food, but in a small hive containing candy and comb “Previous to the summer of 1894, the best success I ever had in shipping queens to foreign countries, was 65 per cent reaching their destination alive. Before trying shipping queens long distances, to any great extent, I experimented very largely here at home, putting the queens and bees up in cages such as I would use in shipping queens to foreign countries, and then keeping them in my shop and elsewhere, subjugating them to all the rough usage and elements I thought they would receive on any voyage.

The result of this was that in no case did I succeed in getting a queen to live longer than 26 days. When orders came to me from Australia I feared that none would go alive, but I was very gratified, when all of the

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reports were in for 1891, to find that I had actually succeeded in getting 65 per cent of all the queens sent that year to their destinations alive, considering that they must travel 11,500 miles at least, and to be from 35 to 40 days en route. .. during the past season of 1894, I find, .. that 70 per cent of all queens sent to Australia and New Zealand reached their destinations alive. I even succeeded in having them live to reach Western Australia, a distance of 14,000 miles from here, the time of confinement being 45 days from the day they were put up for shipment till they were released at their journey’s end.

I attribute this success to the fact that the past season I put in each cage a small piece of comb having a part empty cells and a part containing unsealed honey. My reason for putting in this piece of comb was, that I had noticed years ago, when wintering bees on candy, that all went well as long as there was some honey to help them moisten the candy, but when the honey was gone the bees would often die with plenty of candy remaining. .. I reasoned that should the candy be too hard the bees could use the honey in the unsealed cells to moisten the candy, and should it become too soft they could lick it up and deposit it in the empty cells, the same as they would were dripping candy placed in a hive. That this reasoning had some logic in it, is proved by a 5 per cent greater attainment of live queens over this 11,500 miles distance than ever attempted before.

Another thing. A party in Australia instructed me to how to make a shipping cage to go by express, to his liking, and among the other things he told me was to allow one of the three little combs to contain nearly hatching brood to the amount of from 50 to 100 bees, and to put in about that number of hatched bees. His directions were carried out and the queen sent. Through some blunder on the part of express officials the bees were not placed on the first outgoing steamer they were intended for, so lay over one month for the next steamer, in San Francisco, California. This made them 64 days en route, and yet, much to his surprise and still more to my surprise, that queen went through alive, and with her were about a dozen live bees, while all the brood had hatched out of the comb.” (pp.13-14).

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Pender Bros., 1894In the July 1894 issue of The Agriculturist, W. S. Pender was advertising “26 IMPORTED QUEENS To arrive in August From AMERICA and ITALY” for breeding purposes. Pender claimed “Bees and Queens bred by me have always given satisfaction”. The 1 October 1894 issue was headed “15 IMPORTED QUEENS 15” and went on to announce “That is the number arrived alive, and were sent onto me by my Italian Agent .. and were obtained from others bred in Romagna, Roscana, Ferrarese and Wodenese all well distributed regions in Italy.” It would appear that 11 other queens died in transit. Untested queens were five shillings, tested eight shillings and select tested twelve shillings and sixpence. Pender, of Drumfin Apiary, West Maitland, N.S.W declared “Safe arrival guaranteed to any Post Office in Australia and New Zealand.”. Pender may have been involved in the importation of queen bees before this date.

Left, part of an advertisement of April 1895.

In the Australian Agriculturist of January 1895, a notice announced that “R. L. Pender is arranging to have a large consignment of Italian Queens from America for next season, and in order to get the best of the American strains have arranged for the well-known apiarist, Mr. W.S. Pender, to go to America, personally select, and bring out the queens. By such arrangement there will be little hardship to the queens on the journey.” Obviously they wanted to improve the success rate and a skilled chaperone seemed the best way of achieving it.

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It is likely that Penders may well have been involved in the importation of bees some time prior to 1894. A letter from Bob Gulliford, dated November 1995, where he made comment upon my manuscript, supplied the following on the Penders’ operation “Penders company started in 1892 as a timber mill, their beekeeping enterprise some years earlier. .. A family company with many members, Penders was started by Mr. J. W. Pender and his sons William and Robert. The Penders owned a model farm not far from Maitland and bees were one of the enterprises. William Stanley Pendertook to the bees with enthusiasm right from his early years and it seems he was largely responsible for expanding the bee goods manufacturing side of the business. He personally ran the foremost queen breeding apiary in Australia, a position he held for many years until the 1920s when age and other younger breeders gradually assumed prominence. He became one of the founding members of the Hunter River Beekeepers Association in 1887.”.

H. L. Jones, 1895A letter from H. L. Jones of Goodna, Queensland appeared in the February 1895 The Australian Bee Bulletin, describing the means he used to send queens to America “.. a cage large enough to contain about 50 escort bees comfortable, will give much better results than a smaller one. Up to date I have received some 52 queens from America by mail, and out of that lot only 10 came through alive. Cages of all sizes and modifications were sent, some of them quite unique in construction, while others were the most unsuitable that could be possibly devised. I consider a six hole cage superior to any other, two holes to contain the candy, two holes to be thoroughly ventilated, while the remaining two holes to receive no ventilation, except through the two ventilated holes. Free access should be allowed to the candy from at least two different points, and the entrance so arranged that the bees as they die off did not roll into and block up the passages.” (pp.262-263).

Part V - The Bees Spread Over The LandHacker (1935), in implied compliance with Hopkins (1904), mentions the March 1822 importation by Captain Wallace on the Isabella and thus the commencement of the bees dramatic spread “.. the first swarming is recorded as taking place in the following October. These black or English bees have since spread over the entire continent, and are now locally known as the bush bee.”

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CUNNINGHAM, ROYAL NAVY SURGEON, 1827Royal Navy Surgeon P. Cunningham, in Two Years in New South Wales, 1827, states “A number of swarms have escaped at different times into the woods, where they will doubtless breed fast, and wild wax and honey may hereafter become common; indeed the country and climate being exceedingly favourable for bees, we may hope to see such products added another day to the list of our exports.” He was not wrong. (See page Part VI - Exports of Honey, Bees & Wax, page 150 for production details for the years 1891 through 1896 and export details for 1895.)

The following anxiety certainly did not eventuate “It is feared by some, that being able to procure honey all the year round, they may cease hiving, and become solitary; but in this apprehension I do not participate; for no animal, naturally gregarious, ever, I believe, becomes otherwise.”

He was a keen observer “Our wild bees are shaped like the European bee, but are little larger than a blow-fly, and without a sting. They live in hollow trees, and produce very fine honey and wax, which is much sought after by the natives. We have also solitary bees and solitary wasps, but I know not if they possess stings.” (p.339).

Cunningham must have been a bee fancier as he described other insects comparing them to bees “Gadflies are often as large as tame bees” (p.343). On ants “I have seen a swarm of these fliers extending two hundred yards, as thick as a bee-swarm” (p.346). Caterpillars “do not spread widely over the field, but proceed in a compact line often several inches wide and deep, huddling over each other like a hive of bees.”

ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

John Hughes, 1839It wasn't until at least 1839 that bees were taken across the Blue Mountains. Rayment (1925) “Mr. John Hughes, of Sussex Farm, near Bathurst, was struggling to take some colonies over the Blue Mountains, and the hardy pioneer was successful” (p.271). Heaton (1879) supplied the date as 1839. It is not surprising that Mr. Hughes struggled over the mountains. Firstly, the Blue Mountains were first traversed by William Charles Wentworth, Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson in 1813, twenty five years after the arrival of the First Fleet.

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In 1815, Governor Macquarie was determined to have “a good practicable Cart Road made with the least practicable Delay” across the mountains. Rather than have the task take three years to finish by contracted free labor or the 'Government stroke', the punishment by lashes of unmotivated prisoners, the road of one hundred and twenty six miles took six months to construct by sixty good behaviour convicts. They earned themselves conditional pardons for their efforts and were set free.

Mrs. Louisa Anne Meredith, writing after her arrival at Port Jackson in late September 1839, paints a graphic picture of the sad state of the road over the Blue Mountains “The main portion of the road is bad beyond an English comprehension; sometimes it consists of natural step-like rocks protruding from the dust or sand, one, two, or three feet above each other, in huge slabs the width of the track, and over these ‘jumpers,’ as they are pleasantly termed, we had to jolt and bump along as we best might. How our springs stood such unwonted exercise is an enigma still”. (Mackaness, 1978)

Secondly, according to Robert Hughes (1987), the descent of Mount York was so steep “that loaded bullock-carts had to go down with big logs hitched to them as brakes; and the ascent could only be made if the cart were dragged up in stages, by a chain run through iron ringbolts in the rock face harnessed to a second bullock team pulling downhill” (p.299).

In Fourteen Journeys Over the Blue Mountains of New South Wales 1813-1841, a letter from Mrs. Sophia Stranger to her Mother in England, dated 15 July 1841, mentions her pioneering trip with husband and children in a dray. The descent of Mount Victoria is thus described “And now we had reached the long-looked-for hill, which, report says, is like going down the side of a house, it being three miles long, and as steep as you can imagine. At the sight of it the most stout-hearted bullock driver owns that he shudders.”

Mrs. Stranger relates that at a milestone “eight miles from Bathurst .. we set off to make a call on a Mr. Hughes .. my dear husband thought we would do well to see Mr. Hughes, who was able to give his advice, his opinion being generally worth having.” This Mr. Hughes is very likely the same man that Rayment was referring to above “of Sussex Farm, near Bathurst.”.

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Rayment drew his facts about John Hughes carting bees across the Blue Mountains from Heaton’s 1879 Dictionary of Dates. In a 1949 book by an anonymous Hughes descendant, John Hughes “took passage for them in the barque John Craig of 375 tons, which sailed from London via Cape of Good Hope on 9th August arriving at Port Jackson on 12th December, 1834.” (p.9) The Hughes family bought land for farming in the Bathurst district within two years of their arrival. (p.10)

John Hughes and his son John Wesley Hughes would have been well used to the difficulties of crossing the mountains as “A store was kept so the teams went to and from Sydney carting goods.” (p.10) “Hares, cattle and poultry were also imported and the first bees taken over the mountains.” (p.11). Hughes died in 1875 in his 76th year. One of his sons, John Wesley Hughes was also skilled in the trip to Sydney and return over the mountains “In his early ‘teens he came with his parents to the Bathurst district and took up his residence with them at Sussex Farm, near George’s Plain. They came by slow and tedious means of bullock drays, the only means of transport then in existence between Sydney and the west. Young Hughes was associated with many such trips and at the early age of 14 years he was commissioned to go to Sydney with a bullock dray”. John Wesley died at Kelso on 18 August 1921, aged 94. He was buried at Oberon (p.15).

Thomas Arkell, Campbells River, 1840No date is given for the following quote, but it appears to be around 1840. “Thomas Arkell, of ‘Charlton’, Campbells River, received a hive from Nathaniel Payten, of Parramatta, and drove home with the bees in his gig”. Campbell's River is in the Bathurst district.

How Arkell moved his hives may have been similar to the following advice given by Isaac Hopkins in his 1886 Australasian Bee Manual “Where bees are to be moved in a cart or wagon a good thick layer of straw to stand the hives on will prevent jarring to a considerable extent.” (p.108). In the 1891 edition of The ABC of Bee Culture “You may haul bees on almost any kind of vehicle. Some use wagons with springs; some use a hay-rack with two or three feet of hay on it, while others use a common lumber-wagon, or a hay-rack with neither hay nor springs ..”.

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Richard Nancarrow, 1894There must have been many others who moved bees across the Mountains in the early days. Neary (1940) supplies “Richard Nancarrow, I think, was the first man to bring bees over the mountains from Sydney. In 1894 this courageous and enterprising pioneer of the bee industry set out from Sydney with a load of bee colonies packed on a strong spring cart in search of fresh fields and pastures new for the treasure trove of which he was an expert guardian. Selecting a stand at Musgrave farm, Wyagdon, he began operations, and with his first season’s gathering cleared several hundred pounds. He afterwards settled on a plot of land directly beneath the old Wyagdon hill, some twenty miles from Bathurst on the Hill Endroad. His courage and industry were rewarded in due course and he became a wealthy bee-farmer.” Remember that Nancarrow was repeating the feat of Hughes and Arkell some fifty years later. Nancarrow’s grandchildren carry the tale of his exploits. His five sons were also beekeepers.

JERVIS BAY SETTLER, 1840In 1840, according to Gale (1912) “a settler at Jervis Bay, New South Wales, paid £4 for a colony of bees, and then hired aboriginals to carry them home, a distance of over 40 miles.”. I’ve not seen any earlier authenticating reference to this event.

HONEY FOR SALE, 1840In The Australian of 17 September 1840 is this advertisement “Honey - To be had, at the Medical warehouse of F. Jessett & Co Lower George-street, pure Honey, at eighteen-pence a pound, by the pound or ton. September 16, 1840” (p.3). The advertisement also appeared on September 17 (p.3e) and September 29 (p.2g) “The best Honey to be had of F. Jessett and Co. Chemist ... at 1s 6d per lb”.

ELIZABETH STREET, RACECOURSE, SYDNEY 1842In The Australian of 15 January 1842 appears the following advertisement “TWENTY HIVES OF ENGLISH BEES These are of the famous English Honey Bee, or 'Apis Melifica', of both Ancient and Modern Naturalists. Several families are already congregating and clustering, and there cannot therefore possibly be a better time of the season for ‘grouping’ them than at this very moment. Mr. Stubbs will sell at Auction at the Mart, King street on Wednesday, 19th Instant, at twelve

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o'clock The above Stock of Bees. PS. The Proprietor parts with them solely on account of unexpectedly removing from her residence, Juliana Cottage, Elizabeth street, Race Course, where the Hives may be seen any day after two o'clock in the afternoon. The Parent hive cost ten guineas. Persons desirous of purchasing the whole stock will apply at the Mart, King street.” (p.3).

Mention of the ‘Parent hive’ suggests that the other hives were swarms from it. Based on the cost of this hive, a good return on the sale may have been expected. The mention of Race Course describes the vicinity today known as Hyde Park, Sydney. The advertisement was repeated in the January 18 issue.

AN ANONYMOUS CLERGYMAN, 1866An Anonymous Clergyman (1866) had some spirited words on the bees spread “There are none of the flying insects so much deserving of notice as the bees. Hives of English bees were regarded, until a comparatively recent period, as great curiosities. It is most surprising how fast those bees have multiplied here, and how rapidly they have spread. Farther and farther every year they are found making their way into the interior, to the great delight of many who had not anticipated the arrival of such welcome visitants. With the countless numbers of milch kine and the honey lodged in the trees, it almost ceases to be a figurative expression, to say of Australia, that it is ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ ” The term ‘milch kine’ is old English for a milking cow.

With no lack of momentum, he continues “There are none who have benefited so much from the introduction of English bees as the shepherds and their families. Out all day with their flocks of sheep, and straggling after them amongst the trees, it is a pleasant recreation, and a profitable way of spending their superabundance of spare time, to look for the treasures of honey. There was one hut which I entered, where the man employed as hutkeeper had been very industrious in laying up a large store of it in casks for sale.” (p.38). The clergyman has more to say “The atmosphere in some quarters is strongly impregnated, at a certain season, with the smell of honey; and this is the case especially where a heath much resembling the Scottish heather abounds.”

He goes on to describe the suitability of the land for bees “The mammosa tree is one mass of sweet-scented golden blossoms and sprigs, and there are other flower-bearing trees of a larger kind, furnishing no end of

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pasturage for bees; the climate would also appear to be highly favourable to their increase and spreading. There are many of the trees hollow, in consequence of the destruction effected by the white ant, and these hollow up-standing trees are as excellent places of shelter for bees as they are for possums.”

RYDE, NSW, 1870Geeves (1970) in celebrating the Centenary of Ryde “Many families kept bees in their gardens for pollination and honey. They were usually hived in gin cases or in picturesque straw skeps and, because movable framehives were then unknown, the honey was extracted in a crude and wasteful fashion.”. These details certainly describe conditions prior to the 1870s. In a later chapter “Many orchardists kept their own bees as a practical aid to pollination and the natural increase of their colonies eventually encouraged these people to become part-time apiarists, so it is hardly surprising to learn that Ryde produced substantial quantities of honey and beeswax for commercial sale.”.

Part VI - Exports of Honey, Bees & Wax

HONEY & WAX

In the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (Vol. III, No. 122) for Saturday 3 May 1845, S. Elliot advertised to buy quantities too small to export “Export of honey, wax gum, leather ..” (p.1).

Government statistician T. A. Coghlan, in a section titled ‘Honey Farming’ from The Wealth and Progress of New South Wales 1895-96, reports in 1897 “The industry of honey production has acquired sufficient importance in New South Wales to deserve notice in these pages. Hives are not only kept on many of the farms devoted to general agriculture, but there are also in the colony a certain number of establishments of which the sole business is the production of honey and beeswax.” (p.367). No such entry appears in the volume for 1892 and I have been unable to find the volume for 1893. A similar entry appears in the 1894 volume which also mentions the distribution of hives “Most of the latter are to be found in the Blue Mountains, near the main Western Line of Railway, in the neighbourhood of other main trunk lines, and in the districts surrounding the metropolis.”.

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The opening up of rail transport over the Blue Mountains from 1866 must have made moving large numbers of hives a much easier and quicker proposition compared to single axle drays, bullock wagons and the arduous track that John Hughes had experienced. From Full Steam Across the Mountains, “the railway extended from Penrith, through Emu Plains and over the Nepean” and climbed Lapstone Hill “a 1-in-33 grade from 87ft elevation of the Bottom Road to 613 ft at the Top. .. The line .. was opened to Weatherboard (later Wentworth Falls) on July 11, 1867. .. It reached Kelso in 1875 and, the Macquarie having been bridged, Whitton's steam trains made it to Bathurst on April 14, 1876.”.

John D. Lang (1875) in the Historical and Statistical Account of New South Wales Vol. II , in the section on the export of natural productions following the mention of live stock - horses, horned cattle, sheep and pigs “There were many other items, doubtless, in the export list of the colony for the year 1872, but the only other I shall mention is that of honey, of which there were exported in that year 15,299 pounds.” Almost seven tons of honey exported just fifty years after the arrival of eight hives in 1822!

The 1895-96 report continues “The number of hives in the colony, and their production of honey and wax for the past six years, are shown in the subjoined table.”.

Year Hives. Production Total Value

Honey. Wax.No. lb. lb. £

1891 35,749 765,332 23,610 10,7801892 39,728 894,583 33,786 12,8501893 48,204 1,395,350 48,178 19,4001894 53,483 1,139,557 39,242 16,1001895 49,040 1,135,128 29,326 15,5001896 37,742 1,123,209 27,520 14,200

“The total quantity of honey exported from the Australasian colonies during the past five years is shown below.” The quantities are in pounds weight.

Colony. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895.New South Wales 2,451 7,543 6,620 13,241 12,504

151

Colony. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895.Victoria 52,070 31,154 17,426 14,571 204,435Queensland 15,608 64,754 18,636 18,214 22,546South Australia 32,948 30,582 33,097 86,112 246,533New Zealand 197,261 74,070 32,712 43,888 52,976

Not all the hives were productive “Of the hives given for 1894, 1895 and 1896, there were 8,790, 13,355, and 10,350 respectively returned as unproductive .. The average yield for the season ending March, 1896, from 27,392 productive hives, was 41 lb. of honey per hive; and the total yield showed a decrease of 11,919 lb. of honey, and 1,806 lb. of wax from the production of the preceding year.” In the section titled “Food, Cost of Living, and Prices” (p.800) the values in pence per lb. for honey and wax were provided for 1896. Honey ranged between 2 3/4 and 3 1/4 pence per pound while wax was between 12 and 12 1/2 pence per pound.

“The total exports to the United Kingdom of the five colonies shown .. was 344,694 lb., valued at £4,040.” The Old Country was not the only destination. “In 1895 South Australia exported 84,178 lb. to the United Kingdom, 23520 lb. to Norway and Sweden, 93,562 lb. to Western Australia, and 29,540 lb. to New South Wales;”

TRIGONA (NATIVE BEES)

Captain Macarthur, 1825In The Australian Encyclopedia (1958), the entry under ‘Bees’ by Tarlton Rayment includes this fascinating entry “It is interesting to note that a colony of stingless bees was exported to the Horticultural Society of England by Captain Macarthur, son of John Macarthur, as early as June 1825. The bees were almost certainly Trigona carbonaria. They are said to have arrived in ‘excellent order’.” For Rayment to include the quote ‘excellent order’ implies he was working from a source document, but I have not been able to discover what this was.

John Armstrong, 1842In the Australasian Beekeeper of May 1988, Les and Anne Dollin reported from Port Essington in Arnhem Land (pp. 219-223) on the Trigona bee at what was known as Victoria Settlement in the Northern Territory between

152

1838 and 1849. Two specimens of the bee, Trigona T. essingtoni were sent to the British Museum in 1842. It is believed that they were sent by “John Armstrong, the gardener and botanical collector at Victoria Settlement from 1838 to 1840”. (p.221)

153

T. W. Woodbury, 1870Bevan (1870) mentions another export of native bees “Mr. Woodbury had a nest of Trigona sent from Australia. The brood was fed with honey and water; but they all died on the voyage, and it is probable that they would never survive in this country through the winter.” No date is supplied nor are there details of the agent in Australia who acquired the bees and prepared them for passage. (p.287)

INTO INDIA, 1880Singh (1962) supplies “Since 1880 considerable interest has been taken in the importation of Italian bees into India. About two dozen separate consignments of Italian queen bees, nuclei and colonies from colonies from England, Italy, the U.S.A. and Australia are on record. Generally, the bees arrived in this country depleted in strength and fell a prey to the robbing Apis indica bees, the ravages of wasps, monsoon weather” (p.46).

Assuming the same methods were used to ship the bees to India from Australia and from England to Australia then the bees ‘arriving depleted in strength’ is certainly the condition suffered by one of the hives that Parrpurchased at auction in 1822. This may have been typical of what would have been found in unaccompanied consignments and indicates that long distance sea transportation for bees was not without its hazards. The statement that “about two dozen consignments .. are on record” is interesting because later works on the subject of bees imported into India do not appear to be very aware of these earlier attempts.

The result of these importations typically ended in failure “However, both the introduced as well as the locally raised colonies eventually petered out.” This was usually due to lack of forage or the custodians moving on and the intensive management that was required was no longer devoted to the bees

Part VIII - ConclusionThere is no evidence that bees were taken with the First or Second Fleets. There is evidence of the fruit trees taken on at the Cape but no mention of bees. The 1822 Isabella account appears indisputable. There is no indication that Blaxland got his bees on board in 1805. Marsden may have brought Apis

154

mellifera bees in 1810, but whatever type he did introduce, they did not survive to reproduce.

Black in 1920 must not have been aware that Isaac Hopkins first four editions of his work from 1881, each updating some previously supplied 'facts' on the introduction of bees as incorrect. Hopkins reminiscences titled Forty-two Years of Bee-keeping in New Zealand 1874-1916 would have satisfied some of his questions.

Hopkins had difficulty discovering the facts regarding the introduction of bees both into New Zealand and the colony of Tasmania when he wrote in the 1880s. He had it wrong that Wilson brought bees from New South Wales to Tasmania. They came direct from England, but he did get the year of 1831 correct. The uncovering of history had its pitfalls for Isaac Hopkins, 60 years before R.A. Black sought answers. So it is today, 75 years after Black’s query. I wonder who Black was and why he was asking. Maybe some Tasmanian descendant knows?

Mentioning old but incomplete sets of beekeeping magazines in the libraries of Australia, Trevor Weatherhead in his ‘Intermission’ closing page, made a call that I wholeheartedly agree with. He said “I believe it should be a National project of the beekeeping groups throughout Australia to try to make complete sets of these old magazines in the appropriate libraries.” I add to this by saying that the National Library of Australia in Canberra could be this repository.

In Queensland at Longreach is the Stockman’s Hall of Fame. Beekeepers too, deserve such a national monument. In such a place would stand a National Museum to these hardy agricultural pioneers. Whatever organisation takes up this task will undoubtedly create a popular tourist drawcard, both nationally and internationally and a magnet for much of beekeeping history that may otherwise be lost.

The year 1997 is the 187th anniversary of the first though unsuccessful introduction of foreign bees to the Australian mainland by Marsden, the 166th anniversary of their successful introduction to Tasmania and the 175th anniversary of the first successful introduction to the Australian mainland. What a golden opportunity to advertise such a milestone for the benefit of the honey and bee breeding industry and the preservation of its history. To this end I have written to Australia Post suggesting a postal issue. The anniversary

155

is eligible under their rules for consideration of inclusion on a pre-paid commemorative postal envelope. I wait in anticipation.

Langstroth (1889) adds mystery in the following “According to an article in the Scientific Review of England, although bees have been sent from this country and Europe to Australia, there is an Australian native bee, which builds its nest on the Eucalyptus. The bees gather immense quantities of a kind of honey, although very sweet, can be used as a medicine, to replace the cod-liver oil, used with so much repugnance by consumptives.” (p.289)

Another puzzler. It is possible that the Apis honeybee was already a native of Australia in the form of Apis aenigmatica Raym. (1935, pp.554-561). This social honey bee reputedly built combs whose cells measured nine to the inch, midway between those of the dwarf-bee of India, Apis florea Fabr, whose combs measure ten to the inch and Trigona carbonaria whose hexagonal brood cells measure eight to the inch. Aenigmatica's combs, typically three, were each “the size of the palm of one's hand. The cells were truly hexagonal, and large enough to admit the head of an ordinary pin; wonderfully neat; marvellously small.” (p.556). “The bees were small and black, and I cannot recall one instance where they had built inside a hollow; all, without exception, were open to the air” (p559). “the cells were exactly like those of the honey-bee, only much smaller” (p.560). This reputed find of a new variety of honeybee may never be resolved.

I have enjoyed my hunt for the hunt for the ‘facts’. The full answer lies buried in the past, once living history in the minds of pioneers now long deceased. Waiting to be discovered by the persistent researcher in public archives and family papers across the nation, may lay more of the story.

This brings to a close my research findings to date. I will be pleased to receive feedback. I hope you have enjoyed the read as much as I did the search.

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Selected Bibliography

BOOKS

Aston, Nell (1988) Rails, Roads and Bridges, History of Lapstone - Glenbrook

Backhouse, James (1843) A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, London

Barry, Captain (1903) Glimpses of the Australian Colonies and New Zealand

Barrett, Rev. Alfred (1852) The Life of the Rev. John Hewgill Bumby, with a Brief History of the Commencement and Progress of The Wesleyan Mission in New Zealand, Second Edition, John Mason, London

Bassett, Marnie (1954) The Hentys, An Australian Colonial Tapestry, Melbourne University Press, 1962 reprint

Bateson, Charles (1969) The Convict Ships

Belbin, Phillip & Burke, David (1984) Full Steam Across the Mountains, Methuen, Australia

Beuhne, F. R. (1916) Bee-Keeping in Victoria, Government Apiarist, Department of Agriculture, Victoria, Bulletin #31, 1916

Bevan, E (1870) The Honey Bee

Brodie, Walter (1845) Remarks on the Past and Present State of New Zealand, London

Butler, Colin G. (1954) The World of the Honeybee, Collins, London

Chambers, W. A. Samuel Ironside

Cheshire, F. (c1886) Bees and Beekeeping, Scientific and Practical, The Bazaar Exchange & mart, London

157

Clark, Manning & Hooper, Meredith & Ferrier, Susanne (1988) The Ashton Scholastic History of Australia, Gosford, Australia

Clarke, Patricia (1986) A Colonial Woman, The Life and Times of Mary Braidwood Mowle 1827-1857, Allen & Unwin, Sydney

Clergyman, a (1868) Australia in 1866. Facts & Features, Sketches and Incidents of Australia and Australian Life with Notices of New Zealand, by ‘a Clergyman’, Longmans

Coghlan, T. A. (1897) The Wealth and Progress of New South Wales 1895-9, William Applegate Gullick, Government Printer, Phillip Street, Sydney

Collins, David (1798, 1975) An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol I, Royal Australian Historical Society, AH & AW Reed, Sydney

Cotton, William Charles, M.A. (1842) My Bee Book, London

Cotton, William Charles, M.A. (1848) A Manual for New Zealand Beekeepers

Crane, Eva (1963) Beekeeping, Past and Present, The Hive and the Honey Bee Dadant & Sons

Crane, Eva (1975) Honey William Heinemann, London

Crane, Eva (1983) The Archaelogy of Beekeeping Duckworth, London (Sydney City Library 638.1 CRA)

Crane, Eva (1990) Bees and Beekeeping. Science, Practice and World Resources, Heinenmann Newnes

Cumpston, J. S. (1977) Shipping Arrivals and Departures 1788-1825, Sydney

Cunningham, P. Surgeon R.N. (1827) Two Years in New South Wales; A series of letters comprising sketches of the actual state of society in that colony; of its peculiar advantages to wmigrants; of its topography, natural history, &c. &c. Colburn, London

158

Dunham, Marshall (1988) Australasian Beekeeper, February 1988 (p.168)

Dzierzon, J (1882) Rational Bee Keeping

Elder, John Rawson (1934) Marsden’s Lieutenants, Otago University Council, Dunedin

Elder, John Rawson (1929) The Pioneer Explorers of New Zealand, Blackie and Son Limited, London

Evans, Jeremy & Berrett, Sheila (1989) The Complete Guide to Beekeeping Unwin Hyman, London

Fenton, James (1891) Bush Life in Tasmania Fifty Years Ago reprint 1970, Regal Publications, Launceston, Tasmania

Gale, Albert (1912) Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture William Brooks & Co.

Geeves, Philip (1970) A Place of Pioneers, The Centenary History of the Municipality of Ryde Ryde Municipal Council

Gerstaecker, Dr. A. (1862) Geographical Distribution of the Honey-bee and its Varieties, Berlin

Gillett, Ross & Melliar-Phelps, Michael (1980) A Century of Ships in Sydney Harbour

Guenther, Konrad, A Naturalist in Brazil

Hacker, Henry (1935) An Introduction to Beekeeping, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock, Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Bulletin No. 11, May 1935

Hasluck, Alexandra (1955) Portrait with Background, Alexandra Hasluck

Hassall, James Samuel (1822) In Old Australia

159

Heaton, J. H. (1879) Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time Containing the History of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879, Robinson, Melbourne

Henderson, John (1832) Observations on the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, Calcutta, 1832 (1965 facsimile edition, p.134)

Hopkins, Isaac (1881) The New Zealand Bee Manual, 1st ed.

Hopkins, Isaac (1882) The Australasian Bee Manual, 2nd ed.

Hopkins, Isaac (1886) The Illustrated Australasian Bee Manual and Complete Guide to Modern Bee Culture in the Southern Hemisphere , 3rd ed. Published by the Author.

Hopkins, Isaac (c1904) The Illustrated Australasian Bee Manual and Complete Guide to Modern Bee Culture in the Southern Hemisphere , 4th ed. Gordon and Gotch.

Hopkins, Isaac (c1916) Forty-two Years of Bee-keeping in New Zealand 1874-1916, Some Reminiscences

Hopkins, Isaac (c1925) Practical Bee-Keeping, The Australasian Bee Manual, 6th ed. Whitcombe & Tombs.

Hughes, Robert (1987) The Fatal Shore Collins Harvill

Hughes & Whalan (1949) Pioneers .. Hughes and Whalan and Descendants, by One of Them, Sydney

Huish (1817) Treatise on Nature, Economy and Rational Management of Bees

Hull, Hugh Munro (c1870) Chronology of Tasmania (ML A588 p.13, reel CY 1269)

Hull, Hugh Munro (c1870) Experiences of 40 Years in Tasmania

Hull, Hugh Munro (c1870) Tasmania in 1870James, Rev. Thos. (1852) In The Honey Bee, John Murray, London

160

Jenyns, Rev. F. G. (1888) A Book About Bees Wells Gardner Darton & Co, London

Kemp, Peter (1978) The History of Ships, Orbis Publishing, London

Khalifman, I. (1951) Bees. A Book on the Biology of the Bee-Colony and the Achievements of Bee-Science Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow

Langridge, D. F. & Ilton, C. D. (1958) Beekeeping in Victoria Department of Agriculture, Victoria

Langstroth, L. Langstroth, on the Hive and Honey Bee, 1889

Mackaness, George (1942) Some Private Correspondence of the Rev. Samuel Marsden and Family 1794 - 1824, Privately printed by the Author, Sydney

Mackaness, George. (1978) (editor) Fourteen Journeys Over The Blue Mountains of New South Wales 1813-1841, Part III, 1835-1841

Mamre Plains Limited (1991) The Mamre Project Foundation Book 1984-1991 St. Marys, N.S.W

Manning, Rob. (1992) Honey Production, Economic Value and Geographical Significance of Apiary Sites in Western Australia, W.A. Department of Agriculture

Marsden, John Buxton (1913) Life and Work of Samuel Marsden Whitconme and Toombs, Christchurch. N.Z. (994.02 Mars, Sydney City Library local history reading room)

Meredith, Mrs. Charles (1852) My Home in Tasmania, During a Residence of 9 Years, John Murray, London

Meredith, Mrs. Charles (1844) Notes and Sketches of New South Wales During a residence in that Colony from 1839 to 1844, reprinted by National Trust of Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1973

Michener, Charles D (1974) The Social Behaviour of the Bees, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts

161

More, Daphne (1976) The Bee Book, Douglas David & Charles Limited, Canada

Neary, Henry. (1940) Ghosts of the Goldfields - Pioneer Diggers and Settlers of the Turon

The New South Wales Calendar and General Post Office Directory of 1832 (facsimile edition 1966, p.49)

Nicholson, Ian (nd.) The Log of Logs

Nogueira-Neto (1962) The Introduction of Beekeeping to Brazil Biol. Agric. S.Paulo (49:5-14)

Parsons, Ronald (1979) Steamers in the South Pacific. The Great Days of Steam Around Australia and New Zealand Rigby

Pollen, Frances (1983) Parramatta, The Cradle City of Australia. Its History from 1788 published by the Council of the City of Parramatta (p.303).

Quinby (1865) in Mysteries of Beekeeping Explained

Ramsay, Charles (nd) With The Pioneers

Rayment, Tarlton (1921) Profitable Honey Plants of Australasia, Whitcombe and Toombs, Melbourne

Rayment, Tarlton (1922) Centenary of the Honey Bee in Australasia, 1822-1922, The Australasian Beekeeper, Pender's, Maitland Oct. 15, 1922

Rayment, Tarlton (1925) Money in Bees in Australasia, 2nd ed. Whitcombe and Toombs

Rayment, Tarlton (1935) A Cluster of Bees, The Endeavour Press, Sydney

Root, A. I. (1891) The ABC of Bee Culture, 2nd ed. Medina, Ohio

Root, A. I. (1983) The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture, 39th ed. A. I. Root Company, Ohio

162

Rutherford, J (ed.) (1940) The Journals of Felton Mathew, first surveyor-general of New Zealand and his wife, 1840-1847, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Denedin & Wellington

Ruttner, Friedrich & Milner, Eric & Dews, John E. (1990) The Dark European Honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera Linnaeus 1758, British Isles Bee Breeders Association, England

Singh, Sardar (1962) Beekeeping in India, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi

Smithers, C. N. (1987) Backyard Beekeeping in Australia and New Zealand, Angus & Robertson

Statham, Edwin J. (1921) Who Introduced Bees, Parramatta and District Historical Society, Journal and Proceedings, Vol 2, 1921 (991.2/P Mitchell Library, Sydney)

Steele, Jas. (1916) The Early Days of Windsor, Tyrell's, Sydney, 1916

Taylor, Rev. R. (1868) The Past and Present of New Zealand, London

Tucker, Rev. H. H. (1879) The Life and Episcopate of George Augustus Selwyn D.D., Vol. I

Victorian Department of Agriculture (1991) Beekeeping

Wadey, H. J. (1948) The Behaviour of Bees and Bee-keepers, (editor of Bee Craft) W & J Mackay, Chatham, Great Britain.

Wakefield, Edward Jerningham (1845) Adventure in New Zealand, edited by Joan Stevens, Golden Press, Auckland, reprint 1975

Wannan, Bill (1972) Early Colonial Scandals, The Turbulent Times of Samuel Marsden, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne (previously published as Very Strange Tales, 1962

West, History of Tasmania

163

Windross, John & Ralston, J. P. (1897) Historical Records of Newcastle 1797-1897, Newcastle, reprint Library of Australian History, 1978

Yarwood, A. T. (1977) Samuel Marsden, The Great Survivor, Melbourne University Press

Young, Lynette (1967) The Melody Lingers On, Biography of Tarlton Rayment, The Hawthorn Press, Melbourne

Historical Record of Australia, Series I, Vol. V, July 1804 - August 1806. Viscount Castlereagh to Governor King, Despatch No. 2 per transport William Pitt, 13 July 1805

The Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. 6, p.97 & p.304

OTHER WORKS REFERENCED

Baldwin Spencer, Sir W. Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia

Baldwin Spencer & Gillen, F.J. (1946) Across Australia, Dymocks, Sydney(Vol II., p.467)

Brewster, Mabel N. & Brewster, Agnes A.(1946) Life Stories of Australian Insects, 1946 (p.171)

Gillies, William (nd.) First Studies in Insect Life in Australasia, Whitcombe & Tombs, Melbourne, nd

McKeown, Keith C. (1944) Insect Wonders of Australia, Angus & Robertson, Sydney

McKeown, K. C. (1947) Australian Insects

Tillyard, R. J. (1926) The Insects of Australia and New Zealand

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS

Dawson, Christopher (1995) a private collection of research materials gathered over a period of 30 yearsGurner, Henry Field (1824) Miscellaneous Papers 1817-1873, (ML index A1493 pp.390b Reel CY 907)

164

Hunt, C. G. (c1971) Some Notes on the Wesleyan Mission at Aotea, An Unpublished Manuscript

JOURNALS

The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales

1900 (p.1121)

The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales

1901 (pp.213-217)

The Australasian Beekeeper October 1922The Australasian Beekeeper July 1985The Australasian Beekeeper December

1986The Australasian Beekeeper Dec. 1987The Australasian Beekeeper March 1995The Australian Bee Bulletin 28 Sep. 1893The Australian Bee Bulletin Apr., Feb.

1895British Bee Journal 28 June 1969 ‘The First Bees in New

Zealand’ (pp.150-1)The Bulletin 24 Jan. 1924The Leisure Hour 25 Nov. 1852 ‘An Anecdote from

Australia’The New Zealand Beekeeper May 1964 ‘125 Years of Beekeeping

in N.Z.’ (p.2)The New Zealand Beekeeper March 1979 (pp.19-22)The New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Review

July, Aug. 1885

The New Zealand Methodist 1891 (Vol. 8. p4)The New Zealand Journal 1 Oct. 1842 (pp.237-8)Town and Country Journal 24 Nov. 1883Victorian Bee Journal 15 June 1920Western Stock and Station Journal

7 Nov. 1949

NEWSPAPERS

The Australian 17 Sep. 1840The Australian Agriculturist January 1895The Australian Agriculturist February 1894The Australian Agriculturist July 1894

165

The Daily Telegraph Mirror Historical Supplement

25 Feb. 1995 p.115. Monica Heary

The Farmer & SettlerThe Hobart Town Courier 5 Feb. 1831The Hobart Town Courier 27 July 1832The Hobart Town Courier 10 August

1832The Hobart Town Courier 17 August

1832The Hobart Town Courier 16 May 1834The Hobart Town Gazette 7 April 1821The Mercury Supplement 18 April 1874Nepean Times 18 July 1896Nepean Times 3 June 1943Nepean Times 20 Dec. 1951The New Zealand Farmer Bee and Poultry Review

August & October 1885

Northern Advocate 22 July 1972Sydney Gazette 15 March 1822Sydney Gazette 19 Mar. 1822Sydney Gazette 12 April 1822Sydney Gazette 2 June 1822Sydney Gazette 14 June 1822Sydney Gazette 21 June 1822Sydney Gazette 1 Nov. 1822 (p.3a)Sydney Gazette 30 Jan. 1823Sydney Gazette 6 Nov. 1823 (p.3. col.1)Sydney Gazette 17 Feb. 1829Sydney Morning Herald 10 August

1863

166

ENCYCLOPAEDIAS

The Australian Encyclopaedia

(1958) Angus & Robertson

Vol. I


(1958) The Grolier Society of Australia

Sydney


(1988) Australian Geographic Society

Vol. Two. Fifth Edition

The Australian Junior Encyclopaedia

(1951) Georgian House Vol. Two

The Concise Encyclopaedia of Australia

(1979) Horwitz Group Vol. 1

The Illustrated Australian Encyclopaedia

Horwitz Group (1979) Vol. I

The Illustrated Australian Encyclopaedia

Angus & Robertson (1925)

Vol. I

The Modern Encyclopaedia of Australia and New Zealand

(1964) Horwitz Grahame. Sydney

The World Book Encyc. (1985) World Book Inc. Vol. 15. p.620

A

Abercrombie Caves............................................................................................55Abram......................................................................................102, 103, 104, 105

Mr. E. E.......................................................................................................104Wilhelm......................................................................................................106William........................................................................................102, 103, 104

Acacia melanoxylon............................................................................................71Acclimatisation Society......................................................................58, 113, 114Adams, Patricia.................................................................................................79Adelaide...................................................................................111, 112, 113, 134Africa......................................................................................................... 22, 120Agricultural Gazette of NSW.......................................................................42, 160Agriculturist..............................................................................135, 136, 138, 139Alexander Turnbull Library.........................................................16, 17, 18, 79, 99Allom

Mr Albert James................................................................................85, 93, 98

167

Mrs. Mary Ann...................16, 85, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 116, 117, 121America....................................................................100, 105, 107, 135, 138, 139

North...........................................................................................................115Ann.................................................................................................................... 37Antipodes..........................................................................................................87apiary..................7, 11, 52, 53, 59, 71, 72, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 115, 123, 136Apiculture..........................................................................................................43Apis.....18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 41, 52, 71, 100, 131, 144, 149, 151, 158

Dorsata.......................................................................................................... 21florea..........................................................................................22, 23, 25, 151indica.......................................................................................................... 149melifica (mellifera)......................................................................................144mellifera.............................................................................19, 52, 71, 131, 158mellifera cypria...........................................................................................131mellifera ligustica..........................................................................................40mellifera mellifera.........................................................................................40

Archer, see Arthur. Sir George.........................................................................121Arkell, Thomas...................................................................49, 53, 54, 55, 56, 143Armstrong, John..............................................................................................148Arnold Grove.....................................................................................................52Arthur

Sir George.............................................................................................67, 121Aston, Nell......................................................................................................152Atchley, Mrs. Jennie........................................................................................136Atlantic....................................................................................................114, 120Auckland............................................................................................85, 114, 158Augusta.............................................................................................................. 72Australasia.............................................14, 15, 28, 41, 45, 50, 151, 155, 157, 159Australasian Beekeeper... . .7, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 27, 29, 38, 41, 45, 103, 116, 120, 148, 157, 160Australasiatic......................................................................................................65Australia. .1, 2, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 25, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 41, 44, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62, 66, 67, 71, 72, 75, 82, 92, 93, 100, 103, 104, 111, 112,

113, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 126, 133, 134, 136, 137, 139, 145, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 162

Australian Agriculturist............................................................135, 136, 138, 139Australian Agriculturist, The......................135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 160, 161Australian Bee Bulletin...............................................104, 111, 126, 137, 140, 160Australian Encyclopaedia..............................................................................43, 44Australian Honey Board...................................................................................113Ayrshire........................................................................................................... 118

B

Backhouse, James......................................................................................66, 152

168

Badger Head......................................................................................................70Bailey, Mr..........................................................................................................76Baltimore.........................................................................................................100Baron of Berlepsch..........................................................................................130barque

Brilliant.........................................................................................................92Barrett

Marjorie........................................................................................................11Rev. Alfred....................................................................................................78

Barry, Captain...................................................................................................93Bathurst.......................................................7, 50, 54, 55, 141, 142, 143, 144, 147Bay of Islands...................................................................................76, 90, 91, 98bee

black...................................................................13, 23, 34, 41, 58, 71, 72, 101Cyprian..................................................................................................19, 133

Bee Craft.................................................................................................122, 158Bee World.................................................................................................87, 115Bee, newspaper............................20, 21, 32, 36, 50, 82, 83, 87, 90, 101, 140, 157Beecroft....................................................................................102, 103, 104, 105Beecroft Bee Farm............................................................................................102Beecroft Road..................................................................................................102Beekeepers Supplies...........................................................................................11bee-master.......................................................................................................107Beer................................................................................................................... 66Bees

wild............................................................................................................. 141beeswax, see wax.......................................................................................39, 146Bega.................................................................................................................. 92Bell, Mrs. B.........................................................................................................7Bellingona.......................................................................................................100Benton, Frank...................................................................................133, 134, 137Berlepsch..........................................................................103, 104, 126, 130, 131Berlin................................................................................................................. 41Beuhne, F. R...........................................................................18, 34, 56, 101, 152Bevan, Dr. Edward......................................................................37, 122, 149, 152Bianconcini, Charles........................................................................111, 114, 134Biopterin..........................................................................................................123Bishop of New Zealand

chaplain.........................................................................................................89Black Ranges...................................................................................................136Black, R. A....................................................................................14, 34, 67, 150Blaxland

Mr. Gregory.............................30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 43, 62, 73, 87, 116, 117, 141Bloomsbury.......................................................................................................96

169

Blow, Thos. B...........................................................................131, 132, 133, 134Blue Mountains................................7, 11, 25, 53, 54, 55, 135, 141, 142, 146, 156Blue Mountains Bee Farm.................................................................................135Bologna, Italy...................................................................................111, 113, 134Bonney, Mr......................................................................................112, 113, 134Botanic Garden................................................................................60, 66, 70, 75Botanic Gardens...........................................................................................60, 75

Hobart......................................................................................................58, 70Botanical Garden...............................................................................................30Bothwell............................................................................................................ 66Bottom Road...................................................................................................146box...24, 63, 64, 69, 86, 99, 101, 116, 117, 118, 121, 122, 128, 131, 132, 134, 137

ice............................................................................................................... 116shipping.......................................................................................................125ventilated.............................................................................................117, 134wooden..................................................................................................86, 101wooden breeding...........................................................................................99

Boyce, Captain John.........................................................................31, 32, 62, 87Braidwood.........................................................................................................58

township........................................................................................................61Braidwood Farm...........................................................................................61, 62Braybrook, Laurie..........................................................................................7, 71Brazil..............................................................................34, 35, 39, 120, 154, 157Brazilian................................................................................................35, 38, 39Brilliant............................................................................................................. 92Brisbane........................................................55, 75, 111, 112, 114, 115, 123, 128

Governor.......................................................................................................55Bristol Channel................................................................................................123Britain............................................................................................................. 105British................................................................................................................ 57British Bee Journal................................................................................85, 88, 160British Museum...............................................................................................148Brodie, Walter......................................................................................87, 91, 152Brougham..........................................................................................................95Brunswick Street................................................................................................76Buenos Aires......................................................................................................39Bulletin............................................44, 48, 53, 111, 126, 137, 140, 152, 154, 160Bullock drays...................................................................................................143Bumby

Miss Mary Anna...................................................16, 17, 33, 76, 77, 78, 79, 89Rev. John Hewgill.................................................................76, 77, 78, 79, 152

C

cage..................................30, 31, 73, 116, 117, 118, 122, 127, 129, 133, 137, 140

170

mailing................................................................................................133, 137wire................................................................................30, 116, 117, 122, 129

Calcutta.....................................................................................................82, 155California....................105, 113, 115, 123, 126, 128, 129, 130, 131, 135, 137, 138Calista............................................................................................................... 74Cambria............................................................................................................. 71Cambridge.........................................................................................................33Camden............................................................................................................. 53Camfield

Henry............................................................................................................74Campbells River.........................................................................................56, 143Canberra......................................................................................................7, 150Candles........................................................................................................52, 66candy............................................................................................................... 133Canney, Captain Thos........................................................................................60Canterbury......................................................................................................... 93Canton Grison, Switzerland........................................................................87, 126Cape of Good Hope...................................28, 31, 41, 60, 116, 119, 120, 142, 149captains

Barry............................................................................................................. 93Boyce, John.................................................................................31, 32, 62, 87Canney, Thos................................................................................................60Cargill.........................................................................................................114Clark....................................................................................9, 29, 91, 113, 153Clarke............................................................................................................38Cobb....................................................................................................126, 128Cook, James.................................................................................................129Macarthur..............................................................................................53, 148Molloy, John.................................................................................................75Nosworthy, John......................................................................................60, 62Ritchie...........................................................................................................92Stirling, James....................................................................................60, 61, 75Wallis, John.................................21, 29, 41, 42, 44, 46, 47, 50, 53, 54, 62, 118

Carcoar.............................................................................................................. 51Cargill, Captain...............................................................................................114Carmichael, Dorothy................................................................................102, 104Carniolan...........................................................................................................19Caroline............................................................................................................. 74Caroline Place...................................................................................................36Carroll, James (Jas.).........................................................................110, 111, 128case..............................................56, 68, 75, 81, 84, 86, 90, 96, 99, 117, 137, 145Castlereagh................................................................................................32, 159Catherine Stewart Forbes.............................................................................59, 60Catholic church.................................................................................................39

171

Caucasian.......................................................................................................... 19Ceres............................................................................................................... 121Chamber of Manufactures................................................................................112Charlton............................................................................................................. 55cheese cloth......................................................................................................134Chile.................................................................................................................. 39Christchurch...............................................................................17, 113, 114, 156Chronos............................................................................................................. 50Church Missionary Society................................................................................36Cider.................................................................................................................. 37Circular Quay.....................................................................................................35City of New York.......................................................119, 123, 126, 128, 129, 130City of Paris.....................................................................................................129City of Sydney..................................................................................................129City of the Plains................................................................................................54Clark

Captain.................................................................................9, 29, 91, 113, 153Mr............................................................................................................... 113

ClarkeCaptain..........................................................................................................38Patricia................................................................................................7, 58, 63

Cleghorn, Mr.....................................................................................................91Clergyman.......................................................................................................145Clifford........................................................................................................94, 96Cobb, Captain...........................................................................................126, 128Cockatoo............................................................................................................ 21Coghlan, T. A..........................................................................................146, 153Collins, David.......................................................................28, 32, 152, 153, 155Colvin, Mr. Richard.........................................................................................100comb.........................................................................20, 22, 23, 66, 133, 135, 138convict..........18, 29, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 65, 129Convicts............................................................................................................29Cook, Captain James.........................................................................................129Coombing Park..................................................................................................51Coorong...........................................................................................................112Copeland

Hannah........................................................................................................ 104Mary............................................................................................................ 104Sir Henry.....................................................................................................104

cork........................................................................................................ 34, 35, 41Cornell University..........................................................................................8, 17Cottage Gardener...............................................................................................87Cotton, Rev. William Charles....16, 33, 49, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 95, 114, 116, 124, 153

172

Crane, Eva......................................17, 22, 33, 34, 35, 39, 114, 118, 131, 133, 153Creed, Bro.........................................................................................................79Crown................................................................................................................ 61Crystal Palace.....................................................................................................66Cunningham......................................................................................................37

Don...........................................................................................................7, 71P. 37, 140

Curetes.............................................................................................................. 50Cyprian......................................................................................................19, 133Cyprus......................................................................................131, 132, 133, 134

D

Daily Telegraph................................................................................................104dairy canvas.........................................................................................83, 86, 116Dathe............................................................................................................... 106Davis, Thos.......................................................................................................65Dawson, Mr. Chris............7, 12, 16, 17, 77, 78, 87, 91, 95, 99, 115, 120, 122, 160Department of Agriculture............................................18, 34, 152, 154, 156, 158

Victorian........................................................................................................34Department of Environment and Land Management, Tasmania.........................72Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries, Tasmania...............................8, 72Derwent River..................................................................................66, 70, 71, 78Devonport..........................................................................................................69Devonshire Beekeeper...............................................................................87, 126Dickins............................................................................................................ 134Discovery.........................................................................................................115Dollin, Les and Anne..............................................................................7, 27, 148Dominion.......................................................................................................... 98Doolittle, G. M.........................................................................................134, 137Dr. T. B. Wilson R.N..........................................................................................71Drumfin Apiary...............................................................................................139Dunhum........................................................................................................... 137dysentery............................................................................97, 119, 123, 125, 130Dzierzon...........................................................................................100, 108, 117

E

Eagland, James Stanley......................................................................34, 101, 112Edinburgh....................................................................................................10, 32Elder, John Rawson.........................................................................................154Elizabeth Farm............................................................................................51, 53Elizabeth street................................................................................................144Elliot

S 146Ellis, Netta.....................................................................................................7, 62

173

EllisonSue......................................................................................................7, 10, 55

Emu Plains.................................................................................................11, 146Endeavour................................................................................................129, 157England....13, 14, 16, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 38, 47, 48, 50, 52, 53, 58, 60, 61, 73, 74, 75, 76, 82, 88, 89, 91, 93, 95, 99, 100, 110, 116, 121, 131, 142, 148, 149, 150,

151, 158English..................18, 28, 32, 33, 34, 41, 69, 72, 77, 104, 140, 142, 144, 145, 153Eucalypti......................................................................................................66, 69Eucalyptus..................................................................................................71, 151Europe........................................................................21, 38, 40, 41, 75, 104, 120

Northern......................................................................................................114European....................................................................................................71, 141

honey bee.......................................................................................................39Evans, Jeremy..................................................................................................132Executive Council.............................................................................................61Exeter.............................................................................................................. 100

F

Fanny........................................................................................................... 42, 50Fenton, James...........................................................................56, 60, 69, 70, 154Ferrarese..........................................................................................................139Fiorini, Signor Giuseppe..................................................................................100First Fleet.............................................................................................28, 32, 141Flinders Chase.................................................................................................112Flood Creek.......................................................................................................61Flora, S. S........................................................................................................110Forth, River........................................................................................................ 69frame..................................................................................83, 117, 122, 133, 146Franklin Square...............................................................................................121Fremantle.....................................................................................................72, 73Frogmore...........................................................................................................69Fullwood, Mr. C...........................................................75, 111, 112, 114, 115, 131

G

Gale, Albert................18, 33, 42, 49, 51, 52, 58, 59, 102, 111, 115, 131, 144, 154Garrett

Mr. E.............................................................................................................25Mr. John........................................................................................................ 23

Geographe Bay...................................................................................................73George’s Plain..................................................................................................143George Street.....................................................................................................50German.............................................................18, 28, 41, 75, 102, 105, 112, 130Germany......................................................................................41, 72, 106, 133

174

Gerstaecker, Dr. A........................................................................39, 41, 100, 154Gilmore, Leslie..................................................................................................78gin cases.......................................................................................................... 146Gippsland.....................................................................................................22, 24Gittos

Mrs.......................................................................................................... 76, 77Rev. W.......................................................................................................... 76

Glenbrook...................................................................................25, 135, 136, 152Gloucester.......................................................................................................... 29Gloucestershire.................................................................................................118Goebel, R. L......................................................................................................27Good.................................................................................................................. 36Good candy.....................................................................................................133Good, Dr. John Mason.......................................................................................36Government Gardens......................................................................54, 68, 71, 121Government House.............................................................................................35Government-garden............................................................................................66Governor Archer, see Arthur. Sir George.........................................................121Governor Macquarie........................................................................................141Governor Ready.................................................................................................65Graham, George................................................................................................90Gravesend............................................................................................77, 78, 122Great Britain...........................................................................34, 50, 56, 120, 158Great War..........................................................................................................22Gregory

Albert............................................................................................................11Janette...........................................................................................................11

Grimm, Adam..................................................................................................100Gulliford

Bob........................................................................................................39, 139Gulliford, R. B.................................................................................7, 16, 41, 116gum........................................................................................20, 38, 66, 121, 146Gum-tree............................................................................................................ 66Gurner, Henry Field...................................................................................43, 160

H

Hacker, Mr. Henry..................................................................30, 33, 34, 140, 154Hamilton, Victoria...........................................................................................110Harbison, J. S............................................................105, 115, 126, 128, 130, 131Harrison, Mr. J. H.............................................................................................113Hart Street.........................................................................................................96Hartlib, Samuel................................................................................................118Hasluck, Alexandra.....................................................................................73, 154Hassall

175

James Samuel.................................................................................................36Thomas..........................................................................................................36

Hataitai.............................................................................................................. 98Hawaii............................................................................................................. 129Hawkesbury Agricultural College................................................................42, 93heather............................................................................................................. 145Heaton...........................................................38, 47, 48, 49, 54, 56, 141, 142, 155Henderson, John.............................................................................20, 21, 22, 155Henty, James...............................................................................................74, 75Herald, H.M.S...................................................................................................90Heritage Commission.......................................................................................113Hermann, M...............................................................................................87, 126Herts................................................................................................................ 132Hill End...........................................................................................................144Hindoostan (India)..............................................................................................21Hindson, Matthew........................................................................................54, 57hive... .11, 13, 14, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, 34, 35, 37, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 54, 56, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 80, 85, 86, 87,

89, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 103, 105, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135, 137, 138, 141, 144, 148collateral.....................................................................................................121cylindrical........................................................................................34, 99, 133earthen.................................................................................................131, 133German bar-frame.......................................................................................107gourd............................................................................................................. 35grocery box....................................................................................................69Harbison..............................................................................................126, 130Nutt..........................................................................................92, 96, 118, 121octagonal.....................................................................................................117queen-breeding............................................................................................108rectangular.....................................................................................................34straw....................................................................................76, 86, 90, 96, 119

Hobart 14, 49, 52, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 75, 78, 79, 90, 109, 120, 161Hobart Town.................................................49, 56, 57, 58, 61, 64, 65, 66, 78, 79Hobart Town Courier.........................................49, 56, 57, 61, 62, 64, 65, 75, 161Hobart Town Gazette..................................................................................56, 161Hobarton............................................................................................................71Hobbs

Mrs................................................................................................................ 77Rev. John.................................................................................................76, 77

HobsonCaptain...............................................................................................80, 89, 90

176

Mrs. (Lady)......................................................................................80, 89, 116hogshead.............................................................................16, 82, 83, 84, 88, 116Hokianga River...................................................................16, 17, 76, 77, 78, 116Hollow trees.......................................................................................................66Home...................................................................................................51, 70, 156Homebush.........................................................................................................51honey. 11, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29, 33, 34, 36, 39, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 52, 54, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 73, 79, 80, 81, 83, 85, 88, 89, 94,

95, 96, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 105, 116, 118, 124, 125, 128, 131, 133, 135, 138, 140, 141, 145, 146, 147, 148, 150, 151

honey badger.....................................................................................................22honey-box........................................................................................................131Honolulu............................................................115, 119, 123, 127, 128, 129, 130Hood, Mr. Thos. L.............................................................14, 22, 59, 60, 109, 110Hopkins, Mr. Isaac....11, 13, 16, 17, 18, 22, 39, 41, 44, 58, 59, 75, 76, 77, 80, 85,

88, 89, 90, 93, 94, 98, 100, 102, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 130, 131, 140, 143,

150, 155Hornsby...................................................................................................102, 105Horticultural Society of England................................................................53, 148House of Assembly.............................................................................................65

Clerk............................................................................................................. 65Hughes............................................................................................................. 141

John....................................................................49, 54, 56, 141, 142, 143, 146John Wesley.................................................................................................143Mr............................................................................................................... 142Robert....................................................................................................33, 142

Hull................................................................................................................... 66Hugh.............................................................................................................. 66Hugh Munro.............................................................................................56, 65Samuel..........................................................................................................64

Hunt, C. G.........................................................................................................77Hunter River.............................................................................................135, 146

Beekeepers Association...............................................................................140Hunter River Apiary.........................................................................................135Hunter Valley...................................................................................................135Hurburgh, Dr. Marcus........................................................................................30Hyde Park (Race Course).................................................................................145

I

Iberian............................................................................................................... 40Icely and Hindson..............................................................................................54Icely, Mr...............................................................................44, 47, 49, 50, 53, 54Illawarra Beekeepers........................................................................................104

177

ImlayAlexander......................................................................................................92Dr......................................................................................................91, 92, 94George........................................................................................................... 92Peter.............................................................................................................. 92

Imlay Brothers.................................................................................44, 91, 92, 94India................................................................8, 21, 22, 23, 56, 82, 149, 151, 158Indian Ocean....................................................................................................120Indicator indicator.........................................................................................21, 22Inman Line.......................................................................................................129International Bee Research Association..........................................................17, 91Ireland............................................................................................................... 41Isabella............................................................41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 50, 51, 140, 149Isis medal........................................................................................................... 98Italian...............................................................................................104, 109, 115Italian Bee Co., see Italian Bee-Farming Company..................................102, 103Italian Bee Company.......................................................................................106Italian Bee Farm..............................................................................................103Italy............................101, 102, 104, 111, 113, 114, 123, 125, 135, 138, 139, 149

J

James.....................................................................................................76, 77, 78James Ruse Drive.............................................................................................105James, Rev. Thos...............................................................................................88Jenyns, Rev......................................................................................131, 132, 133Jervis Bay..................................................................................................49, 144Jessett & Co. Chemist......................................................................................144John..................................................................................................60, 63, 64, 65Jones, Captain Phillip.........................................................................................59journals

Agricultural Gazette of NSW..................................................................42, 160Australasian Beekeeper. 7, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 27, 29, 38, 41, 45, 103, 116, 120, 148, 157, 160Australian Agriculturist........................................................135, 136, 138, 139Australian Bee Bulletin.................................................111, 126, 137, 140, 160Bee Craft.............................................................................................122, 158Bee World.............................................................................................87, 115Bulletin........................................44, 48, 53, 111, 126, 137, 140, 152, 154, 160New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal.....................................................110New Zealand Journal..........................................80, 81, 88, 92, 95, 97, 99, 160New Zealand Methodist..........................................................................77, 160The Cottage Gardener....................................................................................87The New Zealand Farmer

Bee and Poultry Review... .79, 80, 90, 102, 103, 109, 110, 112, 134, 160, 161

178

Victorian Bee Journal........................................................................13, 14, 160Western Stock and Station Journal.................................................................54

Juliana Cottage................................................................................................144

K

Kangaroo Island........................................................................111, 112, 113, 126Katherine Stewart Forbes, see Catherine Stewart Forbes....................................60Kelso........................................................................................................143, 147Kemp

A. F............................................................................................................... 64Peter............................................................................................................128

Kennington........................................................................................................ 95Kent........................................................................................................... 33, 122Kerikeri.............................................................................................................. 16Kermode, Mr. William.........................................................42, 56, 57, 59, 65, 67Kerr, Robert.....................................................................................................118King

Gilbert...........................................................................................................65Governor..........................................................................................32, 34, 159street............................................................................................................144

Kissing Point...................................................................................................102Kissing Point-street..........................................................................................107

L

Lang, John D...................................................................................................147Langstroth.........................................................100, 103, 115, 124, 131, 132, 133Lapstone..................................................................................................146, 152Largs................................................................................................................ 135Latrobe.............................................................................................................. 69Latrobe Library.................................................................................................17Launceston.................................................................................................61, 154Lawson, William.............................................................................................141Legislative Council.............................................................................................59Lieutenant Governor...........................................................................................56Ligurian.................................................18, 19, 100, 102, 109, 112, 113, 126, 128Lincoln Library.................................................................................................17Liverpool....................................................................................................56, 111livestock....................................................................................................73, 147London 34, 41, 46, 60, 94, 95, 96, 98, 110, 114, 142, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 158London Missionary Society...............................................................................34Longreach, Queensland....................................................................................150Lord, Mr......................................................................................................45, 47Los Angeles County.........................................................................................113Lumsdaine, Mrs. R............................................................................................55

179

Lyon, W. T........................................................................................................76

M

MacarthurCaptain..................................................................................................53, 148John.................................................................................................51, 53, 148

MacDonnell, Mr. S..........................................................................................106Mackaness

George...........................................................................................................35Mackaness, George.............................................................................................35Mackay, Angus...........................105, 111, 119, 123, 126, 128, 129, 130, 135, 158Macleay. Alexander. Colonial Secretary............................................................61Macquarie

Governor.....................................................................................................141River........................................................................................................... 147

Magdalen College..............................................................................................33Mahan, Mr. P. G..............................................................................................100Maitland...............................................................................9, 135, 139, 146, 157Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser..................................146mammosa tree.................................................................................................145Mamre Homestead................................................................................34, 38, 156Mangunga, see Mangungu.................................................................................76Mangungu....................................................................................................16, 77Manning, Robert................................................................................................73Mansfield, Mr..................................................................................................135Maori................................................................................................................. 85Mariposa, S. S.................................................................................................136Marist Fathers....................................................................................................91Marsden, Rev. Samuel. 16, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 116, 149, 150, 154, 156, 159Mart...........................................................................................................47, 144Mary.................................................................................................................. 56Mason, Mr. William..........................................................................................89Matamata Apiary.............................................................................................114Matheson, Andrew...........................................................................91, 92, 93, 94Maynard, H.......................................................................................................98McDonnell, Mr. S....................................................................................102, 106McDougall, Sheena...........................................................................................32McElwaine, Mr..................................................................................................89McTernan, Pat...................................................................................................60Mead................................................................................................................. 66Medway.......................................................................................................61, 65Melbourne..........................................................................17, 111, 152, 157, 159Meliponin.......................................................................................................... 39

180

Melissa.............................................................................................................. 50mellifera.................................................................................19, 52, 71, 131, 158Mellivora capensis..............................................................................................22Mercury Supplement..................................................................................64, 161Meredith

Mr. Charles...................................................................................................70Mrs. Charles (Louisa Anne)...........................................................................70Mrs. Louisa Anne........................................................................................142

Mew, Rev. William..........................................................................................118Michener, Charles D...........................................................................................26Mimosa.............................................................................................................. 66Mitchell Library, Sydney..........................................8, 14, 16, 17, 36, 43, 53, 158Mocatta, Miss. Elizabeth..............................................................................10, 55Moffatt............................................................................................................... 61Molloy

Captain John.......................................................................................72, 73, 75Georgina........................................................................................................ 73

Mona, Prof.......................................................................................................100Monkittee Creek.................................................................................................61Monselice, Italy...............................................................................................100Moore, J. H........................................................................................................64More, Daphne.......................................................................................17, 87, 100Moreton Bay......................................................................................................76Morgan, F. L....................................................................................................103Morse, Prof. Roger.........................................................................................8, 17Mount Victoria.................................................................................................142Mount York.....................................................................................................142Mowle, Mr. Stewart M...............................................................................59, 153Mt. Seymour....................................................................................................121Munich............................................................................................................133Murray River......................................................................................................25Museum of Sydney.............................................................................................35Musgrave farm.................................................................................................143Mutton suet........................................................................................................66

N

N. S. W......................................29, 51, 65, 81, 104, 142, 147, 153, 156, 157, 160Nancarrow, Richard.........................................................................................143National Library of Australia.....................................................................58, 150Naveau, Herman..............................................................................................110Neary, Henry....................................................................................101, 143, 157Neighbour & Sons.....................................................................................100, 110Neighbour, Mr. A.......................................................................................87, 126Nelson..............................................................................8, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 99

181

Nelson Examiner..........................................................................................91, 92Nelson Museum............................................................................................91, 94Nelson Provincial Museum...........................................................8, 91, 94, 95, 99Nepean.....................................................................................................146, 161Nepean Times..................................................................................................161New Holland................................................................................................82, 97New South Wales. . . .2, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 42, 44, 47, 50, 51, 57, 58, 61, 65, 75, 80, 81, 85, 87, 88, 89, 92, 100, 101, 104,

120, 121, 126, 139, 140, 142, 144, 147, 150, 153, 155, 156, 159, 160New South Wales Apiarists’ Association.............................................................9New York......................................................8, 119, 123, 125, 126, 128, 129, 130New Zealand..1, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 33, 41, 44, 59, 71, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 102,

103, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 116, 118, 120, 121, 122, 124, 129, 133, 134, 136, 138, 139, 147, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162

New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal.........................................................110New Zealand Company...........................................................................80, 81, 93New Zealand Farmer

Bee and Poultry Review........79, 80, 90, 102, 103, 109, 110, 112, 134, 160, 161New Zealand House...........................................................................................98New Zealand Journal.........................................80, 81, 88, 92, 94, 95, 97, 99, 160New Zealand Methodist..............................................................................77, 160newspapers

Bee..........................................20, 21, 32, 36, 50, 82, 83, 87, 90, 101, 140, 157Daily Telegraph...........................................................................................104Hobart Town Courier........................................................49, 56, 57, 61, 64, 65Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser..............................146Nelson Examiner......................................................................................91, 92Nepean Times..............................................................................................161Queenslander.......................................................................................110, 111Sydney Gazette................38, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 57, 161Sydney Morning Herald...........................................................52, 58, 113, 161The Australian. 34, 38, 43, 44, 53, 54, 61, 73, 92, 101, 110, 112, 113, 137, 140, 144, 148, 160, 162The Dominion...............................................................................................98The Mercury..........................................................................................64, 161The Mercury Supplement.......................................................................64, 161

Nicholson, Mr. Ian....................................................................85, 90, 95, 97, 157Nogueira-Neto............................................................................................39, 157Norman, Don............................................................................8, 30, 63, 121, 122North America....................................................................................82, 114, 115North Island, New Zealand.............................................................17, 76, 79, 113North Shore Beekeepers.....................................................................7, 10, 28, 55Northern Territory...............................................................................27, 148, 159

182

Norway............................................................................................................148Nosworthy, Captain John.............................................................................60, 62nuclei.......................................................................................................114, 149Nuggety...........................................................................................................101Nutt, Thomas................................................................................92, 96, 118, 121

O

Oatlands............................................................................................................59Oberon............................................................................................................. 143observatory hive................................................................................................84Oceanic....................................................................................................128, 136Oceanic Steam Ship Company..........................................................................136Oertel, Dr........................................................................................................115Old Country.....................................................................................111, 114, 148Oxley................................................................................................................. 76

P

Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company.............................................................126, 129Parawai................................................................................................85, 98, 113Parker, Mr. Col............................................................................................59, 68Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania................................................................72Parliament..........................................................................................................65Parr

Mr...................................................................8, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 149William.........................................................................................................29

Parramatta........................................38, 51, 52, 102, 104, 105, 107, 108, 157, 158Parramatta and District Historical Society............................................................52pavilion............................................................................................................. 99Peart, Mrs..........................................................................................................79Pender......................................................................................................138, 139

J. W............................................................................................................. 139Mr. W. S......................................................................................................139R. L.............................................................................................................139Robert.........................................................................................................139W. S.....................................................................................................138, 139William Stanley...........................................................................................139

Peninsular War...................................................................................................72Pennant Street...........................................................................................102, 105Penrith............................................................................................................. 146Perry, Mr. A.................................................................................................95, 99pert, see Peart....................................................................................................79Perth............................................................................................................66, 75Peru................................................................................................................... 39Peterson...........................................................................................................101

183

Petre, Hon. Mr. Henry William..........................................................................81Philadelphia.....................................................................................................100Phillip Street.........................................................................................35, 38, 153Phoenix.............................................................................................................. 52Phormium Tenax...............................................................................................81Plenty, Norm......................................................................................................11Pompallier, Dr. Jean Baptiste.............................................................................91Pompelier, see Pompallier.................................................................................91Port Essington..................................................................................................148Port Jackson..........................................................................................39, 41, 142Port Nicholson.............................................................................................95, 97Port Sorell....................................................................................................69, 70Portsmouth.............................................................................................52, 59, 78Portugal........................................................................................................39, 40Portuguese......................................................................................................... 34Provence............................................................................................................35

Q

Quarantine........................................................................................................ 116Queade, Charles.................................................................................................52queen......................23, 43, 101, 103, 104, 105, 120, 133, 135, 136, 137, 139, 149Queensland.........................9, 13, 14, 15, 27, 33, 75, 108, 110, 140, 147, 150, 154Queensland Beekeepers’ Association.............................................................9, 14Queensland Department of Primary Industries............................................27, 154Queenslander...........................................................................................110, 111Quinby.....................................................................................................116, 157

R

Race Course (Hyde Park).........................................................................144, 145Racecourse Road................................................................................................76Railway............................................................................................................ 146Railway Parade.................................................................................................102Ramm, Peter....................................................................................................104Ramsay, Charles.................................................................................................69Rangiora........................................................................................................ 7, 16ratel (honey badger)...........................................................................................22Rayment, Tarlton......14, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 33, 38, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 54, 57, 61,

100, 101, 117, 118, 119, 141, 142, 148, 157Reigate.............................................................................................................. 93Richmond....................................................................................................42, 58Rio de Janeiro..............................28, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 74, 116, 119, 120Ritchie............................................................................................................... 92Robbing...........................................................................................................133

184

Rochester........................................................................................................... 24Romagna..........................................................................................................139Roman...................................................................................................2, 91, 133Root..................................................................................100, 115, 133, 157, 158Roscana...........................................................................................................139Roslyn Castle.....................................................................................................92Ross.................................................................................................9, 64, 66, 154Rottnest Island............................................................................................75, 112Royal Geographical Society................................................................................63Royal Navy........................................................................................................ 93Russell, Hon. Thomas, C.M.G.....................................................................9, 113Ruttner...................................................................................28, 41, 72, 123, 158Rydalmere Agriculture Research Institute..........................................................105Ryde........................................................................................................ 146, 154

S

S. A................................................................................................................. 112saccharine........................................................................................................ 125Sailing ships.....................................................................................................116San Francisco....................................................................................129, 136, 138Sanctuary.............................................................................................71, 72, 112Sandwich Islands.............................................................................................127Santa Clara Valley...........................................................................................126Sao Paulo...........................................................................................................35Saxon, see Saxton........................................................................................94, 96Saxton

J. W............................................................................................................... 94Rev. Charles......................................................................................92, 94, 96

Scientific Review.............................................................................................151Scott, James.......................................................................................................64Scottish..........................................................................................10, 32, 59, 145Second Fleet..............................................................................................51, 149Secretary of State for the Colonies.....................................................................75Selwyn, Dr. George Augustus.......................................81, 85, 87, 88, 89, 91, 158Shallard....................................................................................................135, 137

Dorothy.......................................................................................................102Lorna............................................................................................................... 8Major...........................................................................................................137Major Adolphus..........................................................8, 25, 103, 135, 136, 137

Shallard-Hawkins, Mrs. Dorothy......................................................................102sheep..................................................................................32, 36, 38, 51, 74, 147Shipley.............................................................................................................. 48shippers, Italian...............................................................................................125ships

185

Ann............................................................................................................... 37Brilliant.........................................................................................................92Brougham......................................................................................................95Calista...........................................................................................................74Caroline......................................................................................................... 74Catherine Stewart Forbes.........................................................................59, 60City of New York...................................................119, 123, 126, 128, 129, 130City of Paris.................................................................................................129City of Sydney.............................................................................................129Clifford....................................................................................................94, 96Discovery.....................................................................................................115Endeavour............................................................................................129, 157England......................................................................................................... 61Fanny......................................................................................................42, 50Flora, S. S....................................................................................................110Governor Ready............................................................................................65Herald, H.M.S...............................................................................................90Isabella........................................................41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 50, 51, 140, 149James.................................................................................................76, 77, 78John.............................................................................................60, 63, 64, 65John Craig....................................................................................................142London.......................................................................................................... 94Mariposa, S. S.............................................................................................136Mary.............................................................................................................. 56Medway........................................................................................................65Moffatt.......................................................................................................... 61Oceanic................................................................................................128, 136Phoenix..........................................................................................................52Richmond......................................................................................................58Roslyn Castle................................................................................................92Shipley.......................................................................................................... 48Sorata..........................................................................................................134Strathfieldsay................................................................................................59The Sisters...............................................................................................38, 91Three Bees.....................................................................................................42Tomatin...................................................................................................85, 88Triton............................................................................................................ 79Warrior....................................................................................................72, 73Westminster.............................................................................................89, 90Whitby......................................................................................................9, 93William Pitt..........................................................................30, 31, 32, 34, 159

Sisters of Mercy.................................................................................................38skep..................................................................................16, 30, 45, 83, 117, 121Smith

186

Reg. C........................................................................................................... 55Thomas Arkell...............................................................................................55

Smithers, C. N....................................................................................................71snuff box............................................................................................................63Society for the Encouragement of Arts..............................................................98Society of Arts.............................................................................................43, 99Sorata.............................................................................................................. 134South America..........................................................................18, 39, 41, 82, 116South Australia.................................9, 13, 14, 25, 75, 93, 112, 113, 116, 147, 148South Australian Chamber of Manufactures.....................................................112South Island, New Zealand.............................................................87, 91, 93, 114Southern Hemisphere................................................................................120, 155Spanish.............................................................................................................. 40Spithead............................................................................................................. 60Springwood............................................................................................2, 7, 8, 53St Vincent County..............................................................................................62St. Marys....................................................................................................34, 156Stander Hive System........................................................................................108Statham

Edward Henry...............................................................................................52Edwin............................................................................................................52

Stawell............................................................................................................. 136Stevenson, Bruce................................................................................................16Stewarton..........................................................................................117, 118, 121Stirling, Captain James, R. N...................................................................60, 61, 75Stockman’s Hall of Fame.................................................................................150Stokes, Mrs.............................................................................................34, 37, 38Stranger, Mrs. Sophia......................................................................................142Strathallan.......................................................................................................... 61Strathfieldsay.....................................................................................................59Stubbs, Mr.......................................................................................................144Sullivan’s cove..................................................................................................78surgeons

Cunningham, P......................................................................................37, 140Davis, Thos...................................................................................................65Imlay, Alexander...........................................................................................92Imlay, George................................................................................................92King, Gilbert.................................................................................................65McTernan, Pat...............................................................................................60Wilson, Dr. T. B.

R.N............................................................................................................. 8Wilson, Dr. T. B. R.N. 13, 14, 30, 51, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 75,121, 122Wilson, George.................................................................8, 30, 59, 63, 64, 122

187

Surrey................................................................................................................ 93Sussex Farm......................................................................................141, 142, 143Swan River....................................................................57, 60, 61, 65, 74, 75, 120Swansea............................................................................................................. 70Sweden............................................................................................................148Switzerland................................................................................................87, 126Sydney....7, 8, 9, 14, 16, 17, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50,

51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 71, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 98, 102, 103, 106, 109,

112, 113, 115, 121, 128, 129, 130, 136, 143, 144, 145, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 161, 162

Sydney Cove................................................................................................35, 38Sydney Gazette...............14, 38, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 57, 161Sydney Morning Herald................................................................52, 58, 113, 161

T

T(op) hole....................................................................................................83, 84Table Bay.......................................................................................................... 78Tamar River......................................................................................................70Tarraleah.....................................................................................................71, 72Tasman Sea.....................................................................................................121Tasmania7, 8, 13, 14, 22, 30, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 63, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 75,76, 102, 109, 150, 154, 155, 156, 159

North West.....................................................................................................69Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association.................................10, 59, 68, 70, 117, 121Taylor, Rev. Richard......................................................................79, 80, 89, 158tea chest............................................................................................................. 69Teneriffe......................................................................................................41, 52Texas............................................................................................................... 136The Australasian Bee Manual..............................................................................11The Australasian Beekeeper...............................................11, 15, 17, 41, 116, 157The Australian... . .34, 38, 43, 44, 53, 54, 61, 73, 92, 101, 110, 112, 113, 137, 140, 144, 148, 160, 162The New Zealand Methodist........................................................................77, 160The Sisters...................................................................................................38, 91Thirsk................................................................................................................ 77Three Bees......................................................................................................... 42Thuringia.........................................................................................................130Tomatin.......................................................................................................85, 88transport...........................42, 58, 60, 62, 65, 75, 81, 105, 117, 123, 143, 146, 159Trifolium repens................................................................................................88Trigona.............................................................................18, 20, 52, 53, 148, 151

carbonaria......................................................................................53, 148, 151T. essingtoni................................................................................................148

188

Triton................................................................................................................ 79Turon............................................................................................................... 101Twofold Bay......................................................................................................92

U

U.S.A.......................................................................................................136, 149United Kingdom..............................................................................................148United States....................................................................................................133University of Western Sydney.............................................................................7Usher of the Black Rod.......................................................................................59

V

Valley Heights....................................................................................................11Van Diemen’s Land..............13, 42, 56, 57, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 78, 92, 121Vasse River........................................................................................................73Ventura County................................................................................................113Victoria...7, 13, 14, 18, 24, 34, 56, 71, 75, 101, 105, 110, 136, 142, 147, 148, 152, 156Victoria Road...................................................................................................105Victoria Settlement..........................................................................................148Victorian Apiarists’ Association...........................................................34, 101, 112Victorian Bee Journal............................................................................13, 14, 160Victorian Department of Agriculture......................................................18, 34, 158Virginia............................................................................................................115

W

W. A............................................................................................................ 61, 72Wagner, Mr.....................................................................................................100wagons, covered...............................................................................115, 143, 146Waikato Historical Society................................................................................77Wakefield...............................................................................92, 93, 94, 121, 158

Captain Arthur...................................................................................92, 93, 94Colonel William................................................................................92, 93, 94Edward Gibbon.............................................................................................93Edward Jerningham.......................................................................................93

Wales...................................15, 29, 51, 65, 81, 104, 142, 147, 153, 156, 157, 160Wallace, Captain John.................................................................................29, 37Wallace, see Wallis................................................................42, 43, 51, 118, 140Wallis, Captain John........................21, 29, 41, 42, 44, 46, 47, 50, 53, 54, 62, 118Wannan, Bill..............................................................................................34, 159Warrior........................................................................................................72, 73Wasps.............................................................................................................. 141water... . .11, 20, 21, 30, 35, 75, 83, 84, 90, 99, 116, 117, 120, 122, 124, 125, 127,

129,

189

130, 132, 135Waterhouse, Rev. John......................................................................................79Waterloo............................................................................................................ 72Wattle Flat.......................................................................................................101wax...........................21, 25, 27, 33, 43, 52, 66, 68, 71, 80, 81, 140, 141, 146, 148Weatherboard, see Wentworth falls...................................................................146Weatherhead, Mr. Trevor..................................13, 14, 15, 76, 110, 111, 126, 150Wellington.............................................16, 17, 79, 91, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 158Welwyn...........................................................................................................132Wentworth....................................................................................47, 51, 141, 147

D’Arcy..........................................................................................................51William Charles.....................................................................................51, 141

Wentworth Falls...............................................................................................147Wentworths........................................................................................................52Wesley Historical Society..................................................................................78West............................................................................................................ 13, 67West Devon.......................................................................................................69West Indies......................................................................................................133West Maitland..................................................................................................139Western Australia......................................13, 44, 60, 61, 66, 72, 73, 75, 112, 138Western Australian Department of Agriculture..................................................73Western Line...................................................................................................146Western Stock and Station Journal.....................................................................54Westminster.................................................................................................89, 90Whishaw, Mr. Francis........................................................................................98Whitby...........................................................................................................9, 93White

Captain Robert..............................................................................................52Rev. Stephen...............................................................................................118

White Star liner...............................................................................................128Whitton............................................................................................................ 147Wiggins

Elisha............................................................................................................53Wild flowers......................................................................................................69William Pitt..............................................................................30, 31, 32, 34, 159Willis, see Wallis...............................................................................................42Wills, Mrs....................................................................................................95, 99Wilson

Don......................................................................................................121, 122Dr. David.....................................................................................................121Dr. T. B. R.N.. .8, 13, 14, 30, 51, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 75, 121, 122Edward........................................................................................................ 110George..............................................................................8, 30, 59, 63, 64, 122

190

Wm............................................................................................................... 64Wilson, Dr. T. B., R.N.......................................................................................29wire................................................30, 73, 116, 117, 118, 122, 123, 129, 132, 133Wisconsin........................................................................................................100Wodenese........................................................................................................139Woodbury, Mr. T. W....................................................87, 99, 100, 111, 126, 149Woon

Mother........................................................................................................... 79Rev. William.................................................................................................79

Wren, Christopher............................................................................................118Wyagdon......................................................................................................... 143

Y

Yarwood, A. T...............................................................................34, 36, 39, 159Yorkshire...................................................................................................77, 122

Z

Zeus.................................................................................................................. 50zinc

cylinders........................................................................................................84perforated.....................................................................................83, 86, 96, 99

191

Historical Supplement

Two Blue Mountains Pioneer Beekeepers

MAJOR ADOLPHUS SHALLARD, GLENBROOK NSW, 1887

Major Adolphus Shallard with sons Ken & Bruce

Late 19th Century Blue Mountains beekeepers played an important role in the establishment of the honey industry in the then colony of New South Wales and they continued their pioneering efforts into the 20th Century. MajorAdolphus Shallard, who worked his large apiary at Glenbrook, NSW, from 1887, was one of them. A man worthy of remembrance. A man whose story has until now, remained untold. In Rails, Roads and Bridges, History of Lapstone - Glenbrook, by Nell Aston, 1988 “Mr. Major Shallard of Blue Mountain Bee Farms .. lived in Brooklands Rd. (Major was his given name and not a military title.) He was president of the bee-keepers Association and had a honey depot at Leichhardt as well as his bee-farm at Glenbrook. His letterhead also

stated that he had 'The Largest Bee-farming Concern in Australia', with 850 hives.” (p.38)

Major Shallard was born in 1863, married in 1882 at the age of 19. His mother was Jane Hatherley from New York, U.S.A. Aston adds “He was educated at the Sydney Grammar School and went into his father's business; later took up bee culture.”

He had five children, Joe, Phil, Dorothy, and Doctors Ken and Bruce. The births of the last two children were separated from the others by a span of fifteen years. His son Ken was a registered beekeeper. In the Australasian Beekeeper (ABK) of May 1940 he wrote “Beekeeping must be hereditary, as all the Shallards are beekeepers. Even my youngest son, Dr. Bruce (now in Boston, U.S.A) worked on the bee farms at Bathurst during his vacations when at the University. My wife too was a successful beekeeper, and got wonderful results.” (p.342) His wife died in 1938 after 56 years of marriage.

Son Phil Adolphus, also an apiarist, became an Apiary Inspector, living at Randwick. In the ABK of February 1929, (pp.218-219) there is a photograph of Phil, as a delegate attending the 16th annual meeting and conference of the New South Wales Apiarists’ Association for 1929. A tall, robust man with the look of integrity, it gives a glimpse of what his father may have looked like. Also attending the conference was A. J. Brown, a self proclaimed contemporary of Major Shallard. The ABK of January 1941 finds Phil reporting on the honey prospects for the Southern District, including areas such as Young, Boorowa, Dalton, Gunning, Yass, Harden, Murrumbidgee, Queanbeyan, ACT, Goulburn and Binalong-Yass.

I did not think that Nell Aston was correct in supplying his given name as Major. I thought the origin of his cognomen `Major', was made clear by the following obituary detail supplied by his daughter “As a young man he was in the Mounted Rifles.”, supported by his name being supplied as “Mr. Adolphus Shallard”. I assumed it was in military service that he gained the rank of Major and carried this title into civilian life. He was often referred to as “the Major” in the press, including his obituary. I recently contacted a daughter-in-law, Lorna, wife of the late Dr. Ken Shallard, and she assured me that his christian name was in fact, Major.

The ‘Glenbrook News’ section of the Nepean Times reported on 18 July 1896 that “The Blue Mountain Bee Farm is no more, Mr. Shallard having removed the whole of his hives to the Richmond River, where he has established a new farm.” This report does not match Shallard's own statement that he kept a bee farm on the Blue Mountains for 30 years.

His obituary, which appeared in the Nepean Times of 3 June 1943, opens with “Mr Adolphus Shallard, well known in Sydney, on the Blue Mountains, and Northern Rivers”. Having established an apiary in 1887, and supposedly removing in 1896, a stay of nine years, is not consistent with him still being well known in 1943. In the February 1941 issue of the ABK he writes “The best crops I ever had I got at Glenbrook on the Blue Mountains. There was no bloom that I could find, and yet the honey poured in, I had 250 hives there for thirty years, and did well.” (p.238) He probably placed an apiary manager at Glenbrook after he expanded his interests to the Northern Rivers of NSW, probably between the years 1913 and 1917, or even as early as 1893.

The photograph above is believed to have been taken around 1885. It shows the split level honey shed, figures spread throughout the foreground and background, and a group of people adjacent the back door of the shed. Note the child on someone’s knee immediately in front of the door; the beekeeper smoking a hive centre bottom; two hives are to his right. The uncropped photograph, taken from a considerable distance, shows more figures and

hives. The apiary is obviously at an early stage of development with the bush showing the scars of recent clearing.

In the Australasian Beekeeper of January, 1938 (p.214) “I have been on the North Coast for the past 45 years.” His home farm was then at Woodburn where he kept 250 hives for over 25 years.

Shallard never suffered false modesty. His 1890's advertisement in The Australian Agriculturist boasts “I have built up the largest bee concern in Australia, and I did not do it by keeping poor stock.” Shallard later ran, with the help of his sons, close on three thousand hives.

Severely damaging his left hand, he showed that he was an optimist, his letter in the Australasian Beekeeper of December, 1938 “In 1916 I was just off to the War when I fell on a circular saw. I only cut the fingers and thumb off, and I had the palm, which has been extremely useful.” (p.154)

At the age of seventy seven, he wrote in the August 1940 issue of the Australasian Beekeeper, “I am, of course, now under a big handicap inasmuch as I can do no actual work.” His health was failing by this stage and a nurse accompanied him on his travels. Describing himself before ill health set in, as “Six feet two high, and a boxer, swimmer, rower, etc.” (Australasian Beekeeper Oct 1940 p.118). I recently met a grandson, Phil, and great grandson Mark. Like Adolphus, they were both well over six feet tall. Lorna Shallard informed me recently that Adolphus won a medal for bravery; a rescue at Evans Head.

The obituary supplied by his daughter, Mrs. Dorothy Shallard-Hawkins, gives some interesting details. It opens “Adolphus Shallard .. died in the Private Hospital at Kyogle on 8th May. He was 80 years of age, and until two days before his death he actively managed his apiary business, driving by car to his many apiaries hundreds of miles apart.” His funeral took place on May 10, 1943 at Rookwood Cemetery.

The obituary continued: “'Major' Shallard was born in Melbourne; he was an only child, his father, J. T. Shallard, of Gibb, Shallard & Co.,” It was at the printing firm, where many fine publications were printed, that overseas books on beekeeping were reproduced, and thus Adolphus gained his first awareness of the wonders of the bee hive.

In the Nepean Times of 31 July 1941, a letter by Shallard to the Editor points out the lack of adequate police protection for Glenbrook. Firewood getters had “cleaned up all the timber up to Penrith, and is now starting in the Mountains.” He supplies some colourful details in the early part of his outcry “In the long ago I first saw Glenbrook from the contractor's train. It was known then as 'The Tanks.' The Penrith-Bathurst line had at that time only been built as far as 'The Tanks'. That must be over 70 years ago.” This would make his estimated date of earlier than 1871.

His recollection was not far out as the railway had already conquered the Blue Mountains slopes up the Little Zig Zag at Lapstone and by 1867 had reached Weatherboard (Wentworth Falls). The availability of the railway to the Blue Mountains was a significant catalyst in the establishment of large apiaries in the lower Mountains, both at Glenbrook and Springwood.

Shallard's recollections continued “I had passed through it later on in life on my many trips and camping parties to the Blue Mountains, but I had no intimate knowledge of it until I purchased the Blue Mountain Bee Farm for Mr. W. Garrett in 1887. I moved my own apiary up there, and had 250 hives. At that time there were only six houses in Glenbrook.” The newspaper article may have misprinted “for Mr. W. Garrett” when it possibly should have read “from Mr. W. Garrett”. I have seen Shallard's advertisements in The Australian Agriculturist for 1894 where he was obviously the proprietor of Blue Mountain Bee Farms. Garrett was another early beekeeper, whose family lived a short walk away from the Shallards at Glenbrook.

The illustration of the bee farm was supplied by John Low, Local Studies Librarian at Springwood Library, showing the establishment of Shallard's bee farm at what must have been an early stage. The bush appears to have been recently cleared and the timber building with its split level design is most likely the honey shed. Nucleus (starter) hives are evident as are many people. The photograph was taken from some distance, and each study of the print by magnifying glass reveals yet more figures. One man is working a hive, a baby is astride someone's lap, and dark robed forms dot the raw landscape.

Major Adolphus Shallard was President of the Honey Producers Association of NSW, a body which he created to pack and market the honey crop of its members. He was an outspoken and colourful character within the industry,

committed to its success and promotion. He vigorously fought the establishment of a centralised Honey Marketing Board, believing the cost overheads took too large a share of a beekeeper's return on his crop.

His letter to the Australasian Beekeeper in February 1941, covering his favourite topic of honey marketing, gives another insight into his past “What is the use of producing honey if you cannot sell it? I met this problem with my first big crop of honey of forty-four tons about 1888.” (p.236). Shallard was about to become an entrepreneur. “Honey was selling by auction at Ellis' in Railway Square for 7/6 per tin. 'That was no good to Gundy,' and I had to start a bottling business right away. I had a light wagon built (cost me £60) of ash, cedar and hickory, to carry a ton. I had big name boards on the sides and a spanking pair of horses, and trade just boomed. I built, the following year, a bottling place which cost me a thousand 'quid'.”. He ran his bottling and sales depot for twelve years, from 1888 to 1900. His reference to 'Gundy' was a use of the late 18th Century term of 'gundy-guts' or 'greediguts', his meaning being that so much honey was too much for him to eat.

In a letter to the Australasian Beekeeper of July 1940, Shallard wrote of himself “I have taught half Australia beekeeping. This is no idle statement. Many of the beekeepers who are doing well to-day have worked for me, and others have profited by my writings. I have been writing on bee matters since 1882 and will be until I die.” (p.119) He was as good as his word.

Shallard was a noted beekeeper throughout New South Wales for more than fifty six years. His obituary supplies “.. he took up bee culture and wrote columns on that subject for the 'Sydney Morning Herald,' 'Sydney Mail,' and many American bee journals in the U.S.A.” I have also seen articles by him in The New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Journal of the 1880s, The Australian Agriculturist of the 1890s and numerous letters and reports in The Australasian Beekeeper into the 1940s. There must be many other journals that carried his contributions. He was a prolific correspondent and was often the initiator of debate over beekeeping practises and opinions. One respondent accused others taking the bait as suffering from 'Shallarditis'.

He was an avid letter writer. Some of his targets included the Minister for Lands, Chairman of the (wartime) Liquid Fuel Control Board, Under Secretary and Minister for Commerce, Minister for Agriculture, Chief

Secretary, the Premier, the Prime Minister and Princess Marina the Duchess of Kent. In line with his prodigious letter writing ability, the following should not come as a surprise “Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England, has corresponded with Major Shallard and presented him with an autographed copy of his last book.”

Without any sign of vindictiveness or emotion, Shallard always called it as he saw it. In disagreeing with his friend George's point of view “That this gentleman suffers from hallucinations is obvious.” (Australasian Beekeeper July 1940, p.28) In a subsequent letter he writes of George “He cannot see (being apparently mentally blind).”

Decrying the waste and mis-management of the Egg Board and its management he writes “Mr ___, who is a Government nominee of the Egg Board, and I suppose gets £2/2/- a sitting (which is more than the fowls get for sitting)” (Australasian Beekeeper, Aug 1940, p.59). Criticising the Queensland Honey Board “They must be a pretty dead lot up there ... Do not tell me they are 'alive' because facts prove that if they are not actually dead, they are in a state of suspended animation.” (ABK Nov. 1940, p.127)

The following words were written at the time of the Second World War. Accused by a correspondent friend as being pugnacious, his reply reveals a lot of himself, then at the age of seventy seven “I am no respecter of persons, and I say what I think, not to hurt anyone's feelings or to do anyone an injury, or from any feeling of spitefulness. I think that any man who nourishes an ill-feeling against another is a fool. The .. idea of nourishing hatred is foolish. Hate gets no one anywhere. Hate hurts the hater. It does not injure the hated. I can have a row with anyone, but I never nourish enmity. If I see anything which I think is detrimental to my fellow beekeepers, I do my best to alter it. .. I am not a pugnacious person at all. I am probably the mildest individual alive, or one of them, but if attacked I will always fight. Can't help it, I have to do it.” (Australasian Beekeeper Oct 1940 pp.118-119)

He was well known as a champion for others' problems. If some lobbying was required on another's behalf, Shallard's response was likely to take passage on a steamship from the north coast down to Sydney to put the case before the relevant body.

His headquarters in the year of 1941 was at Gevillia near the Queensland border where he had 350 hives. (Australasian Beekeeper Feb 1941, p.238.)

Shallard often reminisced in his later years. The Major wrote to the Australasian Beekeeper to praise Bill Goodacre, an apiary officer within the New South Wales Department of Agriculture: “ ‘Hats off’ to Bill, who is not only a first-class beekeeper, who is still an enthusiast; but also a thoroughly good fellow and as ‘straight’ as a gunbarrel.” In a visit to the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Shallard wrote of Goodacre “we discussed every phase of the bee problem from John Hunter to the present”. This may be a reference to the John Hunter, an early entomologist, as mentioned by Albert Gale (1912) in conjunction with Dr. Bevan, another 19th Century beekeeping identity.

The craft of beekeeping can become a passion, as I well know, a zeal that remains with one for life. In the Australasian Beekeeper of November 1937, Shallard, puts it well “Bill, like myself, got a bad attack of Bee fever at an early age, and also like myself, he has never got the germs out of his system.” (p.161). In honouring his friend, he revealed some of his past and also of William Abram, a beekeeper and queen bee breeder at Parramatta in the 1880s and later at Beecroft from the 1890s, endowing him the title of “The father of beekeeping in Australia”.

“We both knew the father of beekeeping in Australia; (the late W. Abram), who (as far as I know) introduced the Italian bee. When I first saw Mr. Abram, he had about a dozen hives of Italian bees, which he had brought from Germany in Berlepsch hives, just out of Parramatta. At the time I belonged to the old printing firm of Gibb Shallard & Co., and I contracted lead poisoning probably from the type. The doctor said .. I must get away from the business and out into the open air; unless I wanted to take the lead in a funeral procession. So, for the next few years, my job was to take my dad for a drive every afternoon, and incidentally look after my bees as an amateur. One of our favourite drives was along the road past Mr. Abram's, and one day I went in to see him. At the time I first knew him, he had not long come from Germany. he had been apprenticed to (I think he said) Dzierzon, and he knew his job thoroughly.”

A. J. Brown wrote to the Australasian Beekeeper, his letter dated November 1940 was published in the January 1941 issue. He provided a picture of his

Leaford Apiary at Parkville NSW, captioned as ‘My apiary 44 years ago’. That would make the date of the photograph 1896. Brown writes “As time goes on, I can claim, with Major Shallard, to be of the oldest school of queen breeders in N.S.W.” Like Shallard, he also had the bee disease “Although well past the allotted span I still dabble with the pets.” This letter was written on Brown’s 80th birthday who took up beekeeping as a teenage schoolboy in 1875.

The picture of Brown’s apiary again appeared in the June 1943 Australasian Beekeeper (p.269) captioned “Photo taken in 1896”. It was accompanied by a letter from him regretting the death of Major Shallard. Mr. Brown was then 83 years old. He writes “The writer's acquaintance with him .. dates back a long way .. to a time when such events as the introduction of the first bar framed hive to Australia or the far-famed leather queens imported by Pender Bros. were subjects of comment.” The term ‘leather’ is a reference to the ‘Italian’ or ‘Ligurian’ yellow coloured bee as distinct from the ‘English’ or ‘German’ black bee, now described as the dark European bee.

Brown started beekeeping around 1876. Brown wrote “I commenced keeping bees about 20 years (ago) .. In fact, as a schoolboy in Scone I had a dozen boxes (not hives) of bees and was the first, locally, to adopt the 8-frame Langstroth hive.” (p.269)

A bushfire that raged through Glenbrook in the early 1900s burnt down his house and probably destroyed some of the apiary. This may have been the same fire that did considerable damage to the Springwood apiary of Elisha Wiggins, who set up his bee farm and orchard around the year 1883.

ELISHA & SARA JANE WIGGINS, SPRINGWOOD NSW, 1883

The 1880's saw the substantial beginnings of a honey industry, particularly in the Blue Mountains. Some beekeeping archaeology still exists as evidence of this in the Springwood area. I am not aware of other such sites frozen in time, and but for the absence of hives on their stands, the scene is as it would have been over 100 years ago.

The Wiggins family, headed by Elisha, had a modern bee farm at the end of Bee Farm Road, Springwood. The operation was obviously the source of the name of the road which leads to the end of the ridge where still abides the original Wiggins home. The property remains today, almost in its guise of the 1880's. With a verandah on two sides, the weatherboard cottage of one main room and two smaller bedrooms is covered with a rusty corrugated iron roof. The white ants were winning the day on the cottage timbers until they were eradicated, as the dry and crumbling structure bears witness. The detached laundry with its 2 metre high sandstone rear wall and its floor of stone flagging now serves as a horse stable.

From a Christmas long past, a large metre round branch of native mistletoe hangs from the exposed rafters of the cottage’s main room. Pathways, bordered by sandstone flags, provided clear access for the working of each hive. The photograph shows modern Langstroth style hives set out on terraces, each mounted upon a solid stone stand. Elisha and spouse, pose proudly in the foreground. The alternating lines of paths and hive terraces layer their way down the side of the ridge, at the foot of the homestead. No evidence remains of the honey extracting equipment, boiler or honey tanks.

Fred Wiggins, grandson of Elisha, my guide around the cottage, well remembers the geared honey extractor. My thanks go to Mrs. Bell, the current property owner, for permission to inspect the apiary remains and cottage.

At left, a fragment of the terrace, showing a stone hive stand

centre and another above and to the left.

Of the parallel terraces I counted at least five, the surviving sections each about 50 metres long by 2 metres (6 feet 6 inches) wide. Level pathways separating each terrace are 1.5 metres (5 feet) wide and were cut from the raw eucalyptus studded forest slopes. Each hive had a substantial hivestand shaped from the local stone. Some stone bases remain seated in their original positions, each about 560mm x 480mm 180mm (22 inches x 19 inches x 7 inches) and an average 4.4 metres (14 feet 6 inches) apart. This equals the recommended separation of hives for the period. Stairs cut from the raw rock lead down from the lowest terrace to the forest floor. Elisha's son, James Joseph Wiggins, was a stonemason and the excellence of the craftsmanship and its durability is still apparent in the extensive stonework.

Elisha was a professional gardener who came to Australia to work for Mrs. Onslow (of the Macarthurs) at Camden where he stayed for around two years. He was married to Sara Jane (Jones) at Fisk Memorial Church, Great Malvern, England. Elisha and Jane had five children, William Thomas, Frances May, Violet, Jack and James Joseph. After leaving the employ of the Macarthur Onslow family, Elisha lived in the vicinity of what is now Springwood Cemetery before relocating to the other side of the railway line. The bee farm also supported grapes, oranges and apples. Elisha created living sculptures out of fruit trees, sometimes in the form of a vase or a fan. Family history related by Jack Proctor, another descendant, has it that honey was exported to England around 1883.

A View of the Wiggins Family Home, 1995

Descendants of Elisha live close by. Fred, son of James Joseph Wiggins, born in 1912, lives two houses up from the old family home. He expressed surprise that the tinder dry cottage, now a shell, had survived the many bushfires that have raged throughout the area over the years.

A bushfire burnt through South Springwood, reputedly around 1902 where the smoke and heat killed many of the bees. I hope to see hives again placed upon those original stone footings, bees working the local nectar and pollen supplies. I would like to be the beekeeper who can bring alive the long dormant apiary tradition of this part of the Blue Mountains.

Index

A

Abram................................................................................................................. 7William........................................................................................................... 7

Agriculturist.................................................................................................3, 4, 5apiary.................................................................................1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10Aston, Nell......................................................................................................1, 2Australasian Beekeeper........................................................................1, 3, 5, 6, 7Australia............................................................................................1, 3, 5, 7, 10Australian Agriculturist................................................................................3, 4, 5Australian Agriculturist, The........................................................................3, 4, 5

B

Bathurst............................................................................................................... 1bee

black............................................................................................................... 7Bee Farm Road....................................................................................................8Beecroft............................................................................................................... 7Bell, Mrs. B.........................................................................................................9Berlepsch............................................................................................................. 7Bevan, Dr. Edward...............................................................................................7Blue Mountains..................................................................................1, 2, 4, 8, 10Blue Mountains Bee Farm...............................................................................1, 4Boston................................................................................................................. 1Brooklands Rd.....................................................................................................1Brown, A. J..................................................................................................2, 7, 8

C

Camden............................................................................................................. 10case..................................................................................................................... 6

D

Dzierzon.............................................................................................................. 7

E

Egg Board........................................................................................................... 6England......................................................................................................... 6, 10English................................................................................................................ 7Evans Head......................................................................................................... 4

F

frame................................................................................................................... 8

G

Gale, Albert......................................................................................................... 7Garrett

Mr. W.............................................................................................................4German............................................................................................................... 7Germany.............................................................................................................. 7Gevillia............................................................................................................... 6Gibb, Shallard & Co............................................................................................4Glenbrook................................................................................................1, 2, 4, 8Goodacre, Bill.....................................................................................................6

H

Hawkesbury Agricultural College........................................................................6

hive..................................................................................................3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9Home................................................................................................................. 10honey.........................................................................................1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10Honey Producers Association of N.S.W...............................................................5Hunter, John........................................................................................................ 6

J

Jones, see Wiggins, Sara Jane..............................................................................10journals

Australasian Beekeeper....................................................................1, 3, 5, 6, 7Australian Agriculturist...........................................................................3, 4, 5The New Zealand Farmer

Bee and Poultry Review...............................................................................5

K

Kyogle................................................................................................................. 4

L

Langstroth.......................................................................................................8, 9Lapstone.......................................................................................................... 1, 4Leaford Apiary....................................................................................................7Leichhardt...........................................................................................................1Ligurian............................................................................................................... 7Liquid Fuel Control Board...................................................................................5Low, John........................................................................................................ 4, 9

M

Macarthur Onslow.............................................................................................10Melbourne........................................................................................................... 4Mounted Rifles....................................................................................................2

N

N. S. W........................................................................................................2, 5, 6Nepean............................................................................................................2, 4Nepean Times..................................................................................................2, 4New South Wales.....................................................................................1, 2, 5, 7New South Wales Apiarists’ Association.............................................................2New Zealand.......................................................................................................5New Zealand Farmer

Bee and Poultry Review...................................................................................5newspapers

Nepean Times.............................................................................................2, 4Sydney Mail....................................................................................................5Sydney Morning Herald...................................................................................5

The Australian.........................................................................................3, 4, 5Northern Rivers....................................................................................................2

O

Onslow, Mrs......................................................................................................10

P

Parkville.............................................................................................................. 7Parramatta............................................................................................................ 7Proctor, Jack......................................................................................................10

Q

queen................................................................................................................... 7Queensland..........................................................................................................6Queensland Honey Board....................................................................................6

R

Railway Square...................................................................................................5Richmond............................................................................................................2

S

Second World War..............................................................................................6Shallard...........................................................................................................4, 7

Bruce............................................................................................................... 1Dorothy.......................................................................................................1, 4J. T.................................................................................................................. 4Joe................................................................................................................... 1Ken................................................................................................................. 1Lorna...........................................................................................................2, 4Major Adolphus...........................................................................1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7Phil (grandson)................................................................................................3Phil (son)......................................................................................................... 1Phil Adolphus..................................................................................................2

Shallard-Hawkins, Mrs. Dorothy......................................................................1, 4ships

James............................................................................................................10Springwood................................................................................................4, 8, 10Sydney.....................................................................................................1, 2, 5, 6Sydney Mail........................................................................................................ 5Sydney Morning Herald.......................................................................................5

T

Tanks, The........................................................................................................... 4The Australasian Beekeeper..................................................................................5

The Australian.............................................................................................3, 4, 5

U

U.S.A.............................................................................................................. 1, 5

W

Wales.......................................................................................................... 2, 5, 6Weatherboard, see Wentworth falls.......................................................................4Wentworth........................................................................................................... 4Wentworth Falls..................................................................................................4Wiggins

Elisha.............................................................................................................. 8Fred................................................................................................................. 9Sara Jane........................................................................................................ 10

Z

Zig Zag, Little......................................................................................................4

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The Immigrant Bees, 1788 to 1898, a cyclopaedia on the introduction of european honey bees into...

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