The Immigrant Bees

1788 to 1898:
Volume II

An Update on the Introduction of European

Honeybees into Australia and New Zealand

Peter Barrett
1
Published June 1999
Published by the Author. This book is copyright. Apart from fair
dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or
review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be
reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries
regarding any form of reproduction beyond the above permissions,
should be directed to the author:
Peter Barrett, “BanjoBee Books”. www.beebooks.com.au
1 Banjo Place, Springwood 2777, N.S.W., Australia
Phone 02 47 515 721 or Overseas +61 2 47 515 721
Also by the author:
The Immigrant Bees 1788 to 1898 (Volume I)
William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand, 1842-1847
An Australian Beekeeping Bibliography (1 st & 2nd editions)

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Barrett, Peter, 1951-.
The Immigrant Bees, 1788 to 1898, Volume II: An update on the
introduction of European honeybees into Australia and New Zealand.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
ISBN 0 9586146 0 1
1. Bees - Australia. 2 Bees - New Zealand. 3. Bee culture - New
Zealand - History. I. Title.

Typeset in 11 point Times New Roman.

Spelling and punctuation of original material retained throughout.

Copy number of 100.

2
 Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................7
PRE-PUBLICATION SUBSCRIBERS...............................................................9
FOREWORD............................................................................................ 10
“A HUNDRED WORDS” ON PETER BARRETT.............................................12
PART I - THE NATIVE BEES..................................................................14
SYDNEY, 1803 & 1805..........................................................................14
QUEENSLAND, C1861.............................................................................15
BLUE MOUNTAINS, N.S.W., C1861........................................................16
UPPER GREGORY RIVER, QLD. N.T. BORDER, 1861................................17
APIS AENIGMATICA, 1916 & 1925..........................................................18
PART II - THE DARK EUROPEAN HONEYBEE................................21
NEW SOUTH WALES..............................................................................21
William Parr, 1822...............................................................................21
The Sydney Gazette, 1823....................................................................21
The Phoenix 1824.................................................................................22
Alexander & David Berry, 1837, 1849................................................23
Commissary Miller, c1830.........................................................................24
Alexander Berry, October 1837..................................................................25
William Bowman, Richmond, 1837...........................................................29
Norfolk Island, Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme & Captain Maconochie,
1840.......................................................................................................30
Elizabeth Macarthur, Gregory Blaxland, 1842...................................31
Hannibal Macarthur, 1842...................................................................32
John Carne Bidwill, 1842.....................................................................33
Major Archibald Clunes Innes, Port Macquarie, 1843.......................34
Maitland, 1845......................................................................................38
Thomas Alison Scott, Brisbane Water, 1845........................................41
An English Beemaster, Sydney, 1847...................................................48
James Kidd, Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 1847......................................48
Albert Gale, c1851................................................................................51
Rev. John Ayling, 1825-1897, An Early Leader of N.S.W. Beekeepers
...............................................................................................................52
Obituary, Ebenzeer, N.S.W., 1897.............................................................52
Beginnings..................................................................................................53
Lyndoch, S.A., 1853...................................................................................53
Farmer & Headmaster in Goulburn, 1862..................................................54
Presbyterian Minister & Beekeeper, Port Macquarie, 1871.......................55
Ministry at Scone, 1873 to 1885.................................................................57
Minister & Beekeeper, Ebenezer, 1885 to 1897.........................................58
Leadership in N.S.W. Beekeeping..............................................................58

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 Conclusion..................................................................................................60
TASMANIA............................................................................................. 61
William Kermode, April 1821..............................................................61
Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson R. N., 1831.........................................62
Alexander Macleay, Sydney, 1832.............................................................63
Revd. Steele, Cook’s River, 1843...............................................................63
Fanny Macleay, 1832..................................................................................64
The ship John, 1831....................................................................................64
Irrefutable Corroboration, 1834..................................................................65
Superintendent Davidson............................................................................66
Edward Markham, 1834..............................................................................67
James Erskine Calder, c1870......................................................................68
Rev. R. R. Davies, 1832.........................................................................68
Mr Clayton, O’Brien’s Bridge, 1835...................................................68
Port Arthur, 1836 - Lempriere, Booth, Simpson & Carte......................70
A Correspondent, 1836..........................................................................71
Francis Cotton & Dr. Ross, c1840.........................................................72
Dr Joseph Milligan, Flinder’s Island, 1845........................................72
Hugh Munro Hull, 1864.......................................................................73
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.............................................................................74
Captain John Molloy, 1830..................................................................74
William Hardey, c1830.........................................................................75
Mary Bussell, 1834...............................................................................75
King George’s Sound, c1835................................................................77
Lieutenant Helpman R.N., 1841...........................................................78
Mr Welch, Fremantle, 1848.................................................................80
Unknown, 1866.....................................................................................80
SOUTH AUSTRALIA................................................................................81
Nutt hives, Adelaide, 1845-1846..........................................................82
Bees from Launceston, V.D.L., 1846....................................................82
VICTORIA..............................................................................................83
Edward Henty & Henry Camfield, 1834..............................................83
QUEENSLAND........................................................................................83
South Brisbane, 1854............................................................................83
c1861.....................................................................................................84
John Campbell, Laidley Creek, c1866.................................................84
NORTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND............................................................87
William Brown, Brown’s Island, Auckland, 1840..................................87
St. Matthew’s Windsor, N.S.W., & Fr. Petitjean, Bay of Islands, New
Zealand, July 1842...............................................................................87
Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842 to 1847...........................................91
SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND.............................................................94
Mrs. Mary Ann Allom, April 1842........................................................94
Lady Barker, 1866................................................................................95

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 Chatham Islands, October, 1890..........................................................96
PART III - THE ITALIAN OR LIGURIAN, ‘APIS LIGUSTICA’........96
NEW SOUTH WALES..............................................................................96
Angus Mackay, S. MacDonnell, 1880..................................................96
E. Garrett, 1881....................................................................................96
Wilhelm Abram, Parramatta, 1883......................................................97
TASMANIA............................................................................................. 98
Thos. Lloyd Hood, Hobart, 1884..........................................................98
SOUTH AUSTRALIA................................................................................99
Charles Rake, Enfield, 1883.................................................................99
Ligurians for Sale, 1885.......................................................................99
Ligurians at Fairfield Apiary, Mount Barker, 1885..........................101
W. Stevens, 1886.................................................................................101
Another Twelve Queens from Italy, September 1886........................101
One Surviving Queen from U.S.A., August 1886...............................101
Kangaroo Island.................................................................................102
August Fiebig, c1881................................................................................102
A. E. Bonney, December 1883.................................................................103
Mr. Buick, American River, K.I., April 1884..........................................104
Mr. Turner, Smith’s Bay, K.I., June 1884................................................104
K.I. Bee Act Foreshadowed, 1884............................................................105
Another 20 Queens from Italy on the Cuzco, 1885..................................105
K.I. Confirmed “Black Bee Free”, 1886...................................................106
Eight More Ligurian Queens to K.I., 1886...............................................108
VICTORIA............................................................................................109
Edward Wilson, Alfred Neighbour, T.W. Woodbury, 1862...............109
QUEENSLAND......................................................................................118
James Carroll, Angus Mackay, M. Blasdall, 1866, 1872..................118
Charles Fullwood, 1883.....................................................................119
NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND...........................................................121
Isaac Hopkins, 1922, abundance of “black bees”.............................121
SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND...........................................................121
S. C. Farr, 1880..................................................................................121
Otago, 1883........................................................................................124
T. G. Bricknell, c1884, Le Levre & Robert Stewart 1886.................124
Capt. Adam Blackwell & George Blackwell, c1866 to 1895............124
HOW WERE BEES SHIPPED UNTIL THE 1850S ?.............................126
A CLUE FROM 1959.............................................................................126
NUTT’S HIVES TO NEW ZEALAND, C1846.............................................126
ITALIAN BEES TO SOUTH AFRICA, 1875................................................127
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................128

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BOOK REVIEWS......................................................................................129
THE IMMIGRANT BEES (VOLUME I)......................................................129
The New Zealand Beekeeper, June 1996..........................................129
The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1996...........................................132
NSW Apiarists’ Association News, January 1996.............................134
WILLIAM CHARLES COTTON, GRAND BEE MASTER OF NEW ZEALAND,
1842 TO 1847......................................................................................135
The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1998...........................................135
New Zealand Beekeeper, July 1998...................................................136
Bee Craft, October 1998.....................................................................138
New Zealand Historic Places, March 1999.......................................139
Some Reader Comments.....................................................................142
Elizabeth Mocatta, aged 82, Springwood, N.S.W....................................142
Chris Dawson, aged in his 80s, Rangiora, New Zealand..........................142
Sue Ellison, Editor, The Beekeeper: Quarterly Newsletter of the North
Shore Beekeepers......................................................................................142
Bill Ringin, Moe, Victoria........................................................................142
BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................143
BOOKS................................................................................................. 143
JOURNALS & NEWSPAPERS...................................................................148
DIARIES, LETTERS, ARTICLES & NOTES................................................149
INDEX.........................................................................................................151

c1885

6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have pleasure in acknowledging the support and assistance of the
following for their replies and/or contributions in support of this second
edition. In addition, thanks to all subscribers to the first edition which
extended to six printings.
Alan Clark Shoalhaven Historical Society, N.S.W.
Anne Every Secretary, Historical Society of South
Australia
B Robins Port Macquarie Historical Society
B. J. Stoddard Secretary, Linnean Society of New South
Wales
Betty McAdam Hog Bay Apiary, Kangaroo Island
Bob Ayling Florida, U.S.A.
Br. T.A. Hall C.F.C. Archivist, Sydney Archdiocesan Archives,
St. Mary’s Cathedral
Bruce Barr State Library of Tasmania
Bruce Stevenson Kerikeri, New Zealand
Chris Coggin State Archives of Western Australia
David Clifford Clifford’s Honey Farm, Kingscote,
Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Dianne Byrne Librarian, Reference Service, State Library of
Queensland
Dr. Eva Crane Scientific Consultant to the International
Bee Research Association.
Dr. Francis G. Smith Nedlands, Western Australia
Ellen Randva Waite Librarian, University of Adelaide
Fr. John Hosie S.M. Author, Challenge, The Marists in Colonial
Australia
Fr. M. McNamara St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, Windsor,
N.S.W.
Geoff Manning Grange, South Australia
Geoff Potter Local Studies Librarian, Gosford, N.S.W.
Gillian Winter Librarian, State Library of Tasmania
Gordon Thompson Goulburn & District Historical Society
Greg Bishop Coolangatta Estate, Shoalhaven
Jan Cameron Scone & Upper Hunter Historical Society

7
Jane Kelso Curator, Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta,
N.S.W.
Jenny Drenkhahn Secretary, Eden Killer Whale Museum &
Historical Society
Jinty Rorke New Zealand librarian, Tauranga District
Council, New Zealand
Jocelyn M. de Saxe Merimbula-Imlay Historical Society
Joe Bray New Haven, CT, USA
John Edmonds Mount Duneed, Victoria
John Robson Berry, NSW
John Webster Auckland, New Zealand
Karen Ziegler Conservation Planner, Forestry Tasmania
Kevin Gates Royal Historical Society of Victoria
Kylie Carman-Brown Royal Western Australian Historical Society
Librarian Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Lois Komai Steenbock Memorial Library, University of
Wisconsin, USA
Mark Appleton Winmalee, N.S.W.
P. J. Moore State Library of South Australia
Patrick James Patrick James & Associates, Environmental
& Resource Consultants, Sydney
Rev. Bruce Bolland Archives Manager, Catholic Diocese of
Auckland
Rob Manning Research Officer, Dept. of Agriculture, W.A.
Ruth Wynyard Auckland Research Centre, New Zealand
Secretary Australasian Pioneers’ Association
Secretary Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association
Susan Bennett Archivist, The Royal Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures &
Commerce, London
Toge S. K. Johansson East Berne, N.Y., U.S.A.
Tony Marshall Librarian, State Library of Tasmania

8
PRE-PUBLICATION SUBSCRIBERS
Bill Ringin Moe Victoria
Bob Perkins Oyster Bay New South Wales
C & R Ciphery Narooma New South Wales
D & T Parker Blayney New South Wales
David Biggs Taree New South Wales
David Clifford Kingscote, Kangaroo Is. South Australia
David Hoey Townsville & District Queensland
Beekeeper’s Association
Doug Somerville Goulburn New South Wales
Eric Whitby Engadine New South Wales
Fred Benecke Turramurra, New South Wales
Geoff Cotton Keith South Australia
George Godman Nth. West Branch, TBA Tasmania
Glenn Sunderland Dubbo New South Wales
(1966 to 1999)
Heinrich Brug Napier New Zealand
Helen Bissland Stewart Island New Zealand
Ian Fenselau White Hills Victoria
Ian Savins North Shore Beekeepers New South Wales
James Bennett P/L Belrose New South Wales
Joe Bray New Haven, CT U.S.A.
John Edmonds Mt. Duneed Victoria
John Low Blue Mountains Library New South Wales
John McCosker Glenbrook New South Wales
John Rosendahl Dharruk New South Wales
John Ryan Nth. West Branch, TBA Tasmania
John Schauble Ferny Creek Victoria
Karl Showler Hay-on-Wye England
Laurie Braybrook Hamlyn Heights Victoria
Lesley Larkin Canterbury Public New Zealand
Library
Librarian National Library of N.Z. New Zealand
Librarian Victorian Apiarists’ Ass. Victoria
Librarian Dunedin Public Library New Zealand
Librarian New Plymouth Public New Zealand

9
 Library
Librarian Nth. West Branch, TBA Tasmania
Margaret Gardiner Kambah Village A.C.T.
Mary Patton CSIRO, Black Mountain Canberra, A.C.T.
Library
Mrs Frances Brazier Nth. West Branch, TBA Tasmania
Pat Gardner Nth. West Branch, Tas. Tasmania
Beekeepers’ Ass. (TBA)
Paul Yarker Springwood New South Wales
Rob Manning Dept. of Agriculture Western Australia
Robert Steel-Wilson Red Cliffs Victoria
Robyn Gosper Hawkesbury City New South Wales
Library, Windsor
Robyn Murphy Hamilton Public Library New Zealand
Roger Buttermore Tasmanian Museum & Tasmania
Art Gallery
Rosemary Doherty Mudgee New South Wales
Secretary North Shore Beekeepers New South Wales
Stephen McGrath Weethalle New South Wales
Sue Ellison Lower Mangrove New South Wales
Sue Mossman Macarthur Beekeepers New South Wales
Terry Western Macquarie Fields New South Wales
Note: hard cover edition subscribers shown in bold
Cover illustration from Angus Mackay (1875):
The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist and Colonists’ Guide

FOREWORD
The predecessor to this work was inspired by the question “How were
bees shipped to Australasia on a voyage that could take as long as six
months or more?” Having satisfactorily answered that as well as the
“when” and “who” aspects, this update was born from the additional
material I’ve collected over the last three and a half years. Volume II
adopts the same format ie., chronological sequence within each state or
territory and country. This work is not a novel. I’ve concentrated on the
presentation of primary (eg., diaries, autobiographies and reminiscences)
and secondary (eg., newspaper accounts) source material, its collation
and analysis, always attempting to retain the flavour of the time in
which the herein reported events occurred. Those interested in the
10
solution to the mystery of whether or not William Charles Cotton
managed to bring bees with him from England to New Zealand should
refer to my second book, William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master
of New Zealand, 1842-1847. I consider this second volume warranted
not only because of the additional weight of material presented, but
particularly by:
 the first person 1834 contribution of Thomas Braidwood Wilson,
which, among other gems of detail, tells how he shipped his bees to
Van Diemen’s Land in 1831
 Mary Bussell’s records of bee hives aboard the James Pattison,
1834
 Mr Clayton of Hobart Town, exported 50 or 60 hives to Sydney,
1837
 T. J. Lempriere and Charles O’hara Booth, the ‘Honey Jar’, Port
Arthur, Van Diemen’s Land, 1836
 Captain Maconochie and Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme, introducer of
bees into Norfolk Island, 1840
 Lieutenant Helpman R.N., Swan River colony, 1841
 St Matthew’s Windsor, N.S.W., & Fr. Petitjean, Bay of Islands,
N.Z., 1842
 Elizabeth Macarthur, pioneer beekeeper, Parramatta, 1842
 Gregory Blaxland, explorer/pastoralist, confirmed as a beekeeper,
1842
 Thomas Alison Scott, detailed letter on the management of bees at
Brisbane Water, N.S.W., 1842-1845
 James Kidd, superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, absconding
bees from six hives, Sydney, 1847
 Introduction of the Ligurian bee
 Edward Wilson, Victoria, 1862
 S. C. Farr, Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand, 1880
 Charles Rake, Adelaide, South Australia, 1883
 A.E. Bonney, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 1884

“A HUNDRED WORDS” ON PETER BARRETT

Valerie Chesterfield of Caringbah wrote to me in June 1997 after
hearing me interviewed on radio 2BL. Valerie grew up in Tasmania
so found my discussion of its place in beekeeping history
“absorbing”. Valerie subsequently hunted down a copy of my book.
11
She wrote “If you do a follow-up, I think you should do a hundred
words on Peter Barrett, as it, the book, does lack warmth regarding
your own activities.” Valerie, as you can see I have done a follow-up
and taken your advice, though I’ve exceeded 100 words.
I’m aged 49, married 21 years. Marjorie and I have four children,
Michael (19), Ria (17), Gemma (14) and Zoe (10). We moved to the
Blue Mountains in 1985 and resided at Warrimoo for seven years. We
now live two towns uphill at Springwood. That first year in the
mountains I began looking for a hobby. An advertisement in the Blue
Mountains Gazette quickly provided the answer “two hives of bees
for sale.” Without any knowledge of bees or beekeeping I bought the
hives and began a largely self taught journey as a hobbyist beekeeper.
Keeping bees soon became a passion. I’d been infected with the “bee
disease”, an addiction which introduced me to new and lasting
friends. Beginning with two hives was an ideal way to start for one
was weak, the other strong. This invited the question “why is it so?”
Over the years I’ve given talks about bees to a family history society,
pre-school groups and beekeepers’ associations, attended beekeeping
field days where I promoted my books, met interesting people and
many of my subscribers. An educational film on the beekeeping
industry is currently in production and I appear in a short segment.
I’ve researched as well as given talks on my findings in both Australia
and New Zealand. I’ve been interviewed three times on radio,
including once with Macca on Australia All Over.
I’ve been stung innumerable times, harvested honey, located queens
and queen cells, caught swarms, split colonies, joined colonies,
manufactured my own boxes, moved hives “over 3 miles or under 3
feet”. Early on I found it beneficial to attend a beekeeping course at
Hawkesbury Agricultural College. My first season was a bumper for
the bloodwood eucalypts were heavily in flower. After a few seasons I
had 30 hives spread around sites at my backyard at Warrimoo, an
apple orchard at Kurrajong and at Emu Plains Prison Farm.
For a couple of years I sold honey at a craft market in Springwood.
My supporting display included posters, beekeeping equipment,
frames of empty and full honeycomb and a frame of bees in a glass
sided observatory hive that I’d made. Each market day I borrowed a
frame of bees from a hive about 7:30am and on the cooler mornings
the bees were not impressed. I provided more than one honey variety
12
for sale and offered my customers the opportunity to taste before they
bought. No way to make a million but it was fun. After talking bees
for hours each market day my voice often showed the strain.
To help my understanding of bees and beekeeping I acquired and
studied as many relevant books as I could. Secondhand bookshops
became my regular haunt. I took an interest in the historical content of
these books when it was to be found, snippets about early beekeepers
and the introduction of bees into Australasia. Trained as a computer
analyst programmer I began to see discrepancies, errors and
contradictions hiding what might be the facts. Following the gift of an
old 1904 Isaac Hopkins bee book, The Illustrated Australasian Bee
Manual, and around a year later, the purchase of Albert Gale’s 1912
Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture, I was hooked on the task of
accurately reporting how and when honeybees reached Australia and
New Zealand. Little did I know that a weekend dedicated to research
and note taking would extend to many such weekends of extensive
reading, cross referencing and checking of available sources,
questioning, compiling and writing. Many thousands of words and
eleven months later I had a book. I also had to learn about marketing my
product and all aspects of self publishing. That was in 1995. In 1999
you see this, my fourth book about bee related topics.
I still keep bees, a modest four hives. In December 1997 I acquired a
native hive of Trigona carbonaria. This was split in December 1998.
I performed the operation as quick as I could to minimise disruption
to the bees. They can’t sting but they bite. Tender skin areas such as
around ones mouth, eyes, nose and ears can be attacked with a
vengeance. A veil is a must but overalls aren’t needed. Rather than
the order and structure of the honeybee hive there is an ordered chaos.
So little is known about these tiny bees but they are a delight to have
in the backyard.
Valerie, I hope I’ve added some “warmth” about myself. Please enjoy
this second edition, most certainly one of the last 1900’s bee books.

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Part I - The Native Bees
SYDNEY, 1803 & 1805
Though this book deals primarily with the people, places and dates
surrounding the introductions of honeybees, and a focus on early
colonial beekeepers, I also wanted to collate any observations I found
on native bees. This early reference comes from the Sydney Gazette of
4 September 1803 “Some days ago a small Hive was found in the
hollow of a Tree that had been brought into Town as fuel. When
taken out a prodigious swarm of small Bees flew out upon the
bye-standers, and nearly covered the person who held it in his
hand, but without stinging him or any other person. About a pint
of honey was taken from it, and the hive afterwards presented to
a Gentleman.” (p.2b)
The non-stinging behaviour of the bees and the small amount of
honey gained, “about a pint”, is consistent with them being a native
bee, although it must have been a large colony. This is supported by
their description being “small Bees”, which is an accurate one when
comparing the size of the native social bee to the European honeybee.
In the Sydney Gazette of 5 May 1805 an enigmatic reference appeared
“About a fortnight since a baker on the Rocks found a bee hive in
a hollow tree which he was cutting up as fuel, and extracted from
it upwards of half a gallon of fine honey, the comb producing
several pounds of wax. Intent at the same time on securing the
little artificers who had surprised him with the present, he found
means to draw many of them off into a small case, in which the
deserving insects have resumed their labours, and appeared not
in the least discouraged by the transposal.” (p.3a)
The ‘Rocks’ is a precinct surrounding the southern approaches to the
Sydney Harbour Bridge. The mention of “comb” is interesting. Was
this a generic word for the wax structures of the native bee or an
accurate description of a honeybee comb? No mention is made of the
bees having stung him. If the tree had been felled the bees may have
been stunned and therefore not in a mood to attack the wood gatherer.
If the bee was native, both the volume of wax “several pounds” and
honey “upwards of half a gallon” seem excessive. The baker /
beekeeper was able to transfer the bees as well! Note the date, May

14
1805, which was before Gregory Blaxland’s September 1805 attempt
to bring bees out.
From The Coming of the British to Australia, 1788 to 1829, (Lee,
1906) “Of all the natural produce of the forest there was nothing
the natives liked better than wild honey, and in traversing the
woods, their eyes were always looking up into the trees in search
of it. This almost black honey was the produce of a small stingless
bee which made its hive in the hollow trees. It was obtained in
much the same fashion as the opossums, but when the bees made
their hives in the slender branches, the gin (or woman), being the
lighter climber usually did the work. She would wind her left arm
round the body of the trunk, holding the hatchet between her
teeth, and would, if she could reach the hive, place the
honeycomb in a sort of calabash 1 slung round her neck, but if not
she would lop off the branch, letting it fall at her husband’s feet.
The natives ate the honey as they found it and made a beverage of
the refuse comb called bull which possessed intoxicating
properties.” (p.31)
QUEENSLAND, C1861
From John Dunmore Lang’s 1861 Queensland, Australia; A Highly
Eligible Field for Emigration and the Future Cotton-Field of Great
Britain; with a Disquisition on the Origin, Manners, and Customs of
the Aborigines “The following is an extract of one of the interesting
letters of that gentleman 2 to his friend Mr. Lynd, of Sydney, on
the aborigines:-
Their resources for obtaining food are extremely various. They
seem to have tasted everything, from the highest top of the Bunya
tree and the Seaforthia and cabbage palm, to the grub which lies
in the rotten tree of the brush, or feeds on the lower stem or root
of the Xanthorrhaea.
Particularly agreeable to them is the honey with which the little
stingless native bee provides them amply. You have no idea of the
number of bees’ nests which exist in this country. My black
fellow, who accompanies me at present, finds generally three or
1
The calabash belongs to the gourd family, a squash like growth with a
tough outer shell
2
Dr Leichhardt
15
four of them daily, and would find many more if I gave him full
time to look for them. They do not find these nests as the black
fellows in Liverpool Plains; they do not attach a down to the legs
of the little animal; but their sharp eye discovers the little animals
flying in and out the opening - even sixty and more feet high. ‘Me
millmill bull’ (I see a bee’s nest), he exclaims, and, so saying, he
puts off his shirt, takes the tomahawk, and up he goes. If in a
branch, he cuts it off the tree and enjoys the honey on the ground.
Is it in the body of the tree, he taps at first with the tomahawk to
know the real position, and then he opens the nest. The honey is
sweet, but a little pungent. There is, besides the honey, a kind of
dry bee-bread, like gingerbread, which is very nourishing. The
part in which the grub lives is very acid. The black fellow
destroys every swarm of which he takes the honey. It is
impossible for him to save the young brood.
The practice in regard to catching bees, alluded to by Dr.
Leichhardt, is thus described by Sir Thomas Mitchell:- 3
BLUE MOUNTAINS, N.S.W., C1861
We were now (in the valley of the Bogan River, to the westward of
the Blue Mountains) in a ‘land flowing with honey,’ for the
natives with their new tomahawks extracted it in abundance from
the hollow branches of the trees, and it seemed that in the season
they could find it almost everywhere. To such inexpert clowns, as
they probably thought us, the honey and the bees were
inaccessible, and indeed invisible, save only when the natives cut
it out, and brought it to us in little sheets of bark, thus displaying
a degree of ingenuity and skill in supplying their wants, which
we, with all our science, could not hope to attain. They would
catch one of the bees, and attach to it, with some resin or gum, the
light down of the swan or owl; thus laden, the bee would make for
the branch of some lofty tree, and so betray its home of sweets to its
keen-eyed pursuers, whose bee-chase presented a laughable scene.”
- Vol. i. p.171.

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

16
The Bee Hunter, a 19th Century drawing by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880)
of an aboriginal and his quarry. Two other related drawings are held in the
Dixson Collection, State Library of New South Wales.

UPPER GREGORY RIVER, QLD. N.T. BORDER, 1861

A diary entry for 8 December 1861 made by expeditioner W.
Landsborough, at a place named Pratt Creek on the upper Gregory
River, Barkly Table Land, during his expedition towards Mount
Stuart, states “Our only halts were for the purpose of stalking a
kangaroo, in which we were unsuccessful, and of procuring a
honeycomb from a hollow tree. Wild honey is common in the
bush: the pasturage is abundant and the bees find a convenient
domicile in hollow trees. The English domestic bee is rapidly
spreading over Australia and has already, in many places,
practically displaced the indigenous one; for the simple reason,
that the former yields a honey harvest twenty times in excess of
that of the latter. The blacks are marvelously cunning in tracing
the flight of the bee to its hive. Sometimes they adopt the
expedient of catching one, and loading him with as much down as
he can carry, so as to follow his homeward track with the greatest
ease.”
I can’t agree that the introduced bee was replacing the indigenous bee
just because of the observation that the former produced a larger
17
honey yield. A large and increasing number of European honeybee
colonies does not necessarily mean a reduction in the number of
native hives. No scientifically validated evidence in support of the
displacement of the native bee has been documented to date.
Given this 1861 evidence I asked myself “Where did these honeybees
come from?” The upper Gregory river straddles the Queensland /
Northern Territory border. Could bees have spread across the land
from Brisbane this far? After the convict settlement period, land sales
in Moreton Bay began in 1842, and in December of that year the
Hunter River Steam Navigation Company, via the steamer Shamrock
opened communication between Sydney and Brisbane. Regular
services that commenced in 1843 would have allowed easy movement
of bee hives into the area from Sydney. It’s known that at least two
people possessed bee hives in Brisbane in 1851. Could swarms from
these hives have spread such a considerable distance north west
within ten years, from 1851, or nineteen years, from 1842? They
could not have originated in Townsville, on the eastern seaboard, for
it was first occupied in 1864, three years after the expedition. As well,
Townsville is more than 900 kilometres east of the place where the
honeycomb was harvested. Brisbane is over 1300 kilometres south of
Townsville. Even allowing the bees 20 years to move north west from
Brisbane, a distance of around 1500 kilometres, could bees have
spread via successive swarms some 75 kilometres a year, every year,
drought or no? I think not.
One candidate for the source of the honeybees is Port Essington, a
failed attempt to establish a settlement on the northern coast of
Australia in 1838. Lasting only 11 years under Commandant Captain
John McArthur, repeated contact by ship provided opportunities for
interested parties to introduce bees.
APIS AENIGMATICA, 1916 & 1925
Rayment’s 1935 claim was not the first time he had documented his
knowledge of the native Apis. In The Australasian Beekeeper of
October 1925. “Like many other writers on the insects of Australia, I
had always thought the genus Apis, the Hive or Honey-bee, to be
not represented in the Commonwealth by a single indigenous
species. However, I am now in a position to state definitely that the
genus is native to Australia, for I am acquainted with one species
that up to present has never been described by any entomologist.
18
About 1916, I had been told by old settlers, who were also
experienced bushman, that in the early days they occasionally saw
tiny nests of some ‘Wild-bee’, and they described three small
combs, built under any shelter, and of about a man’s hand in size. ”
(p.67). On being taken by E. Garrett to an old bushman’s hut, he “drew
my attention to a swarm of miniature bees. I recognised them at
once as an unrecorded species of Apis, for in every respect, except
stature, they are replicas of the Hive-bee. ... The bees are black in
colour, and with much hair; they are as small as house flies, but
more slender in the body. Though we had neither smoker nor veils,
the insects made no attempt to fly at us to either attack or defend.
They remained quiet on the combs, which were suspended from a
rafter on the verandah roof.” (pp.67-68) “... a few days ago I had a
letter from a Gippsland beekeeper telling me about a tiny swarm -
about a cupful, he said, clustered on a young wattle tree. The bees
were black and had started the foundation of their small-celled
comb ... from the reports of other observers three is the usual
number.” (p.69)
In Rayment’s unpublished 1947 manuscript The Commercial Bee
Farm. A Manual on the Cultivation of the Hive-bee and the
Profitable Production of Honey and Beeswax, in the chapter titled
‘Introduction of the Hive-bee’ “There is, or was, a very small native
Apis, which the author described as A. aenigmatica, but its three
combs, suspended from the underneath of a tree limb, are too
small for commercial purposes.”
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that such a small bee existed
in Australia. Its three small combs not so strange when compared to
Apis florea, the dwarf bee of India. Rayment observed in 1935 that
the cells of Apis florea measure ten to the inch. At a slightly larger
size he stated that Apis aenigmatica measured nine to the inch. 4 Root
(1903) states “The tiny East-Indian Honey-Bee ... is the smallest
known species of the genus. It builds in the open air, attaching a
single comb to a twig of a shrub, or small tree. This comb is only
about the size of a man’s hand, and is exceedingly delicate, there
being on each side 100 worker-cells to the square inch of surface.
The workers, more slender than house-flies, though longer-

4
Apis indica measure six to the inch, Apis mellifera five to the inch and the
giant bee of India, Apis dorsata, four to the inch.
19
bodied, are blue-black in color, with the anterior third of the
abdomen bright orange. Colonies of these bees accumulate so
little surplus honey as to give no hope that their cultivation would
be profitable.” (p.54).
In The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture (1947) is a description of Apis
florea “The colonies build a single comb, usually in bushes, hedges,
hung down from branches of trees, eaves of huts, corners of
buildings and in house chimneys. … The comb is as large as the
palm of the hand and sometimes larger. They are not prone to
sting, nor is their sting very painful. They are so gentle that
sometimes they are called stingless bees. They shun captivity and
love open life and generally make combs at high and well-lighted
places. They are more prone to swarming and also migrate. The
colonies gather vary small quantities of honey, a single comb
yielding a pound or so.” (p.561) Note the similarities to Rayment’s
1925 description.
The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture (1983) adds a little more “This bee
builds a single comb in an unprotected or semi-sheltered area, not
in a hollow tree, a cave, or some other cavity. Consequently, it is
vulnerable to predation from many animals – other bees, other
insects such as moths, as well as larger animals.” Apis florea is also
found on some of the Philippine Islands. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia
of Beekeeping (1985) adds “They are found eastwards from Iran
across tropical Asia, except that in the Philippines they are found
on Palawan only.” (p.27) “Because they do not nest in cavities and
have no way of protecting their nests, they are found in the tropics
only.” (p.26)
But does this preclude such a honeybee ever having been present in
Australia. The unfortunate introduction of the wax moth c1872 and its
predations upon the feral honeybee swarms could have also signalled the
demise of Apis aenigmatica. In an article by Charles Fullwood within
The New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal for July 1883 “A few
years ago … a great change came over the land. A moth, unknown
previously, commenced its ravages. The bees succumbed before it,
and were rapidly swept away. The farmers owning, from 50 to 200
stock, lost all. The bees in the bush gave way also before the terrible
onslaught, leaving the invader all but master of the field.”

20
More of the story may yet be discovered. John Edmonds of Mount
Duneed, Victoria, wrote to me in December 1995 “I was interested in a
claim made by Aboriginals during negotiations over beekeeper
access to the Barhsah forest ... that honeybees have always existed
in the Red Gum forest. Old beekeepers in the Grampians region
claim their fathers talked of a honey bee that was smaller, and built
a single finer honeycomb to that of the European honeybee.” John
subsequently wrote to the Australian Bee Journal, seeking more
information from its readers.

Part II - The Dark European Honeybee

NEW SOUTH WALES
William Parr, 1822
In the first edition of The Immigrant Bees I noted that it was one
William Parr who bought five of Captain Wallace’s hives at auction in
1822. I’ve found subsequent reference to a Mr Parr in Gilbert’s 1986
work The Royal Botanic Gardens, A History 1816-1985. Parr is referred
to as a mineralogist, and again in 1817 where he performed the role of
botanist in association with Allan Cunningham. Parr’s acquisition of
bees combined with his some time role of botanist makes sense.
The Sydney Gazette, 1823
A letter to the Editor of the Sydney Gazette for 23 January 1823 and
signed “R.H.” offered “Sir, As bees have lately been introduced into
the Colony, it may be important to the possessors to know, that it is
not necessary to kill them, in order to obtain the honey; I therefore
send you the following extract from a London paper. ‘Our cruel
mode of taking honey, by destroying the innocent and somewhat
beautiful insects that produce it, can no longer be defended, by the
plea of necessity.’ ” William Charles Cotton would have resoundingly
supported this advice. Given that skep beekeeping was the predominant
(but not universal) method used by British beekeepers, it’s unlikely that
the following suggestion was adopted by the few Sydney people that
had bees at the time:
“A late traveler in the northern part of India, describes the
following easy method, by which the honey-gatherers there effect
their purpose: - a hollow tree, or an earthen pot, is built into the

21
wall of a house, or out-house, with apertures externally, through
which the bees enter and go out. The internal end of the hive can be
opened and shut at pleasure, by various simple contrivances; a
sliding door is one. In the centre of the hive, there is a valve. When
the hive is full, and the honey is to be taken, a great noise is made at
the inner extremity; this drives the bees out; the valve is then closed,
and the honey is taken out by the sliding door.’ ” There are
similarities between this method and that used by those utilising Nutt
collateral hives in New Zealand in 1842, and Adelaide in 1846, where
honey was removed without killing the bees.
The Phoenix 1824
Gale (1912) quoted from an issue of the Sydney Morning Herald
published some time after August 1863 “Bees were brought from
England to Sydney in the year 1824, in the ship ’Phoenix,’ which
sailed from Portsmouth in March of that year.” (After repeated
attempts I’ve been unable to locate this newspaper report.) Three 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. “The Phoenix, after disembarking her convicts
at Hobart, sailed for Sydney, and early in August arrived off the
entrance to Port Jackson.” (Bateson, 1969, p.230) Several searches of
the Sydney Morning Herald from August 1863 have failed to locate the
item referred to by Gale.
F. R. Beuhne at the time of writing Beekeeping in Victoria in 1916 was
a former bee expert of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. He
wrote “The Black Bee, it has been stated, was first brought to
Tasmania from Great Britain in 1824. From Tasmania some hives
were taken to Sydney and from thence the variety has spread pretty
well over the whole of Australia.” (p.13) No primary reference was
supplied in support of the 1824 date.
Alexander & David Berry, 1837, 1849
The following report appeared in the Australian Bee Bulletin of April
1897 “In 1897 a Mr. George Ashby of Mudgee writing to the
South Coast Herald stated - I noticed that a paragraph has lately
been published in the press to the effect that the bee (miss-called
English) was introduced into N.S.W. by Captain Wallace in 1822,

22
now, as my great grandfather (James Ashby) collected no less
than two tons of honey within the same number of months in the
year 1814, from trees in the bush near Windsor, it is my opinion,
Mr. Ashby contended, that the common Black Bee was not
imported at all but is indigenous to this continent. Mr. Ashby
said he could find any amount of testimony that these bees were
far more plentiful in the bush in the earliest days of the colony
than they are at the present time. The only bee imported to the
colony in the early days about 1830 was a species of Ligurian
introduced by the late Commissary Miller and which was known
as Miller bees Mr. Ashby said, I can remember seeing a colony of
these bees at work on the estate of the late Alexander Berry, at
Crows Nest, near Sydney early in 1830.” (p.205).
Trevor Weatherhead in Boxes to Bar Hives (1986, p.7) also made
comment upon this item (which last appeared in a series titled ‘The
History of Australian Beekeeping’ by F. L. Morgan, The Australasian
Beekeeper, February 1972). If George Ashby’s recollections were true
then they refute the accepted earliest date for the introduction of
European honeybees. The lower population of bush bees in 1897 was
most probably a result of land clearing with fewer suitable trees
available for occupation by feral swarms. This process continues
today. The destructive wax moth, introduced prior to 1883, wreaked
severe damage upon both managed and feral hives.
The year 1830 given by Ashby for the importation into Sydney of
Ligurian bees, as distinct from dark European bees, must be seriously
questioned. The Italian bee was rediscovered at Piedmont by the
Marquis de Spinola in 1805. (Neighbour, 1878, The Apiary, pp.34-
35) According to A. I. Root in The ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping
(1947), it wasn’t until 1843 that the Italian bee began to gain limited
international notice when a Swiss apiarist acquired some colonies.
Later, in 1853, Dzierzon brought them to his home in Silesia,
Germany. The existence of the Italian bee thus became known to the
beekeeping community via Dzierzon’s writings in the USA around
1855.
Cheshire (1886) supplied the following on the introduction of the
Italian honeybee into Britain “M. Hermann a bee-cultivator,
Canton Grison Switzerland, transmitted the first consignment of
living Italians that reached our shores to Mr. A. Neighbour - the
23
late Mr. Woodbury the ‘Devonshire Beekeeper’ receiving in the
same package, a queen and her attendants. These arrived July
19th, 1859.” Neighbour (1878, p.37) corroborates the 1859 date for it
was himself who arranged the importation. He identified these as “the
first imported into England. … Prior to this the Italian, or, as
many have called it, the ‘Ligurian’ bee, was UNKNOWN IN THIS
COUNTRY, except to a few naturalists.”
Significant documentation exists for their first importation into
Australia by Edward Wilson of the Acclimatisation Society of
Victoria in 1862, only three years after their introduction into
England. What credence then can be given to the 1814 Windsor date?
However, the 1830 date I thought was worthy of further investigation.
Commissary Miller, c1830
The World Book Dictionary defines ‘commissary’ as “an army officer
in charge of food and daily supplies for soldiers” (1984, p.417). The
most likely candidate for the Commissary in Ashby’s 1897 report is
Captain Henry Miller of the 40th Regiment of Foot who came to
Sydney in 1823 “in charge of convicts and who was later stationed
at Moreton Bay (Queensland) and in Tasmania, where he died in
1866.” (Australian Encyclopaedia, Vol. 6, p85b). Commissary Miller
may have acquired bees c1830 but they could not have been
Ligurians. Ashby’s recollection of events over 65 years later was,
remarkably, not too faulty once the Berry reference was substantiated.
As coincidence, Miller’s name appears within the journals of William
Charles Cotton between 1842 and 1847, with Miller, in effect, acting
as paymaster to the missionaries.
Alexander Berry, October 1837
Alexander Berry owned land at what is today known as Crows Nest,
originally the name of his house on his estate. Berry is described as a
pioneer merchant by The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958). He had
been a ship’s surgeon with the East India Company. He arrived in
Australia in 1808, part owner of the City of Edinburgh.

24
 After making several
trading voyages his ship
foundered in the Atlantic;
he escaped by boat and
finally made his way to
Cadiz, Spain. Here he
met Edward
Wollstonecraft, later his
agent and partner. They
settled in Sydney in
1819, carrying on the
trade of general
merchants. Berry died at
the age of 92 in 1873.

Alexander was a correspondent with, and later a good friend of James

Busby, having edited Busby’s first book on viticulture. It was Busby
who brought hives of bees back for himself and William Cotton at the
Bay of Islands in August 1843, although I’m unaware if Berry
assisted Cotton’s acquisition of bees. Busby also visited Berry at his
property Coolangatta on the Illawarra (South Coast Register, 18 June
1997), however I’ve not been able to discover when this occurred.
From a letter written by Alexander Berry at Sydney to his brother
John Berry, then in charge at Coolangatta, Shoalhaven, dated 6
October 1837 “Last time I wrote Mr Holden I enclosed a letter for
you amongst other things requesting you to send me up some
sheaves of the threshed rye to make bee hives, as I have got some -
James
& I shall send you a Busby
hive by>> and bye – but as you have neither
Beekeeper from 1843, friend to
sent the rye nor noticed the letter I apprehend it has not reached
both
you.”Alexander Berry and William
Charles Cotton (the latter from
Alexander
1842 ) Berry’s use of rye straw is the first mention I’ve come
across where hives were made in Australia using this traditional
Alexander BerryI originally
wrote thehad a picture of colonial beekeepers
British material.
following letter dated 9 July
putting to use any available box like container to serve as a hive.
1849 from theup“Priory”, North
Making them from straw was not an occurrence I’d expected to
Sydney, to his youngest brother
discover.
William Berry at Coolangatta “I
wonder you have any
difficulty in writing Barbara –
of course you would say
nothing which David did not 25
like – certainly he would not
be angry by you telling her
that he liked bees and how many black beeherds he kept and
what kind of honey the bees made – I am sure you could tell her
that the cocks crow – and the hens laid eggs the same as in
Scotland – You could tell her how many quarts of milk a cow
gave and that you fed the pigs on fat brose 5.” Black beeherds! Had
David Berry trained aborigines as beekeepers?
The next letter from Alexander Berry, written at Sydney to his sister,
Barbara Armit, of Fife, Scotland, dated 15 October 1850 “The
English bee has been introduced into the Colony – David 6 has
hundreds of hives in front of his house in a bee garden – when I
was last there. There were regularly 5 or 6 new swarms daily
besides many which escaped into the forest and made their hives
in hollow trees – so that the whole country is getting filled with
them – in this mild climate they work all the year round – they do
not kill them as you used to do in Scotland, 7 but take away the

5
From the Oxford English Dictionary, a Scottish word, a pottage made by
pouring some boiling liquid (eg., water, broth, milk) on meal (esp.
oatmeal), and stirring it.
6
his brother David Berry, in charge at Coolangatta after the death of John
Berry in 1848
7
destruction of all the bees was performed by the burning of sulphured rags
beneath the hive
26
comb and give the bees a new house to work in 8 – A native boy
who acted as bee master said that they killed the native bees and
stole their honey – that they were the same as the white men who
were becoming master over all – your sisters strengthen their
wine made of fruits with the honey - & also make mead – David
also sent a good deal to Sydney – part of which was sold at 2 1/2d
per lb – and about 2 tons were sent to London as an experiment.
Moses persuaded his countrymen to leave Egypt for the land of
Canaan by praising it as overflowing with milk & honey. I do not
believe that milk & honey were so abundant there as at
Shoalhaven.”
This letter leaves no doubt that aborigines were employed as
beekeepers. As well, Lang’s 1861 observation (see page 83) upon an
Illawarra beekeeper who harvested one and a quarter tons of honey in
one season which he sold for £359 points to none other than David
Berry. If each hive contributed on average 10 pounds of honey then
he would have needed some 280 hives to produce such a crop,
consistent with Alexander Berry’s count of “hundreds of hives”.
David Berry must rate as one of Australasia’a first commercial
beekeepers.
One other item which demands comment is the native beekeeper’s
belief that the European bees “killed the native bees and stole their
honey”. In apparent support of this contention is this contemporary
extract from the Sydney Gazette of 12 April 1822 (p.2b) This issue
celebrated Captain Wallis’s introduction of a number of hives into
Sydney “… As soon as the dawn appears the little animals issue
forth from the rest they have enjoyed during the night, and
commence their aerial journey over their newly acquired land;
and one squadron no sooner returns heavily laden with spoil,
than another troop may be viewed winging away for some
favored spot that seems perfectly congenial to their prosperity
and nature. The flies of the territory have had several serious
consultations upon their introduction, as their race are threatened
with extinction – not the least quarter being afforded, but steady
death ever follows upon the shortest encounter, and the invaders,

8
the bees must have been “drummed” from the hive
9
see page 83 for Lang’s 1861 observation
27
savage-like, feast themselves upon the remains. …”10 In dispute of
the above, I have a hive of the stingless native social bee Trigona
carbonaria located in my suburban backyard. This small hive sits but
three metres away from a very strong hive of Ligurian honeybees. The
latter have never attempted to trouble the native bees. Additionally,
from The Amateur Beekeeper of March 1997, the news bulletin of the
Amateur Beekeepers’ Association of NSW, is the following
fascinating story headed “Honey Bees ‘vs’ Native Bees”.
“Some hardline environmental freaks claim native bees are
threatened by feral honey bees. They claim native bees and honey
bees cannot share “the same space”. There are several examples
that demonstrate how well they can and do share ‘the same
space’. The best example is at Taronga Park.
Last spring a tree surgeon contacted the ABA 11 about 2 colonies
he had been watching for several years. These colonies were both
in the same limb of a large tree. One was a colony of honeybees
and the other that of native bees. The limb had fallen down in a
recent storm. Both colonies survived the crash and he took the
limb home. He contacted the ABA looking for a beekeeper to take
the honeybees. About the same time the ABA also heard that
Taronga Park Zoo wanted a colony of native bees for exhibition.
Peter Bond went to see the colonies (in Gordon) and was
staggered by their size. The limb was very large and the entrances
were only a few feet apart. The colonies probably shared the same
cavity and were still prospering.
Bruce White at NSW Agriculture was quickly informed. He made
a special effort to see that the example of happy coexistence was
scientifically recorded. Photos and other data were taken. The
limb was then moved to Taronga Park. They were delighted with
it and have set it up for display. The display is apparently off the
beaten track so you may have to ask for directions if you want to
see it.
One of our members, who lives in Sydney, also has a colony of
native bees in his apiary. He has kept bees at his home (and bred
his own queens) for many years. For a lot of that time he has also

10
italics are mine
11
Amateur Beekeepers’ Association
28
had a colony of native bees. When the season permits, this colony
thrives. The lucky member who has this colony does not actively
manage it. He has just lets them look after themselves. He is
reluctant to tell too many people about the colony for fear of too
much interference from curious observers.
Several years ago, I visited an apiary in the northern suburbs
which also had a colony of native bees. The colony was in a short
log on the ground. Once again this colony was not actively
managed although a box was built around the log to provide
shelter from the weather. In this case, I believe the local council
tried to resume that site for a rubbish tip so the colony may not
be there any more. These examples clearly demonstrate that if the
hardline environmentalists would only look for it, they can see
native bees and honey bees ‘sharing the same space’”
The following diary extract dated 22 March 1889 was entered in
evidence in the Supreme Court of NSW in May 1890 to support the
granting of probate to the Will of the late David Berry. David
apparently maintained his interest in beekeeping from 1837 almost up
to his death in September 1889. “John Simpson arrived by
Meeinderry on his way to Ulladulla – he assisted Mr Berry to take
a hive of bees – Mr Berry did the work.”

William Bowman, Richmond, 1837

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

29
 Norfolk Island, Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme & Captain
Maconochie, 1840
Norfolk Island was a penal settlement from March 1788 until August
1804. The island was abandoned in 1813 and it was not until 6 June
1825 that the penal settlement was re-established when Captain
Richard Turton of the 40th Regiment arrived along with “fifty
soldiers, fifty-seven convicts, six women and six children” at
Cascade Bay (Britts, p.79). A succession of Commandants followed:
Donaldson, Wright, Hunt, Wakefield, Morisset, Anderson, Bunbury,
Ryan, Maconochie, Childs, Price, Deering and Day. During the
second settlement up to 2000 convicts endured until the removal of
the last prisoners in May 1856. The following month, the Pitcairners
arrived, descendants of the Bounty mutineers.
This notorious convict settlement where the policy of all
Commandants save one was “punishment short of death” (Hazzard,
p.164) had a period of enlightened prison management under Captain
Maconochie. Along with his family and five civil officers, Alexander
Maconochie departed Sydney on 23 February 1840 aboard the
Nautilus, arriving Norfolk Island on 6 March.
Maconochie allowed the prisoners to earn merit ‘marks’ aimed at
achieving their release and possibly a ‘ticket of leave’. By permission
from Governor Gipps, Maconochie introduced £100 of musical
instruments, music sheets to the value of £43 15s and £50 worth of
books. (Hazzard, p.164) He allowed the convicts to “cultivate small
plots allocated to them, and rear pigs and poultry. He designed
various other activities to affect their rehabilitation and revive their
self-respect” (Britts, p.124).
Governor Gipps arrived unannounced aboard the Hazard on 11 March
1843 for a six day tour of inspection. This ship was later to make
another appearance in the journals of William Charles Cotton which
contain two references to Norfolk Island. Cotton, a beekeeper and an
Anglican missionary in New Zealand, noted Lieutenant-Colonel
Hulme (written as ‘Holmes’) in his journal for 26 August 1844 on the
page headed “A Veteran Apiarian” and described him as “a very
fine looking old soldier, and the introducer moreover of Bees into
Norfolk Island where I believe they have multiplied amazyingly.”
(Vol. 8, p.3). William Hulme of the 96th Regiment was on board the

30
Hazard at the Bay of Islands with His Excellency, the Governor of
New Zealand, Captain Fitzroy, R.N., at the time of Cotton’s visit.
Holmes and Maconochie receive mention by Cotton in his journal
entry for Wednesday 11 September 1844 in the account of a
conversation between Bishop Selwyn’s son William with his mother
“Today Willie said to Mrs S ‘Tell me about that Eternal Hum’,
‘About what, child’, ‘That Eternal Hum what came here with the
Governor, Mama’. He meant Coln Holmes. Tho when she knew
what he meant she had not much to tell him tho Eternal Hum is a
better name than might at first be imagined, for he is very fond of
Bees, and reports that 50 stocks have sprung from one which
Capt McConochie introduced some little time ago into Norfolk
Island. I must give the old veteran a swarm as soon as possible.”
(p.41)
Elizabeth Macarthur, Gregory Blaxland, 1842
Elizabeth Macarthur of merino sheep fame was also a beekeeper. A
catalogue of furniture for Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta, compiled in May
1854 by H. C. Allport for Edward Macarthur after Elizabeth’s death,
lists two bee hives located on the verandah. Also, among the catalogue
of 479 books spread across three libraries was one book in the Drawing
Room Library simply listed as “Apiary”. Another clue: indexed within
the Macarthur papers, Dixson collection, State Library of New South
Wales, is a newspaper cutting from The Sydney Morning Herald for 12
May 184512. The detailed description therein of top-bar box hives and
the clear management advantages of these may have induced Elizabeth
to adopt this advanced form of beekeeping.
In an April 1843 letter, William Charles Cotton wrote of his search for
some bee hives at Sydney during his stopover in May 1842 “I paid a
visit to Mrs McArthur at Parramatta who has a capital apiary,
and to Mr Blaxland” Cotton, a top-bar hive proponent, noted in his
journal for Friday 7 July 1843 that the Shamrock was to sail the
following day for Sydney “I also sent a note to Mrs McArthur of
Parramatta begging her to fulfil her promise of sending me some
Bees.”

12
see page 41 for the complete extract
31
 Hannibal Macarthur, 1842

<< Hannibal in 1855

As well as his visit to
Elizabeth Macarthur at
Elizabeth Farm, Cotton, along
with Bishop Selwyn, attended
Hannibal Macarthur and
family at Vineyard House.
Hannibal was nephew to John
and Elizabeth Macarthur. At
the age of 26 Hannibal was
made a magistrate by
Governor Macquarie and by
1830 he was a member of the
first nine-man Legislative Council. From The Recollections of
Emmeline Maria Macarthur, Hannibal’s daughter recounted from the
time when she was thirteen years old “In 1841 Bishop Selwyn, the
first Bishop of New Zealand, arrived with his chaplain Mr.
Cotton, who was delighted to find my Father as enthusiastic
about bees as he was. He wrote ‘My Bee Book’. I remember his
putting a small star of tin foil on the Queen Bee’s back, so that he
could watch her at work through the glass sides of the hive.”
(p.21) Emmeline also recalled in 1909 that there was always a good
supply of beeswax for use in making candles.
Hannibal’s home was Vineyard House, on the north bank of the
Parramatta River, the area now known as Rydalmere. Emmeline
described her home, a place Cotton would have appreciated “A large
property 15 miles from Sydney bounded one side by a tidal river,
navigable for small steamers & on the other side extensive forests,
chiefly composed of gum trees, & a good sized farm house with
cultivated fields, and outbuildings ¾ of a mile from the house.
Large gardens & in the heart of the forest, a semi-circular
terraced vineyard, with a stream at the foot, bordered with ferns
& mimosa, a lovely spot.” Emmeline also recalled “in 1840, Sir
William Hobson arriving en route to New Zealand”. Could it be
that the bees landed by Mrs Hobson at the Bay of Islands in February
1840 had been acquired from the apiary of Hannibal Macarthur?

32
The time of Cotton’s visit was one of wealth for Hannibal but years of
drought and the disastrous 1840s financial recession culminating in a
plague of bankruptcies in 1843, eventually brought him the same fate
in 1848 when he was forced to sell Vineyard House. He subsequently
took a salaried post as police magistrate at Ipswitch near Moreton
Bay, Brisbane. He may well have taken his hives of bees with him. 13
John Carne Bidwill, 1842
In a photocopied extract from a book (that I’ve been unable to
identify, possibly 19th Century) on the natural resources of New
Zealand is this entry “The first bees actually landed alive at
Wellington were brought from Sydney by Mr. John Carne
Bidwill” (p.171) in 1842. The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958, Vol.
1, p.500) notes Bidwill as a horticultural botanist. The association of a
botanist with bees is no surprise. Bidwill arrived in Sydney in
September 1838 and “visited New Zealand early in 1839 and spent
two months collecting botanical and other scientific specimens.”
Contemporary quotes from The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, A
History 1816-1985 has him referred to as “an accomplished botanist”
(p.69) and by Governor Fitzroy as “a gentleman of superior
qualifications” (p.72). William Macarthur described Bidwill as “an
excellent botanist, & man of general science, a very skilled
horticulturist - perfectly devoted to gardening in almost all of its
branches.”
Connected with a Sydney mercantile firm, Bidwill likely had many
opportunities to hop the schooners which habitually plied between
Sydney and New Zealand. He returned to New Zealand in 1840 and
spent some time near Port Nicholson. I found no supporting evidence
of an 1842 visit across the Tasman but he visited England in 1843,
returning to Australia in 1844. He also appears to have made another
trip to New Zealand in 1844. Appointed by Governor Fitzroy as
Government Botanist and Director of the Botanic Gardens from 1
September 1847, Bidwill’s short tenure to 1 February 1848 was the
product of an overriding and parallel appointment of Charles Moore
to the post by Earl Grey in England.

13
see page 83 for another reference to Moreton Bay
33
 Major Archibald Clunes Innes, Port Macquarie, 1843
The most likely identity of the beekeeper whose bees receive two
mentions in the journal of Annabella Boswell, his niece, is Archibald
Innes of Lake Innes, just south Port Macquarie. Innes, as a twenty-
three old army captain, arrived in Sydney in 1822 in charge of
convicts. Eighteen months later he was sent to Van Diemen’s Land
spending three years there, followed by a short term as Commandant
at Port Macquarie in 1826. After retiring from the army in 1828 he
was appointed superintendent of police at Parramatta. In 1829 he
married Margaret Macleay, the third daughter of Colonial Secretary
Alexander Macleay. He took up land a few miles from Port
Macquarie on leaving that post in 1830.
Port Macquarie was established as a penal settlement in 1821 but it
was decided in 1830 to abandon it for this purpose and free settlers
began to occupy land in the district. From The Australian
Encyclopaedia “Innes achieved a rapid rise to wealth, and his
lavish hospitality and his extravagance became well-known
throughout the settlements. … (He) built himself a magnificent
house on an estate named Lake Farm. … His organising ability
and his fairmindedness earned him the esteem of all classes of
people, and he was one of the best-known men of his day.” (Vol.
5, p.82) Interested in furthering the interests of Port Macquarie, Innes
was instrumental in having a road constructed from New England to
Port Macquarie and in 1842 he chartered the vessel Maitland to
support trade with Sydney.
Annabella went to live in Port Macquarie in 1843 after the death of
her father, George Innes. A steamer delivered Annabella, her mother,
sister and their furniture via Newcastle, from Sydney. On arrival, her
Uncle Archibald offered them a home with him at Lake Innes House,
a large, rambling, Georgian residence. Such an isolated domestic
establishment bordered by its gardens and orchard would have been
largely self-supporting. Annabella wrote one day in January 1843
when approaching the house “walked up the wide approach … the
air cool and fresh, laden with the sweet scent of roses and
heliotrope, the leaves of the evergreens glittering in the sun, and a
thousand gay flowers lending brightness to the scene.”
In her journal for November 1843, Annabella mentions a steamer
from Clarence (River) waiting off the river bar for some of Innes’
34
visitors to join it. Presumably, in this case, they had to row out across
the bar in a small boat to get aboard. The availability of a weekly
steamer for goods traffic would have made the movement of hives up
and down the coast from Sydney relatively easy. Morton Herman, in
the introduction to Annabella’s journal, places travel in the 1830s and
1840s in context “At that time Australia was a collection of
loosely-knit settlements in New South Wales and Tasmania, with
further embryo settlements in what were to become the States of
Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Queensland
had only a few outposts. Communication with the interior was by
rough roads, but between points on the coast the most economical
and natural means of transport was by ship.”
The diary entry for 7 November 1843, written at Lake Innes when
Annabella was aged seventeen “The new swarm of bees has already
half-filled its box with beautiful white wax. One pursued Dido,
who made her escape, but it stung Margaret. They never interfere
with me. I gathered some ripe strawberries for my uncle. ” (p.71)
From Annabella’s observations the hives she saw (at least two) must
have been top-bar box hives. (The moveable frame hive as we know it
today was yet to be perfected by Revd Langstroth in the USA in
1852.) The new swarm may have been housed in a simple box hive,
but it’s more likely it was in a top-bar hive.
Most beekeepers of this era, Revd Ayling 14 included, would have used
simple box hives, adopting any type of box that came to hand eg., a
tea chest, candle box, hat box, butter box or kerosene case, indeed any
available wooden container of adequate size. The problem with these
was that there was no easy means of inspecting the interior of the
hive. They were less useable than the straw skeps of Britain where
one could tilt back the hive from its bottom board and view the stock
of honey and bees. Single box hives had to have one side levered
away to allow a look inside. But box hive beekeepers had no reason to
inspect the hive interior. They could judge the amount of honey
simply by lifting the box and opened such hives only once a year
when honey was to be removed. This caused much damage to the
combs within and probably resulted in the death of the hive.
In the illustration following the box hive in front of the beekeeper’s
knee has had its roof removed and stands on its edge. The combs lay
14
refer page 55, his beekeeping at Port Macquarie c1871
35
exposed, soon to be crushed inside a bag so that the honey will drip
into the drum below. From Albert Gale’s 1912 book, some comments
on simple box hive methods “The bees had to be driven from their
comb or smothered by sulphur fumes. In either case the
destruction of the brood comb (young brood are always the most
important part of the inhabitants of a bee community) was
inevitable. For the humanitarian part of bee-keeping nothing was
done. It did not appear to enter into their calculations that the
destruction of the bees was killing the hen that laid the golden
egg.”
Annabella’s diary entry for 30 September 1844 reads “We had
strawberries and cream today; there is every prospect of a good
crop this year. The bees which swarmed on my birthday have
been most industrious. The honey looks beautiful, and the wax
perfectly white.” (p.101) As with the previous diary entry, the ability
to inspect the hive internals indicates this must have been a top-bar
box hive. Along with Major Innes, other advanced top-bar box hive
beekeepers I’ve identified for the same decade are Thomas A. Scott of
Brisbane Water, 1842, (his 1845 top-bar specification appears after
page 41), the anonymous donor of Scott’s first hive in 1842, Revd
Steele of Cook’s River, Botany Bay, 1843, W.C. Cotton, Bay of
Islands, N.Z., 1843, and possibly, Elizabeth Macarthur c1845.
To extract honey from this hive style a stout thin wire attached to two
dowels was drawn between two boxes to cut the comb. A specially
shaped knife was then used to separate the end of each comb from the
opposing sides of the box. The top bar with comb suspended beneath
could then be removed for close inspection, replaced or taken away
for crude honey extraction or use as chunk comb honey. If necessary
(when the lid did not have a clearance of one bee space,
approximately 9 mm, above the top of the bars) the wire was also
drawn between the top of the box and the lid. As well as crops of
efficiently honeybee pollinated strawberries, Annabella’s family could
look forward to easily harvested chunk comb honey.

36
 a box hive beekeeper
from Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture, 1912
Note also: it was to Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay that T. B.
Wilson had delivered a hive of bees from Tasmania in August 1832.
Wilson brought his bees to Hobart in a box which was later a great
source of interest for many years to visitors at his brother George’s
house at Mt. Seymour (refer p.121, Volume I). Given the likely top-
bar beekeeping methods of Major Innes, his link by marriage to
Alexander Macleay and the Wilson/Macleay connection, it is possible
that Wilson was also an advanced top-bar hive man.
Maitland, 1845
In The Sydney Morning Herald for 1 January 1845 there appears a
long article reprinted from the Maitland Mercury wherein the
correspondent exhorted more locals to keep bees. It gives interesting
insight into the prices to be obtained for honey and wax at that time in
37
the Sydney market, the prospects for a honey income and possibilities
for export. It’s also useful to compare this correspondent’s projections
with those obtained by Thomas Alison Scott in the same year. ie.,
between 10 and 20 shillings for a hive in Maitland versus over 40
shillings for Scott at Brisbane Water. I suspect the reason for this
differential was the additional cost of carpentry required for custom
made top-bar hives as used by Scott, and the simple provision of
common box hives of any availability and dimension, as used at
Maitland.
From “BEES: We have noticed for some time past, with great
pleasure, that a taste for keeping bees is spreading in the town
and neighbourhood. As far as our observation goes, as yet, this is
principally confined to persons who keep them mainly for
pleasure; and those who have never tried the experiment can
form no idea of the real pleasure derivable from watching the
labours of the busy bee. But we should be well pleased to see the
habit extending far and wide among the numerous persons living
in cottages and huts in Maitland and its vicinity, to whom the
profit arising from keeping bees would be an object of some
importance.
We know that in the south of Devonshire, and many other parts
of England, great numbers of cottagers are enabled to pay their
rents, and live in comparative comfort, in times when
employment is scarce, from the profits of their beehives; although
in England bees require attention and care that here will be
scarcely needed; and there they almost always require artificial
food in the winter months, when they cannot get food for
themselves, while in this country very few days occur in the whole
year when they cannot get abroad, and bush flowers in plenty are
to be found the whole year round. In this district the bees gather
their honey almost entirely from the bush, rising into the air on
leaving the hive, and making straight to some particular spot and
returning when loaded in the same way.
Any man can make his own boxes to keep the bees in, and they
appear to require little care except when swarming, if the simple
precautions are used of raising them two or three feet above the
ground, and of covering the boxes over with a sheet of bark to
keep off the rain and sun. The only expense here would be the
38
first purchase of a single hive, which may be got in the town for
about twenty shillings, and we have heard that two or three
parties in the vicinity are selling them at from ten to fifteen
shillings. Supposing a man gets a young hive now in good
condition, it will probably throw a swarm off before the summer
is over, and these will again swarm so rapidly next summer, that
by eighteen months from the first purchase, he may have eight,
ten, or even twelve hives, besides getting 80 or 100 lbs of honey.
This calculation is merely stating the actual success a neighbour
of ours has met with. We suppose the bee-owner to sell none of
his hives until he has ten or twelve of his own, but mean while he
has for sale, say only 60lbs. of honey.
It is difficult to say what would be the market price for the honey,
there having been yet no attempt at a regular trade in it, but the
Maitland honey is excellent, and would, we think, command a
regular sale in Sydney; and, supposing it only realised 8d. (pence)
per lb. wholesale, the bee-owner would receive 40s. (shillings) for
honey in the eighteen months; and in the next year, what with his
honey and wax, and the numerous swarms he would have for
sale, he would clear at least £5 and with good luck might double
that sum. As far as we can ascertain, the wholesale price of honey
in Sydney has varied in the last few years from 4d. to 1s. 6d., and
even 2s. per lb.; that bought at 4d. having been very inferior. As a
guess, we should expect 9d. or 10d. might now be obtained in
Sydney for a considerable quantity of good honey, and that, as
the production increases, the price will fall till it reaches 6d., or
perhaps 5d., when it might become available for making fruit
preserves for export, with a prospect of paying, or might possibly
even pay as an export to England, provided it would keep on the
voyage quite sound and sweet. The duty on colonial honey at
home (ie., England) is 5s., (being 60 pence) and on foreign 10s., per
cwt. (ie., one hundredweight being 112 lbs.)
The wholesale price of beeswax is more steady in Sydney, and has
seldom, we understand, fallen below 2s. per lb. for good and
unadulterated. As the duty on colonial unbleached wax in
England is only 1s. per cwt., and on bleached 10s., and as it is an
article of increasing consumption there, it would doubtless at
once be a paying export, if produced in sufficient quantity. The

39
duty on foreign unbleached wax is 2s., and on bleached, £1, per
cwt. - Maitland Mercury.” (p.3a-b)
The author of this article had one thing in common with Thomas
Scott and others who promoted the keeping of bees in the 1840s for
the generation of an income. An economic depression was being
endured. Even the wealthy and influential such as Major Innes felt its
effects. Herman (1965) wrote of Innes “… having ready access to
large quantities of convict labour, he was lavish in all his
enterprises, which prospered for a number of years. … His
prosperity began to wane after the transportation of convicts to
New South Wales in 1840.”
The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958) gives more background “For
about 30 years following 1820 the economic history of Australia
can be written almost exclusively in terms of wool. The graziers,
always searching for more lands for their rapidly growing flocks,
stimulated the exploration of the continent, or turned explorers
themselves. South, west, and north from the neighbourhood of
Sydney they penetrated ... always seeking ‘better country farther
out’ … After 1821 land was only to be granted to men of
substance, who could develop it and would employ convicts. This
was an attempt to keep in proportion the supply of land, of
capital, and of labour.
By the early 1830s, however, it seemed that the attempt had been
a failure. The Government had granted more land than could
readily be cultivated with the available convict and emancipist
labour. Settlement was too dispersed and there was an acute
labour shortage. The remedy seemed to be to restrict land grants.
In 1831 … land grants were prohibited and land sales were
substituted. This, it was thought, would prevent settlers from
taking up too much land, for they would now have to pay for it;
also, if the land revenue were devoted to assisting immigration,
the labour shortage would be relieved.
The land revenue made possible the first large scale scheme of
assisted immigration. The free labourers brought to the colony,
together with the free native-born, effectively diluted the convict
element, and helped to diversify the population and to stimulate
the economy; between 1832 and 1842 nearly 70,000 immigrants
arrived in New South Wales.
40
Nevertheless, expansion of settlement was not checked because
the pastoralists, when unable to get their land by grant, did not
buy it but simply squatted on it. Thus expansion continued faster
than immigration, and the labour shortage remained unabated.
Drought, a fall in wool prices, the increasing costs of squatting
farther out, and the higher cost of labour after the stopping of
assignment in 184015 – all these causes combined to make wool-
growing temporarily uneconomic and brought widespread
bankruptcy to the colonies. The year of greatest panic was 1842
when pastoralists had recourse to boiling down carcasses of sheep
and cattle in order to sell the hides and tallow. Recovery was not
unduly long delayed … Though the economy was by no means
stagnant, after 1844 it lost for a time the elan of the previous
decade.” (Vol. 3, p.333)
Thomas Alison Scott, Brisbane Water, 1845
Two entire broadsheet pages in The Adelaide Observer for 15
November 1845 were devoted to various articles on bees and honey.
Among them was an extract from a letter attributed to The Sydney
Morning Herald and dated 12 May 1845. The letter (complete version
given below) was signed “T.H.S”. “My dear Sir, - I am this day in
receipt of your letter of the 5 th, and be assured it affords me much
pleasure to furnish you with the information you request
respecting the produce, management, and increase of the hive of
bees with which Mr. ___ kindly presented me in 1842. In
detailing these facts, I derive gratification in two ways – from the
value I placed on them, arising from the sentiments I entertain
towards the donor of my original stock; and, secondly, as I know
their introduction will prove a source of great benefit to the rural
inhabitants, and will, I hope, become a source of income to the
colonists, by the export of honey and wax, as I assure you, from
my own experience, honey can be produced, in a respectable
export state, for 3d. per lb., if not less. 16
I sold eight swarms for £17 10 0
About 2000lbs honey, at 4d per lb 33 6 8
£50 16 8
15
assignment was the allocation of free convict labour
16
it’s not known who was corresponding with Scott nor who was the donor
of his first hive
41
 Eighty-seven lbs wax, at 1s 6d 7 10 6
£58 7 2
As, from the time I got my original stock in April, 1842, I have
been gradually improving in the culture and economy of the
management of the bee (partly by history but principally by
experience), being at first ignorant of these matters.”
Honey 736 lbs
Wax (estimated) 30 “
Hives of bees 16
“In June, 1844, I had only three large and well-populated hives,
and my produce from these has been truly marvelous; and,
indeed, I must here remark, from my early knowledge of bees, I
would not believe such a result to be possible. Produce of honey,
wax, and hives, from three large and well populated hives,
including their swarms and casts, for one season, viz.:-”
I will now, as an exemplification of this amazing produce,
minutely detail the produce of one of these hives (the largest and
most populated) viz. :-
Honey from the mother hive 136 lbs
Ditto from the first swarm therefrom 130
Ditto from the second ditto ditto 60
ditto from the first cast ditto ditto 50
376 lbs
“Also from the same hive, I got four swarms and three casts, but
as above shown, I took no honey from the third and fourth
swarms and the second and third casts. I shall now relate my
management of the bees , &c., &c., &c.
HIVES
They are composed of segments, 9 inches deep and 18 inches
square, at the upper part of which thin battens are let in 1 1/2
inches wide, and half an inch apart. Five of these, placed upon
each other, compose one hive. There are doorways made in the
whole of these segments, the two lower ones of which are open in
the summer, and only one during the winter. In very warm
weather, they are all opened to allow of ventilation, and to cool

42
the hive. The tops and bottoms are loosely fitted with a lighting
board, 5 inches wide, laid on an inclined plane.
HIVING A SWARM
Only two segments of a hive are used at hiving a swarm - those
remain till the bees nearly fill them, or they show symptoms of
swarming, then the hive is lifted by handles (nailed on every
segment for the purpose) and another empty segment put under;
the bees will then cease to cluster outside, recommence work, and
this also keeps them from swarming. For the successful result of
an apiarian’s labours consists not in the number of hives he may
possess, but in the size of his hive and the quantity of bees that
compose a community. The above operation of putting boxes
under a hive is repeated as often as the symptoms stated appear,
till the hive consists of five or even six segments; a month after the
5th, or last segment, is put under, the operation of taking honey
may commence.
TAKING HONEY
A thin batten is tacked with two small tacks, round the upper
edge of every segment (except the top one), to keep the segments
steady and close the joint between them; these are removed; one
person stands in front of the hive, another in the back with a
small wire, which the party in front introduces into the joint
between the segments, then he in the back, draws it through the
hive, and thereby loosens or cuts the top segment from the one on
which it rests. The top of the hive (being loosely fitted) is then
taken off, the man in front instantly lifts off the segment, when
the lid is put on the hive. The few bees that may be in the segment
(for there are seldom many in it) immediately leave it, and fly to
their hive.
Thus a pure box of honey, without any brood comb, or the
destruction of young bees, is taken without even terrifying or
disturbing the community: for the upper box or segment always
contains honey only, and the bees have ceased to labour in it.
After extracting the honey from this box, it is put under the hive
as before stated. The hive should always be kept to its size, and
never to leave the bees with less than three full boxes out of the
hive. I have found to leave them with less, injures and irritates
them, moreover if more than the top box is taken at one time, you
43
will rob the bees of their brood comb, and the honey is inferior
(sic) in quality.
EXTRACTING HONEY FROM THE COMB
The pure or honey-comb is cut in the middle, and placed with the
cut part downwards, upon open wood-work placed over and
made to fit a trough set on an inclined plane; it remains thus, till
all the honey has run out. This is the first quality of honey - the
second quality is composed of honey out of comb, which once was
used by the bees for brood; also that which is pressed out of the
comb.
The season for taking honey is from November till April, it may
be taken however as late as July, but in the winter it is difficult to
extract from the comb, and in spring they ought not to be touched
till after they have swarmed. Of all the hives from which I have
taken honey, I have left the bees with three full boxes last month.
I fear I may have been too prolix upon the subject of these truly
interesting and valuable little creatures. I could wish that the
economy and treatment of them were improved upon and
generally made known, for they are a boon to this colony, (the
most congenial climate, I think, for them in the globe). You speak
of publication, it is a duty we owe to one another to disseminate
useful knowledge, it is the good man’s happiness to be engaged in
so worthy an office, such has ever been the spirit which has
actuated Mr. ____, and to assist him in so truly commendable an
object, I have thus submitted my humble aid; the result of
experience principally.
In this matter, the colonists require action – I have seen many
bee-masters, all of whom are miserably defective of a proper
knowledge of the management of them.
I have given the result of what little I know; I know at least the
most essential points. Minor or general particulars I have now
declined to trouble you upon. I shall, however, be most happy to
afford you further information if it be acceptable.
At your convenience I would greatly thank you if you will inform
me whether honey of first quality will answer for exportation; if
so, its value here, as such on its probable net value at home; also
of wax. There is a quantity of my honey for sale, at Mr. Griffith’s
44
fruiterer, King and York streets. I have been told by many it is
the best quality in the market.
Probably my extraordinary success in bee-culture, proceeds from
my plantations of bananas being now very large; the blossoms of
the fruit abounding in pure, rich, and transparent honey, each
bud containing about a gill of honey. In these, the bees luxuriate,
filling a box containing nearly 60 lbs of honey, in a month and
five weeks - this is in large hives, containing, I suppose, from 60
to 80 thousand bees. My first swarms, in spring, contain upwards
of 50,000 bees; this I know by weighing my hives before the bees
are put in, and weighing it after, allowing 4000 to a pound. ...
most decidedly the large hives are infinitely more profitable.
WAX
Of the preparation of this, I am still ignorant. I have been trying
many experiments - my first was very crude. I have progressed as
you will see by my samples. Since writing the first of the letter, I
tried another experiment. No. 4, it is the best plan. I did it thus - I
selected comb which had never been brood, after extracting the
honey I washed it, then put it into a gauze bag, and hung it before
the fire.”
<< Thomas Alison Scott

Sugar industry pioneer, tobacco grower, banana plantationer, beekeeper

45
An anonymous Dixson (State Library of N.S.W.) librarian’s
annotation on the back of an index card which refers to this 1845
newspaper cutting within the Macarthur Papers, shows in pencil the
notation “T. A. Scott?” Even though the letter is signed “T.H.S.” (a
possible typographical error), the author of the 12 May 1845 letter
was T. A. Scott (1775-1881). The Australian Encyclopaedia (1958,
Vol. 8, p.40a) adds conclusive proof, the key links being Scott’s
home location at Brisbane Water and his successful banana plantation,
banana honey being specifically mentioned in his letter.
Around 1829-1830 Scott received a land grant which he selected at
Brisbane Water. After the land was resumed in 1830 to establish the
township of Gosford (officially named by Governor Gipps in 1839),
Scott moved to a spot nearby which he named Point Clare. At this
location which also overlooks Brisbane Water, Scott lived the bulk of
his 104 years until his death in 1881. He grew sugar cane and
continued his long association with the sugar industry. He
experimented with tropical and sub-tropical plants, including the
establishment of a banana plantation that was quite successful. He
wrote frequent letters to the press in order to awaken interest in the
sugar industry. Not surprising then that via the press he also promoted
productive beekeeping methods.
From The Brisbane Water Story by Charles Swancott “The
introduction of a hive of English bees to Point Clare opened up a
field of profitable activity. As a young man, Mr. Scott sent to
Sydney by steamer many tons of honey, receiving from 5d. to 6d.
a lb. for it. At one time there were 500 hives distributed in
kerosene boxes and sheltered in caves from Point Clare to where
Woy Woy tunnel is today. But when the railway line from Sydney
was being put through, the navvies considered these stores
legitimate spoil for the finder, and so the enterprise naturally
languished.” One ship by which Scott may have forwarded his honey
to Sydney for sale was the William the Fourth.

46
 P.S. William the Fourth, locally known as “The Billy”
80 foot paddle steamer, built 1831, 104 tons burthen
With one deck, carvel hull, 15 foot beam, being a two masted
schooner and the first seagoing paddle steamer to be built in
Australia, The Billy, was launched late in 1831 at Clarence Town,
Williams River, a tributary of the Hunter River which services
Newcastle. In 1839 William the Fourth was under the control of the
Illawarra Steam Packet Company. “The first regular steamship
sailings to the Hawkesbury River began on 24 July 1832 when the
William the Fourth, or the ‘Billy’ as the vessel was popularly
known, commenced a weekly run from Sydney to the port of
Windsor. … Stopping points along the river were not listed but
would probably have been at any landing where there was an
opportunity to pick up a passenger or cargo.” (Purtell, 1995, p.53)
“The steamers not only transported enormous quantities of
produce to the Sydney markets (they) provided a reliable link to
the outside world for the isolated communities along the river.”
(p.86) Ships servicing the Hawkesbury would likely have visited
Brisbane Water (Gosford), both of which feed into Broken Bay. “The
maiden voyage was made in mid-February, 1832, and she ran
mostly to Newcastle for the next three years, occasionally making
a few trips up the Hawkesbury River to Windsor and to the tiny
settlement of Gosford. … she ran ‘as required’ to many ports
between Eden and Grafton (until) 1857.” (Richards, 1996, p.4) If
not the William the Fourth, then other ships of the type which
serviced the area during Scott’s occupancy included the Sovereign
from 1842 and Kangaroo from 1844.

47
When Scott was given his first hive in 1842 he was aged 67! But then
he lived to the age of 105 so at 67 he was indeed relatively young.
Active too, for he married at the age of 52 and subsequently fathered
14 children. Scott’s last child, Anne Rebecca, was born 22 September
1857. Swancott wrote “When he registered this birth he was
extremely annoyed when the official asked if he was acting on
behalf of a son or grandson. He declared that he was the parent.
He was only 82 and expected to make another call on the official
at a later date. But his wife was then 44 and one can go only so
often to the well.” (pp.16-17)
An English Beemaster, Sydney, 1847
In The Sydney Morning Herald for 25 February 1847 ‘An English
Beemaster’ noted “the absurd custom of making a variety of noises
to (what is called) charm the bees from flying away.” The
Beemaster described such noises as “ringing a bell or tinkling on a
kettle or sauce pan”17 and noted the custom in England required the
owner of stray bees to follow them, noisily making known his claim.
(p.3a)
James Kidd, Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 1847
On 25 February in The Sydney Morning Herald there also appeared
this letter signed with the pseudonym of ‘Sic Vos non Vobis’
“Gentlemen, - A swarm of bees lodged the other day in my
garden. With some trouble I hived them. Suppose they should
hereafter be claimed, how should I act.” A respondent using the
pseudonym of ‘Philo-mel’ commented in semi legal language upon
the letter by ‘Sic Vos non Vobis’. (SMH, 26 February 1847 p.3a).
This was followed the next day by a whimsical letter (p.2d) from
‘Hydromel’ (a pseudonym meaning an alcoholic drink brewed from a
mixture of honey and water) who exhorted ‘Philo-Mel’ to “pursue,
and make known the result of his enquiries, and allay a very
general anxiety as soon as he has carefully consulted all the
authorities.”
The final word from an unidentified author in this series of letters
provides some interesting insight into the methods and knowledge of
early colonial beekeepers. (SMH 16 March 1847, p.2d) “‘How doth
17
refer The Immigrant Bees (Volume I) for more detail on attracting bees
with noises, from the Sydney Gazette of 30 January 1823
48
the little busy bee?’ said we to Sic Vos non Vobis the other
morning, as we came down in the steamer with the scanty
awning, from Bedlam, after our inspection of the punt and pier.”
(Bedlam Point is on the Parramatta River, appropriately below the
Gladesville mental hospital.) “‘Not at all well,’ said our excellent
friend, the managing man of the Floral, striking in before Sic Vos
non Vobis had his answer ready. ‘The shining hours have been
very few this summer. All my bees have deserted their hives.’
‘What all?’ said we, ‘How many had you’. ‘Six or seven’ said the
venerable horticulturist, ‘they’ve eat all the honey and made off’.
This “venerable horticulturist” must have been James Kidd who
arrived in Sydney in December 1830, where he commenced working
at the Botanic Gardens. Kidd had been convicted of forging notes, his
occupation that of a gardener in Fifeshire. In July 1833 he was
appointed overseer at the Gardens and gained a conditional Ticket of
Leave, his pay being two shillings a day and occupation of a house
and garden. His Ticket of Leave was granted on 21 December 1837 at
which time he was appointed Assistant Superintendent. On 1 August
1844 he was appointed acting Superintendent and retained that
position until he was replaced by John Carne Bidwill on 1 September
1847. Kidd was described by Governor Gipps in 1845 as “not a
scientific Botanist, but simply a good practical Gardener”. So, a
former convict, gardener, and acting Superintendent of the Botanic
Gardens at the time of the exchange of letters in the Sydney Morning
Herald in February/March 1847, identified as “the managing man of
the Floral”, was also a beekeeper.
The tale continued ‘Well, gentlemen’ said Sic Vos non Vobis ‘there
can be little shame, after what the Sage of the Seven Hills has
said, in acknowledging that my swarm has left me also. ... made a
moonlight flitting - at least they were all there on Friday night,
and away before breakfast time on Saturday morning, leaving
their six days wax work behind them’
‘It is very unaccountable’ said our ancient oracle, thinking
probably as much about his own as about Sic Vos’s, ‘very
unaccountable. Do you think the ants had got to them?’ ‘I am
sure they had not’ said Sic, ‘for the props of the hive were
planted in cups filled with water. There was only one little insect
of the fly tribe in the box when I examined it after their
49
evacuation.’ ‘What kind of box was it - an old tea chest?’ ‘No, one
of those light cedar boxes in which ladies hold caps and bonnets.’
‘Perhaps somebody had been lifting the box, and prying rudely
into it?’ ‘No, it was fastened to the bottom by a screw-nail which
the children would not have known how to undo. ... I omitted to
put sticks across it as I believe I ought to have done to support the
combs.’
James Kidd >>

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

‘I foresee’ said the manager of the Horticultural, there will be a

demand for bee-labour the next summer, and honey will this
winter be dear.’ The ‘President’ offered “ ... whatever may be the
immediate motive by which the bees have been actuated in
departing from their snug confinements, it cannot be doubted
that it is somehow connected with the late extremely wet season.
It may be thus: whenever a gleam of sunshine has drawn them
out, perhaps to a considerable distance, they have during the last
three or four months been almost always overtaken by a storm of
rain, and perished, and so by little and little, the hives have
dwindled away, and the internal operations, such as feeding the
young, have been ill-performed, and so the queen may have got
50
disgusted and taken to flight, or some other species of disorder
have occurred. One thing is certain, that for the greater part of
the summer the bees have been feeding on their previously
acquired honey, perhaps feeding insufficiently; and at the same
time the flowers have been destroyed by the wet weather. If under
such circumstances, they are not fed with syrup, they will leave
their hives in a body in a hope of finding some place where they
can work to greater advantage. That’s my present view of the
matter, but there are books on the subject which may instruct
you more perfectly. ”
Albert Gale, c1851
At the 1896 annual conference of the National Beekeepers’
Association held at Goulburn, Albert Gale stated he had studied the
habits of bees for forty-five years. This dates his commencement of
beekeeping to circa 1851. His place of residence was recorded as
Stanmore. Along with W. Abram of Beecroft18, Gale was elected a
vice-president, and Rev. J. Ayling re-elected president in absentia.
Gale was interested in Australian beekeeping history, and went to
some effort to gather historical references. One interviewee was
Stewart Mowle, Usher of the Black Rod, of the Legislative Council,
who had many years earlier married Mary Braidwood Wilson, the only
daughter of the late Captain T. B. Wilson R.N. Gale’s research efforts
on the introduction of honeybees first appeared in The Agricultural
Gazette of New South Wales, 1901 (pp.213-217). He also mentioned a
settler from Jervis Bay who bought two hives for £4 in 1840, then hired
aboriginals to carry them over 40 miles to his home. Unfortunately, the
original source for this story was not provided.
Gale’s series of articles on bees and beekeeping, many of which were
first uttered from public platforms, also appeared in various issues of
The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales through the 1890s and
into the early 1900s. These were posthumously published in 1912 in the
book titled Australian Bee Lore and Bee Culture, the title page naming
him as “Late Bee Expert and Lecturer on Apiculture to N.S.W.
Government”. In the book’s preface Gale wrote “In this volume I have
collected together some of my published articles, chiefly those that
appeared from time to time in the N.S.W. Agricultural Gazette. …
18
see Immigrant Bees, (Volume I) for biographical notes on Wilhelm
Abram
51
(my knowledge) was obtained by research and of life-long
observation; not as Wisdom learned, but as knowledge gained from
the book of Nature.” Albert Gale was an instructor in Apiculture at the
Hawkesbury Agricultural College, now the Hawkesbury campus of the
University of Western Sydney. Copies of his book, now rare, which
contain some sparkling gems of magic, particularly within its
illustrations, are keenly sought after by discerning beekeepers and book
collectors.

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

Beekeepers
Research for the following contribution was jointly performed by Bob
Ayling (Rev. Ayling’s grandson) and I. Bob wrote the base article
which I edited, therefore any errors fall to me. There are similarities
between William Charles Cotton’s efforts to introduce beekeeping into
the ranks of “cottagers”, and Rev. Ayling’s attempts to initiate
beekeeping as an income supplement for the members of his
congregations. Bob paints a sympathetic and heartfelt biography of his
clergyman/beekeeper ancestor.
Obituary, Ebenzeer, N.S.W., 1897
Rev. John Ayling was minister of the historic Ebenezer Presbyterian
Church near Sydney and three-time president of the National
Beekeepers’ Association of N.S.W. when the news of his death on a
visit to his brother in New Zealand reached Sydney in February 1897.
Both the beekeeping and the religious communities paid affectionate
tribute to his long years of service and to the personal qualities of
faithfulness and dedication. The Presbyterian of 12 March 1897
reported the crowded memorial service at the Ebenezer Church and
noted in its obituary that “Mr. Ayling was a man of warm hearted,
even impulsive, nature; a staunch advocate of temperance, and
faithful and zealous in the performance of his pastoral duties.” It
noted “He was a public spirited man, and did his best to promote
the interest of his people - material as well as spiritual”.
In its 27 March 1897 issue, The Australian Bee Bulletin briefly
recapped Rev. Ayling’s career in the church and his interest in
beekeeping, noting that “He was a beekeeper of many years
standing, having at one time as many as seventy hives, and has
always taken a deep interest in the industry”. It noted “His quiet

52
unassuming manner rendered him thoroughly popular and liked
by all”, and recalled the golden wedding anniversary Rev. Ayling and
his wife of 50 years had enjoyed with their six children a month
earlier.19 Rev. Ayling’s religious ministry and beekeeping activities
both reflect his life-long concern for his fellow man as it developed in
the context of his Australian experience.
Beginnings
John Ayling was born at Wandsworth in urban London in 1825, one
of eight children of a boot and shoe maker. The family were members
of the Independent Chapel, a small Congregational Chapel across a
courtyard some thirty yards from their door. The Ayling family were
devoted members, George, the head of the family, being a deacon.
John began preaching in his late teens. When he was 21 years of age
in 1846 he married Mary Ann Dalton and three years later migrated to
South Australia with his wife and small son.
Lyndoch, S.A., 1853
A month after arriving in Port Adelaide, John Ayling and three other
young men began training for the ministry within the Congregational
Church of South Australia. John’s training included providing
preaching services to small chapels. It was to one of these in the
Village of Lyndoch in the Barossa region that John went as its first
minister in 1853.
In his ministry in Lyndoch, Rev. Ayling quickly demonstrated traits
that remained constant throughout his life. He proclaimed the Gospel
placing particular emphasis on the spiritual danger posed by material
things. Associated with this message was a practical concern to
establish a civil and cultured society. He procured land for cemeteries,
taught music and singing, fostered education, acted as a school
examiner, served on the Barossa West Council, and supported the
Lyndoch Volunteer Rifles Company. In public speeches he promoted
independence, and was known for both his fearlessness and his
kindness.
The first indication of Rev. Ayling’s agricultural interests and
capabilities occurs in the purchase of eighty acres of land which was
named “Wandsworth Farm”, after his English home. He was also

19
three of his sons also present at the anniversary were also beekeepers!
53
called on by the organizing committee to serve as judge in agricultural
shows.
Economic circumstances in the new colony were such that many
independent churches were unable to support their clergy. Some
ministers resorted to farming to lighten the burden on their
congregations. Similarly, John Ayling took on the responsibility of
teaching the students in the Chapel school in addition to his pastoral
duties in an attempt to maintain a level of support, adequate to his
family’s needs and within the capability of his congregation. The
move was unsuccessful and he left Lyndoch in May 1862.
The South Australian Register of 28 May 1862 reported the farewell
meeting in moving terms, indicating that the meeting was crowded
and filled with expressions of love and affection. The situation was
summed up “Mr. Ayling left them, not because they loved him not,
but because they could not support him as he ought to be
supported. As man and as a minister, they had always found him
in his place. They all knew him to be a straightforward man, too
honest to swerve from the right course … a man who by his
fearless independence … had impoverished himself.”
Rev. Ayling was now 36 years of age with a wife and five children,
one child having died at nineteen months, but he left Lyndoch with
the main elements of his character and life fixed. He preached an
independent view of the Gospel, he cared deeply for the lives of his
people, he believed strongly in social justice and political equity, he
believed in education and the arts that enriched lives, and he spoke
strongly for what he believed, asking no favors for himself. He could
be hurt by those who opposed him but he had learned not to listen to
others but to act on his own counsel.
Farmer & Headmaster in Goulburn, 1862
Early Presbyterians in Goulburn made several unsuccessful attempts
to provide for the education of their children. At least three schools
were started and failed between 1837 and 1846, but a school opened
in 1850 which is variously referred to at the time and later as the
Presbyterian Church School, “conducted in the old St. Andrews
school room … in the immediate vicinity of the Scots Kirk …
opposite the Royal Hotel”. The leaders felt confident enough of its
survivability in 1862 to invite Rev. Ayling to be its headmaster and

54
he was inducted into his new position at a gathering to open the new
school building in September 1862.
Rev. Ayling’s response to the address of welcome reveals his broad
and farsighted vision. After appropriate expressions of gratitude and
hope for the task he was about to begin, and thanks to the ladies for
the supper they had provided, he launched into a discussion on the
nature and importance of education. He noted the benefits that were
likely to accrue to a new nation from a properly educated population,
being careful to point out that not all education occurred in the
classroom and that education alone did not make a gentleman. He
stressed the importance of education by noting that the present
generation would pass away and reminded his listeners “There was
not reason why some future prime minister should not be one
who had received his education in a Goulburn school.” He saw
education as playing an essential role in preparing for the inevitable
separation of Australia from the mother country, and in ensuring that
individuals in Australia, who claimed freedom, asserted the same
freedoms equally for others
John’s work and diligence won high praise from school inspectors,
especially for the progress the students had made in grammar and
arithmetic, in the elements of natural history and the first principles of
astronomy, and in geography, particularly Australian geography.
We do not know why or when his association with the school ended
but the reasons may have again been economic. By 1867 he had three
more children and another deceased, and had begun preaching again
in addition to his school responsibilities. It is possible that the
assumption of the dual duties may have been related to his financial
needs. We do know that for “some years” prior to 1870 when he left
Goulburn, he was farming in the district.
Presbyterian Minister & Beekeeper, Port Macquarie,
1871
Rev. Ayling returned to his pastoral calling when the N.S.W.
Presbytery in Sydney accepted him into the Presbyterian ministry in
November 1870. He was offered and accepted the charge at Port
Macquarie and traveled there by ship, conducting the first
congregational meeting on 11 January 1871. Presbyterian services had
been conducted in Port Macquarie since 1840, only ten years after the

55
town was opened for free settlement, but Rev. Ayling was the first
minister officially inducted into the charge.
The circumstances were not promising. The parish was very
demanding, entailing periodic horseback rides of 120 to 130 miles to
visit outstations on the Hastings (Wauchope, Beechwood, etc.), the
Macleay and at Kempsey. Church finances were diminishing in the
recession that gripped the colony. Times were bad, maize and pig
raising were the only industries and prices were low. The provisions
of the Sir Richard Bourke Act that provided state support for churches
had ended and local congregations had to bear the full cost of
maintaining their minister. In the face of increasing difficulties, Rev.
Holland, Mr. Ayling’s predecessor left in 1869, and after two years
without a minister the church decided to invite Mr. Ayling.
In light of the fiscal needs of the new minister and his seven children,
the congregation took steps to ensure adequate financial support. A
number of members pledged specific amounts, pews and sittings were
rented, and other steps taken to raise funds. (Some members left for
the Anglican Church). But the arrangements fell short from the
beginning. Times were too hard. Factories were closing and the price
of maize was miserably low, making rural life desperate. Even many
of the best intentioned people could not keep their promises.
In a replay of the Lyndoch situation but with an apparent abruptness
that discomforted Presbytery officials in Sydney who saw it as
“hasty” and “precipitate”, Rev. Ayling announced his resignation
early in 1873, after only two years. A contributing factor in causing
him to resolve the situation quickly may have been concern for his
family, perhaps given energy by the death of his second son in 1871
from tuberculosis. The congregation accepted his resignation with
commendation and understanding, attaching no blame to him, but
recognizing that the financial situation was humiliating to both
minister and church. Rev. Ayling’s standing as a minister was not
affected and he was immediately offered and accepted the larger
charge at Scone. His place in Port Macquarie was taken by an elderly
bachelor lay preacher who made very limited financial demands on
the church by living in the homes of his parishioners. In The History
of the Port Macquarie Charge of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. R.
Eipper notes “Thus ended, with deep regret on both sides, the
brief pastorate of Rev. John Ayling. The new experience of
56
supporting their own Minister, coupled with an economic
depression, made some such experience almost inevitable.”
Rev. Eipper then makes the first known reference to Rev. Ayling’s
interest in beekeeping: “Mr. Ayling tried to help the people by
commending to them the art of beekeeping, keeping at the Manse
a large number of hives.” Later statements by Rev. Ayling make it
clear that beekeeping gave him great pleasure. He viewed it as an
interesting hobby that could pay for itself, reduce the boredom and
tedium of rural life, and make diets more interesting. But his heavy
involvement in beekeeping, especially in the Port Macquarie context,
reflects his interest in improving the economic lot of people living in
economic hardship in rural areas.
Ministry at Scone, 1873 to 1885
Little is known of Rev. Ayling’s ministry at Scone and Aberdeen
from 1873 to 1885 as church records were destroyed by fire and few
family or other documents exist. As in Port Macquarie, while services
had been conducted for some time, he was the first minister to be
formally inducted into the parish. Anglican records make it clear that
he put the Presbyterian church on the map. The parish was very
extensive and entailed a great deal of horseback riding to visit the
various outstations.
After twelve years, the time came for him to leave, apparently because
of his diminishing physical capability. He was now sixty years of age
and for many years had engaged in hard work, including much
horseback riding. His ministry at Scone was regarded as very
successful. References by professional colleagues at his funeral
indicate that he continued in the patterns he had set in prior ministries.
In addition to the regular work of ministry, during his tenure the
church built three new churches in the district, expended a large sum
improving another, and purchased a manse and glebe (church-owned
land, usually for revenue generating purposes) - all without debt. A
long pastoral letter issued to his parishioners prior to his departure
captures the love and affection they shared as he recounted the births
and deaths, triumphs and failures, sorrows and joys they had
experienced as they worked together. His own feelings towards the
congregation are clearly expressed: “I may not speak to your
personal kindness to me and mine. My heart prompts yet forbids
the utterance. Silence is sometimes more expressive than speech.
57
But you have done well and nobly by us. This much I will say:
that so long as memory lasts, you will not be forgotten by us.”
With such feelings, Rev. Ayling and his family departed for the
historic (built in 1809) and prestigious Ebenezer Presbyterian Church,
near Windsor on the Hawkesbury River, N.S.W., the oldest church in
the colony.
Minister & Beekeeper, Ebenezer, 1885 to 1897
While Rev. Ayling’s move to Ebenezer was occasioned in part by the
large size of the Scone parish and his growing infirmity, he seems to
have been well enough to carry out his work in his new charge
satisfactorily. He assured his daughter at this time “I am quite well
and hearty and fit for anything I have to do.” Unfortunately,
church records of the time are missing or destroyed so we do not
know what the major events of his professional life were. But his long
interest in beekeeping flourished during the twelve years at Ebenezer
and was well reported in beekeeping circles.
Leadership in N.S.W. Beekeeping
In announcing his election as president of the National Beekeepers’
Association convention (soon renamed the N.S.W. Beekeepers’
Union) in July 1894 at Ultimo, Sydney, the Australian Bee Bulletin
gave an overview of Rev. Ayling’s interest in beekeeping “He has
always had a strong inclination for agricultural, horticultural,
and floricultural pursuits, and possesses a practical knowledge of
each subject. While acquainted with beekeeping under the old
style,20 for nine years he has made the new a study, partly as a
relaxation from his pastoral work, and very largely pro bono
publico21 knowing, he says, the necessity of utilising all resources
in order to make a living, and that example is better than precept.
To introduce any new method22 of working at an old occupation is
always a difficult thing in rural districts. He has been tolerably
successful in the various departments of apiculture, and
commends it as a particularly interesting study and diversion
from the usual routine of a country life. It will, he says, pay
expenses, and that cannot be said of all hobbies. At one time he

20
probably simple box hives
21
for the public good and without payment
22
bar-frame hives
58
had seventy hives, but want of time compelled him to reduce the
number.” The fact that at one stage he had seventy hives means that
he may have moved beyond the hobby stage into semi-commercial
activity.
Rev. Ayling had a role in establishing beekeeping as a field of study
at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Richmond. From
Hawkesbury Agricultural College History and Reminiscences 1891-
1941 (Dart, 1941) “A commencement was made with the College
apiary on May 16, 1892, when twelve swarms of hybrid and Italian
bees were purchased, which later in the year increased to 30
swarms. The hives were placed in an old walled-in garden at No. 1
College (Toxana) in Richmond. 23 Student E. J. Rien had charge,
and conducted the work very satisfactorily, although following out
his course at the same time. In January, 1893, having gained his
diploma in agriculture, he was appointed as bee and poultry
manager. This year was an exceptionally bad year for bees all over
the colony.” In the same year a two-month course in apiary was
initiated, with ladies being admitted and making their formal entry
into the world of beekeeping. One lady student, Miss Manning, “was
examined by a three-hours’ written paper, and in practical work,
and viva-voce by Rev. J. Ayling, Vice-President of the Beekeepers’
Union of N.S.W., and obtained a first-class certificate” in 1894.
Rev. Ayling’s status in beekeeping circles is confirmed by his
election to the Presidency of the N.S.W. Beekeepers’ Union in 1894,
1895 and 1896, the latter election over his protestations that his health
had not and would not permit him to perform the duties properly. He
assented to the position after it became clear that it was the general
will for him to do so. His renown is asserted by Jas Steele in The
Early Days of Windsor (p.202) in the section on industries when he
states “Apiaries were much in evidence some twenty years ago (i.e.
1896) when such past masters of the cult as the Rev. J. Ayling,
Messrs. C. F. Daley, W. C. Barker, and J. D. G. Cadden attended
their well-kept hives”.
John Ayling’s pastoral work and interest in promoting the bee
industry came together at the wedding at which he officiated, that of
Mr. George Packham, well-known beekeeper and Mayor of Molong,
23
Toxana, an elegant two story house, still stands in Richmond. Bees had
previously been placed there in 1837 by William Bowman, see page 26
59
at the Chalmer’s Church on Castlereagh Street, Sydney, and Mrs.
Elizabeth Saunders. The Australian Bee Bulletin of 30 July 1896
noted “When the party were seated round the room after coming
from the Church, among the refreshments handed round were
thin slices of bread, on which a spoonfull of honey was dropped
in the middle. The recipient doubled the bread up, making a
delightful little sandwich. What a nice way of introducing honey
at tea-meetings and similar gatherings!”
John Ayling’s interest in promoting the bee industry was also
evidenced at the local level. In 1893, beekeepers in Richmond and
Windsor formed the Hawkesbury District Beekeepers’ Association
and named Rev. John Ayling, President; Mr. F. G. Daly, Vice-
President; Mr. F. Roods, Treasurer; and Mr. W. C. Barker, Secretary.
The first four or five meetings were well attended but no further
meetings were held and no annual meeting. In a letter to the Editor in
The Australian Bee Bulletin of 24 March 1896, Mr. J. D. Cadden
recalled the Association’s brief history and humourously asked if its
activities were to be restarted.
Conclusion
Five months after his 1896 re-election as President of the N.S.W.
Beekeepers’ Union, Rev. Ayling was granted leave from the Ebenezer
Church to visit his brother in New Zealand where he died in February
1897. The obituaries and reminiscences quoted earlier and the life
reflected in this paper, picture Rev. Ayling’s work and character. He
was, above all, a devoted family man and preacher of the Gospel who
saw himself as accountable to God for his truthfulness, dedication,
honesty and faithfulness. At the same time, he was an intensely
practical man who saw how the realities of social, economic and
political life could wither and restrict men’s souls and bodies in the
routines of daily life. From this viewpoint, he opposed political
corruption and social inequity and tried to demonstrate ways to
supplement the incomes of those he saw to be suffering economic
hardship. He has now been dead over one hundred years and some of
the things he foresaw have come to pass. He would be pleased if
Australia was better prepared for those events by his efforts.

60
 TASMANIA
William Kermode, April 1821
The Hobart Town Courier of 16 May 1834 was emphatic that
Kermode’s efforts to introduce bees were not successful “... though
introduced many years ago by Mr Kermode, and attempted we
believe on one or two other occasions by other individuals, has
always failed.”
However, words written over 50 years after the event which support
Kermode’s success come from The Mercury for 1 April 1874 under the
heading ‘The Introduction of Bees’ - “To such of your readers who
may desire to know who was the first successful importer of bees
to Tasmania, I would inform them that it was Mr. William
Kermode, the founder of the well known Tasmanian family of
that name, now and long resident at Mona Vale. This gentleman
arrived here from Liverpool, a passenger in his own ship the
Mary, on the 1st April, 1821, bringing with him a hive of bees
which he presented to the Lieutenant Governor of the colony,
Colonel William Sorell, who entrusted it to the care of those
supposed to be versed in bee management, but who, with the
twofold view, it may be presumed, of most speedily diffusing the
benefits of the new importation through the colony, and of getting
rid of his troublesome charge, let them all go, or as old Bent says
they ‘unfortunately disappeared soon after being set at liberty,’
and from which have most probably sprung - partially at least -
the numerous wild swarms that are now to be found in all parts
of the bush.” (Signed ‘J.F.G’).
How do you ‘let bees go’? Would it simply be their initial release
from confinement within the hive? Whether the bees departure was
through the malevolent intent of their custodian or mischance is
unknown. Or did the bees just abscond? The author seemed confident
that the bees survived to populate the bush although the cooler
Autumn month of April and the Winter to follow may not have given
the bees much chance. From the Hobart Town Courier for 2
September 1836 “For us in Van Diemen’s Land, we trust that by
attention and economy we shall shortly be able to depend on our
own native grown honey alone, thanks to Dr. Wilson and Mr.
Kermode for the pains they took to introduce the insect amongst
us.”
61
 Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson R. N., 1831
Henry Melville’s Van Diemen’s Land Annual for 1834 contains a
calendar as well as descriptions of its townships, districts, rivers, trees
and shrubs, natural history, agricultural and other productions,
boundaries, climate and soil, Council Acts, Government and public
establishments and a town directory. At the end of the Agricultural
chapter is this entry “It is necessary to remark the introduction of
bees by D. Wilson, and which have since so propagated, that it is
to be hoped in a few years this useful insect will be general in the
Island.” (p.44). Another confirmation that Wilson brought out his
bees prior to 1834. This quotation was repeated in The Mercury for 31
March 1874, which also carried a letter to the editor, simply signed as
“H” “Sir, - Whilst endorsing every word of praise you have given
to the late good colonist, Mr. George Wilson, of Mount Seymour,
of whom it would be well for us if we could count a few thousand
of his stamp and calibre amongst our population; active,
ingenious, self-reliant, and full of resources, I must take exception
to his having been the first to introduce bees to this colony. These
were introduced long before he came here, strangely enough by a
namesake of his, Doctor Wilson, of the R.N., who brought out a
hive, and placed it in the then Government garden.” This letter
appears to have been a response to an earlier erroneous claim in The
Mercury that George had been the introducer of bees.
Also in this 31 March issue of The Mercury “Another correspondent
has called our attention to the following extract from a work
published in 1842, in London on, among other things, ‘the
management of bees.’ The singular coincidence will be observed,
of not only the surnames of the claimants of first importers being
the same,24 but the ship and period of arrival mentioned in the
following extract are those mentioned in our obituary notice of
Mr. Wilson:-” What then follows is a word perfect repetition 25 from
the 1834 seventh edition of A Practical Treatise on ... the
Management of Swine, Milch Cows and Bees. Subsequent editions
were produced in 1842, 1853 and 1854.

24
there was no coincidence for Thomas and George were brothers
25
see page 64
62
 Alexander Macleay, Sydney, 1832
Courtesy of the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association, and most likely
extracted from Moubray’s 1842 book “In August 1832 the original
hive was taken to Sydney by Dr Wilson and presented to the
Colonial Secretary Alexander Maclean.” ‘Maclean’ is a typographical
error. Alexander Macleay held that office in 1832. The Australian
Encyclopaedia of 1958 describes Macleay as a scientist, a member of
the Executive Council and ‘before he came to Australia he had
accumulated a remarkable collection of entomological specimens’. My
inquiries upon the Curators, past and present, of the Macleay collection
at the University of Sydney, failed to reveal any evidence of the
participation of the Macleays with the importation of European bees.
Revd. Steele, Cook’s River, 1843
However, from an April 1843 letter by William Charles Cotton, in
which he talks of his search for some bee hives at Sydney in May 1842,
a ‘Mr MacClay’ is mentioned “I send you herewith, that is by the
same ship, a bottle of Australian honey, which is so very nice, to
my taste at least. It was made at Cooks River, near Botany Bay,
by the bees belonging to Mr Steele the Parson of the place. The
bees are English bees, but came last from Van Diemen’s Land,
whither they were taken, I believe, some time ago. They do
exceptionally here. I met Mr MacClay ... Bees were first brought
for his daughter. ... I paid a visit to Mrs McArthur at Parramatta
who has a capital apiary, and to Mr Blaxland.” The mention of
Blaxland infers that he too was an active beekeeper. His 1805
setback26 had been rectified.
The Australian (p.2) for 27 February 1838 reported that the Revd Mr
Steele and his wife arrived in Sydney on the Upton Castle on 24
February 1838. The Sydney Morning Herald for 27 March 1843 (p.2)
named Steele as the Minister of St. Peter’s Cook’s River.
Fanny Macleay, 1832
The Macleay daughter most likely to have been the recipient of
Wilson’s hive was Fanny (Frances Leonora). Helen Heney in her
book Dear Fanny (1985) “Fanny, the eldest daughter, shared most
intelligently the scientific interests of her father and brother.”
(p.99) Elizabeth Windschuttle in her 1988 book Taste & Science, the
26
refer The Immigrant Bees (Volume I) for more on Gregory Blaxland
63
Women of the Macleay Family, 1790-1850, described Fanny as a
“Natural history artist, flower painter, (who) acted as specimen
collector for her father’s and brother’s scientific pursuits. … One
of the first to recognize Fanny’s ability to draw was William
Kirby, a founder of the Zoological Society, a member of the
Linnean Society and in 1818 a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1814
he was encouraging Fanny to draw entomological specimens for
him. Kirby was one of England’s best known entomologists, who
published a definitive monograph on bees in 1802, and with
William Spence in 1815-1816, authored the famous publication
Introduction to Entomology, (4 vols, London).” (Windschuttle,
1988, p.56) “Fanny’s real interest was the environment. In
London, unusually for a woman, she had taken an interest in
natural history which was an absorbing passion of the male
members of the Macleay family. She maintained her father’s
scientific collection and in New South Wales became the main
assistant to him and to her brother William Sharp Macleay in
collecting botanical and entomological specimens and in making
drawings and paintings of them to send to England.” (Clarke,
1992, p.68) Fanny was born in 1793. At age 43 she married, only to
die six weeks after her wedding.
The ship John, 1831
The Hobart Town Courier for 21 January 1832 reported “It is a fact
worthy of record ... that out of one single hive of bees imported to
this country by Dr. Wilson in the transport ship John last year,
12 others have been produced, the total number in the
Government garden now amounting to 13.” A correspondent to
The Hobart Town Courier of 25 March 1836 reported that bees were
now very numerous in the colony.
Irrefutable Corroboration, 1834
My latest discovery regarding Wilson came as a result of a note in
British Bee Books, a Bibliography, 1500 - 1976 about a book titled A
Practical Treatise on ... the Management of Swine, Milch Cows and
Bees (seventh edition, 1834). After several attempts, I eventually
tracked down a copy of this book at the Albert R. Mann Library at
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Wilson’s first person quotation
is prefixed by “The following interesting account of the export of a
stock of BEES, to New South Wales, has been communicated by
64
Dr. Wilson, a friend of the Publisher.” In the following account,
Wilson’s correspondence reveals new evidence, particularly: the
source of the bee hive; how the hive was transported; who received
and cared for the bees; and confirmation that the original hive was
taken by Wilson to Sydney in 1832.
“A very strong hive was presented to me by Mr. Gunter of Earls
Court, they were embarked at Deptford in the ship John,
September, 1830. Sailed from Spithead 14th October, 1830, I
arrived at Hobart-town, Van Dieman’s (sic) Land, on the 27th
January, 1831. During the voyage, the hive was placed on the
front of the poop, and protected by a large wire frame, the bees
were thus at liberty to take the air, without being enabled to
escape. Notwithstanding the greatest care, vast numbers of the
bees died; many of them from injuries received by flying against
the wire-work, especially during the hot weather. 27 Shortly after
we passed the torrid zone, I thought it advisable to confine the
bees to their hive; I therefore placed a piece of perforated sheet-
lead against the aperture; I had it removed once a week, that the
dead bees might be separated from the living, this was easily
done. On arrival at Hobart-town, although the mortality had
been very great, I rejoiced to find that there was still sufficient left
to propagate their race.
His Excellency Lieutenant Governor Arthur was pleased to
accept them, on the part of the Government; and promised,
should they succeed, to distribute the swarm to any of the
colonists, who might apply for them. The hive was placed in the
public garden, under the special care of Mr. Davidson the
superintendant (sic), and as his Excellency had commanded that
the greatest attention should be bestowed on them, they soon
began to thrive and increase. In the space of one year there were
seventeen swarms.
On my revisiting Van Dieman’s (sic) Land, in August, 1832, I
carried the original hive I had brought from England to Sydney,
and presented it to Alexander Maclean, (sic) Esq. colonial
secretary, but from some cause which I cannot explain, they did
not promise to be so prodigiously prolific. From the great success
27
see chapter on James Erskine Calder c1870 where he mentions that
“about 4000 bees” remained in the hive
65
that the bee has met with, it is probable, that it will shortly
become an export of some value from the colony; it is a singular
fact, that though most of the native flowers and shrubs abound
with saccharine juices, the bee scarcely sips or lights upon them
at all, preferring on all occasions, the flowers of plants raised
from English seeds around them.”
Unfortunately, Wilson mentions his hive but gives no clue as to its
construction, be it of straw or wood. Wilson’s documented
movements support the above dates. His seventh voyage to Hobart
covered the period 2 April 1832 to 2 July 1832. He returned to
London from Sydney on 28 March 1833 on the ship Sovereign
arriving August 1833. He subsequently departed from England on 19
January 1834 on his eighth voyage arriving 9 May 1834.
Superintendent Davidson
Davidson, as first superintendent of the Tasmanian Botanic Garden,
was given responsibility for the wellbeing of Wilson’s hive of bees.
“In 1832 tribute was paid to Davidson for his successful
management of a hive of bees introduced by Dr T. B. Wilson R.
N., a surgeon and superintendent on convict transports. These
bees apparently were the first European bees in the Colony and
multiplied sufficiently in the Gardens for Governor Arthur to
send a hive to Governor Bourke 28 in Sydney.” (Hurburgh, 1986,
p.13) “He was obviously no ordinary head gardener risen from
the ranks. His letters29 reveal him as a man of education and
refinement, well favoured and unassuming. Governor Arthur was
elated to get a trained and competent man to take charge of the
garden. He described him as ‘of superior type to overseer Moore’,
the man in charge at the time. He was also a man of substance
with influential friends. He arrived on the Albion on September
15th, 1827 with capital of 500 pounds, 800 trees, 200 grape vines,
seeds, cuttings and letters of introduction in Sydney. … Davidson
asked for ‘a salary of 100 pounds with a ration and a house to
live’ … and for the privilege of selling any plants and shrubs not
wanted by the Government. Governor Arthur approved, except
that the sale of shrubs and plants ‘ should be limited and
defined’.
28
eighth Governor of New South Wales, 1831 to 1837
29
letters of introduction
66
Davidson proved just the right man for the job, developing the
gardens rapidly. By 1829, he was organising building material for
fences, making mushroom beds; coping with bureaucracy for
supplies and the army for the supplies of dung. He also had to
counter the theft of produce – including peaches – as well as
ordering plants and seeds from England and Launceston. …
Possibly the most memorable project undertaken during his
period of residence was the construction of the impressive Arthur
Wall under instructions from Governor Arthur. The wall was to
serve both as a western boundary to the Queen’s Domain and an
internally heated wall on which exotic fruits and flowers could be
grown.” (Hurburgh, 1986, p.11) It was most likely that against this
wall Dr. T. B. Wilson placed his hive of bees in 1831.
Edward Markham, 1834
Markham noted in his journal for July 1834 “A doctor of a convict
ship brought out the first six hives seen in this island, now there are
lots, as the Governor gives away some every year to his private
friends, keeping always a stock of ten hives. Now there are a
number wild in the roads.” The doctor referred to is obviously Wilson
though the mention of six hives is surprising. Markham described the
situation of the Government Garden “The garden is beautifully
situated and is, I suppose, 16 acres inside. Fine substantial brick
walls coped with stone, and prettily laid out, the Derwent washing
two sides of it, it being on a tongue of land ... There is a very pretty
cottage, built of stone and two beautiful Norfolk pines, vines and
hot houses; lots of mignonette as the bees are so fond of it. ... the
whole place has an air of a gentleman’s garden.”
James Erskine Calder, c1870
Within a 19th Century collection of miscellaneous papers in the Dixson
collection at the State Library of NSW, catalogued under James Erskine
Calder, I managed to transcribe a section of handwriting that mentions
bees. The handwriting was difficult to read, and the manuscript, due to
its many scratched out lines of script, had the appearance of the draft of
a book. I could not find any published version of it within the Mitchell
Library, the most likely candidate being Calder’s book Tasmanian
Industries, but it held no mention of bees. Some words I could not
discern however the general meaning is clear “The English bee was
first introduced here nearly 40 years ago by Dr Wilson and has
67
multiplied prodigiously and is now found ... all over the bush ... the
first hive ... which was thought to contain about 4000 bees and
honey has diffused itself so ... all over the Australian colonies. In the
country districts 1 lb honey is had cheaply. The prospects of home
meade ...”
Rev. R. R. Davies, 1832
The Independent for 28 July 1832 in ‘Ship News’ for Launceston,
announced the arrival on the same day of the government brig Isabella,
from Hobart Town. It also reported “By the brig Isabella ... a hive of
bees have arrived for the Rev. R. R. Davies, of Norfolk Plains” (now
Longford). Davies was a Church of England clergyman who arrived at
Hobart Town on 11 April 1830. From the Australian Dictionary of
Biography, he was “A keen horticulturist; he introduced many
plants into Tasmania, and was president and guiding spirit of the
Launceston Horticultural Society.” (pp.291-292)
There was another Isabella at this time, a convict transport of 580 tons,
which sailed from Plymouth on 27 November 1831, arriving Sydney 15
March 1832. Under Captain William Wiseman, it’s not known if Hobart
was a port of call on this occasion, where 224 male prisoners were
deposited at Sydney. And yet another Isabella is recorded, a schooner
under Captain Boyle.
Mr Clayton, O’Brien’s Bridge, 1835
Also from the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association “1835 One hive at
O’Brien’s Bridge, Glenorchy, produced 18 swarms” The original
report came from the True Colonist of 14 February 1835. “Dr. Wilson’s
importation is likely to prove a most important acquisition to the
Colony, the climate of which appears to be in an extraordinary
degree favourable to the production of honey, and increase of bees.
Mr Clayton has just informed us that one hive of his out at
O’Brien’s Bridge has afforded him already this season an increase
of 18 swarms, which are all hived and doing well. Wild honey will
soon be very abundant in the Colony, from the increase of many
swarms that have established themselves in the woods. We are
informed that Mr George Wise, of the Ship Inn, has sent a swarm
as a present to a friend in Sydney, where they have as yet been
without any bees.” The last statement is an interesting one, given the

68
publicised accounts of Wallace’s successful introduction of honeybees
in 1822.

From the Jervis (card) Index in the Mitchell Wing of the State Library
of New South Wales I found an entry for the Sydney Morning Herald
of 25 May 1837 “A gentleman, named Clayton, has just imported
from Hobart Town, about fifty or sixty Hives of healthy Bees,
which are well worth inspection. Some of the Hives contain, at
least, five thousand of these little industrious tenants. The
importer has already established the rearing of bees in Van
Diemen’s Land and wishes to introduce them here, without
regard to profiting by the speculation. The Bees may be seen as
per advertisement.” (p.2e) On the previous page (p.1f) may be found
the cited advertisement headed “BEES FOR SALE ” as depicted above.
Was Clayton practicing a form of philantropy or attempting to
supplement his income? The considerable number of fifty or sixty
hives were most likely his collection of swarms from the Spring and
Summer of 1836. In February 1835 one hive had produced for him
some 18 swarms.
Before shipping the hives at the end of Autumn, Clayton had sensibly
waited for the numbers within each to build through Summer. Cargo
space aboard the Orwell would need to be paid as well as his food and
accommodation costs in Sydney. Questions spring to mind: What
price was asked for each hive? Were the hives shipped in straw skeps
or boxes? Were they contained within wire cages or boxes of some
sort? I doubt they were handled individually.
In the same issue of the Sydney Morning Herald (p.1e) there is an
advertisement for various exotic foods, one being “New Honey”. It
was obtainable from the Cumberland Warehouse, 73 George Street.
69
The goods had been recently unloaded from the ship Hope out of
London. Once Clayton’s hives were sold and disbursed to their new
owner’s homes, the need to import honey would diminish.
Port Arthur, 1836 - Lempriere, Booth, Simpson & Carte
From The Journal of Charles O’hara Booth four colonial beekeepers
are revealed. “When the gardens were well established, Lempriere
gave Booth hives of bees and grafted double peach blossom for
him, and, in the fruit season, all the Lemprieres descended on the
Commandant’s garden to pick currants and strawberries.” (p.35)
Dr. James Ross, an early beekeeper, was married to Mrs Lempriere’s
sister, Susannah. Ross had come from Hobart Town to collect his
daughter, Clara, who had been staying with the Lemprieres. Thomas
Lempriere had previously worked in Hobart Town between 1830 and
1833, the period covering Thomas Braidwood Wilson’s arrival with
bees in 1831 and Wilson’s subsequent visit in 1832 when he was
publicly thanked for his introduction of bees. Lempriere, Booth’s
second in command, served at Port Arthur as from 17 March 1833.
He remained throughout Commandant Booth’s time and on to 1848.
Booth mentions his strawberry plants in blossom on 24 June 1834.
On 13 November 1834 “Looked at the ‘Honey Jar’ and started for
home about 9 AM.” (p.186). Was he describing a bee hive with a
glass bell jar on top? - a typical method of the time used to procure
honeycomb. Lempriere’s journal script is most difficult to decipher
and many entries are in French. I found this entry “25 Jan 1836. Mr
Simpson kindly lent me a hive of bees.” Simpson’s identity was
likely that of Reverend William Simpson, a Wesleyan Minister, who
served at Parramatta from 1831 to 1836, and in Van Diemen’s Land
until 1845. (Hill, p.115)

70
Charles O’Hara Booth, 1836 >>

Unpublished introductory notes to the diaries of T. J. Lempriere

(Lennox, G. 1996) kindly supplied to me by Gillian Winter of the
State Library of Tasmania, make interesting reading “On 4 January
1837, Lempriere noted that he had a swarm of bees that had since
given him two swarms, with one swarm given to the Commandant
and the other to Carte. On 26 January he received two lots of
honey from his hives and on 16 February Lempriere proudly
recorded that he sent a portion of the first honey made at Port
Arthur to various officers; however a few weeks later, Lempriere
noted that his bees had been dying for the past three days. His
apiarian prospects lifted again when one of his young hives
swarmed in January 1838. On 27 February Lempriere took the
honey from a fine hive of bees without killing them and gave
them to Captain Booth. This was followed a few days later by the
successful extraction of another hive, but when transferring a
further hive on 12 March, the recipients were stung by ‘very
savage Bees’ - Lempriere, however, escaped unhurt.” To take
honey without killing the bees, Lempriere must have known how to
drive the bees from one hive to another by drumming on the sides of
the hive.
A Correspondent, 1836
An unidentified correspondent to the Hobart Town Courier for 25
March 1836 supplier the following “You know that I am an Apiarian,
and no information that I can obtain about bees or their
management escapes me. Yesterday, while it was so excessively hot,
71
I was afraid that the combs in my hives might be so heated as to fall
down and smother the bees (an accident which did occur to one of
my hives this summer), I therefore got some strong matting (old
Mauritius sugar bags) to nail up in front of my apiary. 30 While
doing it, an angry bee stung me in the face just below my eye;
recollecting your acids and alkalis, I ran into the house in
considerable pain, which those who have experienced, know how
disagreeable it is, in the hope of finding a soda powder, but not
being able to lay my hand on one, I had recourse to a piece of
common yellow soap which I dipt in water and rubbed on the part;
I was surprised at the instantaneous relief which followed the
application, in one moment I felt not the slightest pain, but it did
not prevent the swelling which I believe always attends the sting of
the bee. As bees are now very numerous in the colony, similar
accidents may be frequent, and the knowledge of this fact may
prove useful to your numerous readers. From observation, I am
convinced that bees in this country require much more attention
than they do in England, and I hope to be able shortly to give our
Agricultural Society the benefit of my experience.”
A contributor to The New Zealand Journal for 27 November 1841 had
one method to prevent being stung “Woollen gloves, long, and to draw
over their sleeve at the wrist, and a wire cap to cover the head, will
be sufficient protection.” (p.297)
Francis Cotton & Dr. Ross, c1840
In Kettle on the hob: a family in Van Diemen’s Land 1828-1885, there
is an account of Francis Cotton who instructed a servant regarding a
man named Mark who was to be sent to hospital for nasal treatment “see
the man Mark, and tell him, before he returns to Kelvedon, (near
Swansea on the east coast) to go to Dr Ross to get a hive of bees, but
first he must procure enough canvas to cover the hive - I gave him
£1.0.0 to bear his expenses.”
Dr Joseph Milligan, Flinder’s Island, 1845
From The Adelaide Observer for 15 November 1845 “Some time
since a swarm of bees was taken from Launceston to Flinder’s

30
this suggests to me this beekeeper had several hives, the apiary likely
located within a framed, north facing shelter, the draped sugar bags acting as a
sun screen.
72
Island, but for some cause they did not live long after their
arrival. Dr. Milligan has given instructions to the owner of the
schooner Alexander to bring him over a hive of bees, there not
being one on the island.”
At the Great Exhibition of 1851, along with many varied exhibits such
as Wellington boots of Kangaroo skin, cases of birds and insects, whale,
shark and mutton bird oil, gum tree manna, pine resin, wattle-tree and
eucalyptus gum, there were also beeswax and honey samples from two
Van Diemen’s Land beekeepers. Milligan’s produce was represented by
a cake of beeswax and W. Rout supplied honey from the two previous
seasons as well as three cakes of beeswax. The catalogue supplied “In
no country in the world do bees thrive better than in Van Diemen’s
Land, or prove so productive with a trifling amount of attention;
circumstances due, no doubt, to the mildness of the winter season,
and the fact of many Tasmanian plants blooming throughout the
winter months. The bee has now become naturalised in the forests,
and many of the hollow trees are filled with the produce of their
labour.”
At the Universal Exhibition of Industry, Paris, 1855, Milligan had on
show one bottle of honey. The catalogue informed that honey was sold
‘a few years ago’ in Launceston for 3 pence to 4 pence per pound by the
ton for export. Since the discovery of gold in the 1850s, the price of
honey had risen to 1 shilling.
Hugh Munro Hull, 1864
From Hull’s Clerk of the House: the reminiscences of H.M. Hull 1818-
1882 “All 1864 and 1865 I remained at the Wellington Crescent
House (Hobart) where I succeeded in making a very pretty garden,
and got a hive of bees in from Rev. Mr. Simson.” (Revd. Charles
Simson was a Presbyterian Minister at Glenorchy between 1841 and
1870.)
Co-authored with James Erskine Calder (another “bee aware” person,
refer to the section on Calder on p.67), Hull presented a paper before the
Royal Colonial Institute on 15 April 1874. Titled The Forests and
Woodlands of Tasmania, the section on the Blue Gum is as follows:

73
 << Hugh Munro Hull. Clerk of the
House of Assembly at age 46

“The flowers of the Blue Gum contain a considerable quantity of a

saccharine matter, which affords food to bees, and also to paroquets
and honeysucker birds. A swarm of bees placed in a tea chest 3ft.
by 3ft. near a Blue Gum tree, will fill the hive in a season with rich
aromatic honey, worth 4d. to 6d. 31 a pound; and in early spring it is
delightful to see flocks of bright green paroquets glancing through
the trees, even in the very heart of our city, in search of the sweet
food.”
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Captain John Molloy, 1830
In 1956, R. S. Coleman32 wrote an informative article on early
beekeeping in Western Australia. He discovered an entry in Captain J.
Molloy’s diary which is held at the WA State Library. Coleman wrote
“There is some doubt concerning the date of the first successful
introduction into Western Australia. The first reference to bees
appears in the diary of Captain J. Molloy who landed at the Swan
River from the ‘Warrior’ in 1830. On December 1, 1829, he wrote:
‘Had the bees upon deck. Inspected them and cleared out the hive
and found a great number dead.’ ” (p.4). Note that the hive was on

31
4 pence to 6 pence
32
Officer in Charge, Apiculture, Department of Agriculture, Western
Australia
74
deck and not in a cabin, also that the bees must have been confined
otherwise there would not have been an accumulation of dead bees
within the hive. Coleman commented “The pioneer settlers of the
Colony, faced with the difficulty of importing all their sweetening
materials, rightly surmised that the Australian bush could support
a large bee population and made strenuous attempts to introduce
European bees into the new land.” (p.3)
William Hardey, c1830
In Agriculture in Western Australia 1829-1979, in the chapter on ‘The
Honey Bee’ by S. R. Chambers, a Senior Instructor in Apiculture at
the W. A. Department of Agriculture “There is some doubt about
when honey bees were successfully introduced. William Hardey,
who established the Peninsula farm beside the Swan River 5 km
east of Perth in 1830, is said to have had a hive of bees, but other
records suggest that the honey bee first arrived from the eastern
colonies about 1846. The first record of surplus honey being
exported is dated 1873. The honey came from a large bee farm
near Guildford.” (p.248).
William Hardey is not mentioned in The Australian Encyclopaedia,
however Joseph Hardey of the Peninsula, Maylands, near Perth, is
recorded as having arrived in the Swan River settlement in February
1830 by the Tranby. He was accompanied by his brother, John Wall
Hardey, the families of both of them, and a party of settlers. Joseph, a
Methodist lay preacher, had six daughters and a son. Details of
beekeeping may yet be found in a diary or letters left by him or
members of his family.
Mary Bussell, 1834
From Coleman (1956) “Mary Bussell who came to the Swan River
Colony on the ‘James Pattison’ in 1834, also attempted to bring a
hive of bees from England but the following extracts from her
letters and diary indicate some of the difficulties and
disappointments she experienced.”
Monday March 3, 1834. “I am very anxious about my bees. So
many have died within the last day or two. According to Mr.
Sherratt's advice, I have changed their food, perhaps tomorrow
may render me more easy about them.”

75
Tuesday, March 4, 1834. “I have cleared away all my poor dead
bees. From the number, I believe very few more could be in the
hive and I reproach myself for bringing them away, but to die at
sea. I have been obliged to remove the bees that are dead from the
hive once or twice, since on one occasion a great many of the poor
little things revived and at night returned to our scuttle - bees in
every direction. Mama, Mr. Sherratt's children, and myself were
dreadfully stung, nor did we succeed in saving any of them. The
few we caught died before daylight when I got up to return them
to the hive.”
March 5, 1834, Cape Colony, Table Bay. “My bees have not
swarmed and hundreds of them are dead, but yet I hope I may
save sufficient to form a stock.”
It’s interesting to observe that Molloy kept his hive on deck, though I
assume it was taken below during bad weather. That he had to clean
out the dead bees indicates they were locked in, otherwise the bees
would have done this job of housekeeping. Like Molloy, Mary
Bussell also collected (supposedly) dead bees. She apparently had a
cabin on the upper deck for the revived bees “… at night returned to
our scuttle …”, the hive likely kept on the deck below the cabin
scuttle. I suppose the bees were attracted to the light issuing from the
open scuttle, flew inside the cabin and began to sting her and
company. How did she collect the dead bees? Maybe there was a base
board with a wire collector beneath.
Her account is the third piece of concrete evidence pre Mackay in
1877 I have seen that hives were kept on deck rather than in a cabin as
Gregory Blaxland intended in 1806. Molloy in 1829 was one;
another, Thomas Braidwood Wilson in 1831 placed his hive on the
poop deck. The hive, a skep within a wire cage, allowed the bees to
fly within this confinement so that adequate ventilation could be
provided them while the ship crossed the Torrid Zone. Angus Mackay
kept his Berlepsch hive in his first class cabin but also moved it out
on deck to assist ventilation for the suffering inmates.
Mary Bussell’s letters and diary add more detail, particularly that she
fed the bees and was able to “change their food”. How they were fed
and with what is tantalisingly omitted. Cotton (1848) intended to feed
his bees thus “I shall feed them by putting glasses of honey over
the holes at the top of the Observatory Hive”. Mary also stated on
76
reaching Table Bay “My bees have not swarmed ...”. This might
mean she opened the hive entrance, either on deck or on land after
they had anchored, hoping that the bees would perform cleansing
flights and maybe gather some stores? For the shipment of bees to
New Zealand in 1842, Mary Allom organised the design of a
ventilated oblong box that contained a straw skep of bees. The feeder
was at the top of the box and covered in glass for interested
passengers to view. One surface of the box was covered in perforated
zinc sheet. Honey was the food and fifty six pounds was available for
the feeding of each hive. Ornate Nutt ‘collateral’ hives were shipped
empty for their permanent home once the destination was reached.
Coleman observed “Apparently none of the bees survived the
voyage for, in one of her letters to her mother, written after her
arrival in the Swan River Colony, Mary Bussell refers to “Foot’s
dog and cat” as “the only live things” to be landed.” Had the bees
reached the Swan their fate would have been a watery one. Mary
wrote “... The Stirlings have taken us in most hospitably, and here
we must remain until the return of the Ellen, which will directly
be ordered to take us down. The provisions and most of the heavy
goods have been sent down to Augusta in the Cumberland ...”.
“Mrs. Bussell’s first wish had been to join her family by this little
vessel, but had been almost forcibly dissuaded by Sir James
Stirling, on account of the wintry season, and the size of the craft.
It was well for them that he intervened. The Ellen delivered them
safely at Augusta, on October 5th ... A few days later news
reached Augusta that the Cumberland had been lost, with all
hands and all their goods from England, on the very evening she
sailed from Swan River.” (pp.37-38)
King George’s Sound, c1835
Coleman (1956) found a note made by a Captain Irwin in 1835 “Bees
have been landed at King George’s Sound since our last report.”
This might be a reference to the reputed shipment of bees by T. B.
Wilson, either from Hobart or Sydney around 1834. Captain Frederick
Chidley Irwin was then Commandant of the Swan detachment.
Possible catalysts were the Hentys who had acquired a property at the
mouth of King’s River, King George’s Sound in December 1831.
Another was Edward John Batman, who, with his Port Phillip

77
Association formed in Launceston, may have brought bees over from
1835.
Lieutenant Helpman R.N., 1841
Conflicting details have surfaced regarding the year of Lieutenant
Benjamin Franklin Helpman’s successful introduction of bees. The
weight of evidence supports 1841 and Coleman’s references to 1846
which follow appear to have been a typographical errors. Coleman
wrote in 1956 “The difficulties of transporting hives in sailing-
ships over thousands of miles of sea were eventually surmounted -
but it was only after a long record of failures and bitter
disappointments. In the long and involved sentences so dear to
journalists of a bygone era we are told how the Royal Navy
apparently succeeded where private individuals had failed.”
Lt. Helpman’s position of authority as master of his ship and his
access to ports such as Sydney where bee hives were more freely
available must have made his effort much easier than others who had
previously attempted to transport hives from Britain. His repeated
attempts to introduce bees highlights the difficulties and frustrations
sustained. The record Coleman found of bees in the Swan River
Colony he attributed to The Enquirer (sic) of 11 November 1846 “We
are enabled to congratulate our settlers on the first swarm having
taken place in the colony. The hive which the persevering
patriotism, for after all there is no patriotism more true than that
which seeks to introduce into new countries the foundations of
future blessings; the persevering patriotism of Lt. Helpman, R.N.,
after more than one unsuccessful and discouraging attempt,
succeeded in establishing at Fremantle, a hive which swarmed on
Friday last, and, a new hive being in readiness, the young swarm
was carefully secured and will we trust, found their own colonies
through Western Australia in saecula saeculorum.”
Coleman also supplied from the diary, published 1842, of Mr. Geo. E.
Moore, a former Advocate-General, who left the colony on
completing his first term of office in 1841 “Several attempts have
been made to introduce the bee from England, but whether from
the length of the voyage, or from want of proper management on
arrival, they have been hitherto unsuccessful. This is to be
regretted, as from the numerous honey-bearing flowers in the

78
colony, there is not doubt of their succeeding well. Governor Hutt
has offered a premium to the first successful introducer of them.”
Coleman’s story continued “Now, tracing back through the voyages
of Lt. Helpman, it is apparent that he must have brought these
bees into Western Australia either on June 12, 1846 when he
returned from a voyage to Adelaide, or alternatively when he
returned on March 2, 1846 from Sydney via Launceston.
Unfortunately, there is no note of his cargo in the papers of that
period, nor is his log of the period available. It appears probable
that the bees were introduced following upon his trip to Sydney,
in which case the first really successful introduction of bees to
Western Australia was on March 2, 1846. ” (p.5)
Helpman’s journals survive of his time aboard HMS Beagle between
July 1837 and March 1840. The Australian Dictionary of Biography
states Lt. B. F. Helpman left the navy in 1840 and was appointed
captain of the Western Australian colonial Government schooner
Champion. While in government service he made many coastal
voyages and several overseas in this tiny ship of 115 tons. He retired
in 1854 and settled with his family in Warnambool, Victoria.
Governor Hutt’s tenure concluded on 19 February 1846. Coleman’s
reference to two of Helpman’s voyages mid way through his 14 year
time on the Champion touch on just a subset of what would have been
a multitude of passages by which Helpman had opportunity to locate
and transport bees.
Continuing The Enquirer (sic) report of 11 November 1846 from
Coleman’s 1956 article Beekeeping in Western Australia, Some
Historical Notes “And here we really feel that we have a right to
express the thanks of the colony to Lt. Helpman for his unceasing
efforts on every voyage to bring some valuable addition to our
colonial resources, and this in a class of subjects, as fruit trees,
the silkworm, bees, etc., etc., requiring an anxious and skilful
care, which can result only from the most warm and ruling desire
to confer kindness and do service to the colony to which he is
attached.”
One reply to me in March 1996 from the Royal Western Australian
Historical Society supplied the following from The Inquirer of 7
April 1841, in which was reported a meeting of the Agricultural
Society at Guildford “The Secretary was instructed to write to the
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Governor, thanking him in the name of the Society, for the
reward offered for the introduction of bees into the colony.” Also
supplied from the 15 September 1841 edition of the The Inquirer “His
Excellency, the Governor’s prize of five pounds was awarded to
Mr. F. Helpman R.N., who had lately introduced three hives. Two
of these by mismanagement after leaving the ship have been
destroyed but the remaining one has been preserved and is in the
possession of the Governor.” Unfortunately, I’ve not yet been able
to access copies of these newspapers, however an April 1999
communication with the Royal Western Australian Historical Society
has confirmed the accuracy of the 15 September 1841 reference.
Mr Welch, Fremantle, 1848
In the Enquirer for 11 October 1848, “Two swarms of bees were last
week collected from the hives of Mr Welch at Fremantle.” This
small entry strongly indicates that bees were well established by 1848.
Unknown, 1866
From a 1988 report prepared for the Australian beekeeping industry
by Diana Gibbs and Ian Muirhead, titled The Economic Value and
Environmental Impact of the Australian Beekeeping Industry comes
the following subjective observations “The first successful
introduction of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to Australia took
place in 1822. Honey bees were able to provide settlers with the
important food and food sweetener used by the people of the Old
World for centuries. Honey bees were also used to pollinate crops,
most of which were introduced. Australian flora were found to
produce good quantities of nectar, and honey bees quickly
naturalised throughout Australian native forest systems by the
mid-1800’s. As the interior of the continent was opened up by
settlers, they were able to draw stocks of honey bees from the
feral population or obtain hives from beekeepers to establish
small apiaries, and the Australian honey industry became
established. ... The Australian honey bee had its origins in
successful introductions in New South Wales in 1822 and Western
Australia in 1866.33 Over the last 170 years, it has become
naturalised - in all but perhaps the most arid areas - from Cape
York to Tasmania and from the east to the west coast. By the
33
the Western Australian date of 1866 is incorrect as Helpman’s award in
1841 takes precedence.
80
mid-1800's, honey bees were established in the forest systems of
much of Australia (Laurie, 1863). There is anecdotal evidence
that by the late 1860’s settlers were augmenting diet and income
by harvesting honey from feral honey bee colonies. Feral honey
bees supplied the stock from which small apiaries were
established, giving rise to the honey bee industry in Australia
(Briggs, personal communication).”
The 1863 reference comes from a work by J. S. Laurie, titled
Landsborough's Exploration of Australia from Carpentaria to
Melbourne, with Special Reference to the Settlement of Available
Country (p.42). The “anecdotal evidence” that late 1860’s settlers
were “augmenting diet and income by harvesting honey from feral
honey bee colonies” pales when compared with Lang’s 1861
observation of an Illawarra beekeeper34 harvesting one and a quarter
tons of honey in one season which he sold for £35, a considerable
sum. Also, from Australia’s Blacktown from 1788 is this clue to
evidence of organised large scale beekeeping “An odd industry that
accompanied the quarry operations was that of bee-keeping, and
hives were positioned at good distances away from the workings
and the tent, or shack, quarry towns. This was especially so at
Prospect. Some blue metal had been mined at these areas in the
1860s and 1870s.”

SOUTH AUSTRALIA
It is possible that honeybees were introduced from 1836 by sea out of
Western Australia where there are records of them having been landed
in 1830, 1834 and successfully in 1841. There may also have been a
New Zealand connection. Captain Arthur Wakefield, head of the
Nelson settlement, was the addressee of a consignment of honeybees
from England in 1842. Captain Wakefield, a beekeeper, was brother to
Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a man prominent in South Australian
colonial matters at the time.
Whalers provide another link for in the Nelson Examiner for Saturday 8
October 1842 “When Dr Imlay visited Nelson in April last, he
brought with him, as a present to Captain Wakefield, a hive of bees.
These interesting and useful colonists are, as usual, among the
busiest of our settlers.” The Imlay brothers were involved in cattle

34
refer David Berry on page 22
81
breeding and whaling. William Wakefield, also a beekeeper, received
hives from Sydney. In The New Zealand Journal of 25 November 1843
“Colonel Wakefield has received bees from Sydney; in April last he
had five swarms;” (p.305). Early German settlers may also have been a
catalyst.
Nutt hives, Adelaide, 1845-1846
Two entire broadsheet pages In The Adelaide Observer for 15
November 1845 were devoted to various articles on bees and honey.
Among them, Mr Nutt’s “improved system of bee management” was
allocated half a column, some 1/6th of one page. Reference was also
made to Mrs. Allom’s efforts to introduce bees into New Zealand.
A correspondent to The South Australian for 8 September 1846 pointed
out that the lack of proper hives was a problem to the advancement of
the craft. A country gentleman had commissioned Jacob Pitman to
construct “a most ingenious hive, constructed after Nutt’s English
patent. ... There are in this hive four compartments communicating
with each other, and apparatus for feeding the bees and for
ventilation. By skilful contrivance, the honey will be got out in a
pure state, without disturbing, much less killing any of the bees”.
Bees from Launceston, V.D.L., 1846
There is no doubt that swarms were available within South Australia by
1846. A letter to the Editor in The Register for 2 May 1846 highlighted
a serious objection to the keeping of bees by cottagers as “the present
high price of swarms. The number of apiarians here is so limited
that they are enabled to demand a high price.” The correspondent
recommended that as was the case with other live stock, hives should be
imported from the neighbouring colonies. “As a commencement I
have requested a Port Agent to procure five hives from Launceston.
This will be sufficient to try how far the importation can be
managed economically, and if there is sufficient demand to make
their introduction a profitable matter of business.” (p.3)
VICTORIA
Edward Henty & Henry Camfield, 1834
For Victoria, the earliest date that bees might have been imported
would be 1834 when Edward Henty formed a pastoral settlement on
the shores of Portland Bay on 19 November, after first attempting to
82
settle in Launceston, Tasmania in April 1832. Honeybees had been
successfully established in Tasmania in 1831. “Edward ... sailed for
the bay in the Thistle, taking with him - besides stores - Henry
Camfield (who had travelled to the Swan in the same ship as
James (Henty), four indentured servants, stock, potatoes and
seed.” (Australian Encyclopaedia, 1958, p.487). The return of the
Thistle on 19 December 1834 with additional stock may also have
carried honeybees.
Camfield was a ‘honeybee aware’ person. In 1830, writing from the
Swan River settlement for the second time to his sister Maria back in
England, he provided a list of things which were important to bring,
should they decide to come out “mosquito nets, preserves, meats,
pickles, vinegar, honey, molasses, bees (in wire cages)” (Bassett,
1962, p.158). He may have suggested adding bees to the Thistle’s
manifest. Henry may have based his 1830 request for bees in wire cages
upon his observation on the method used by Molloy or by personal
observation aboard the Caroline with the Hentys, had they brought bees
with them.

QUEENSLAND
South Brisbane, 1854
It’s very unlikely that any bees were landed at Moreton Bay prior to
1842 until which time the settlement was closed to free settlers.
However in Beekeeping, a set of collated articles produced by officers of
the Beekeeping Section of the Entomology Branch, Queensland
Department of Primary Industries in 1979, there appears “In
beekeeping literature there is reference to black bees being kept
near Montague Road, South Brisbane in 1854. Queensland was
then part of New South Wales and there is not any definite
information as to how these colonies came to Brisbane. Probably
they were brought from Sydney by early settlers some time after
1824 when Brisbane was first settled.” (p.35)
c1861
From the chapter titled Natural Productions of Queensland (Queensland,
Lang, 1861) “There is one other article of production, which
certainly does not require the intervention of cultivation of any kind
to ensure its being obtainable in any conceivable quantity by
83
careful and industrious people, in Queensland, and for the raising
of which the climate and indigenous vegetation are admirably
adapted - I mean honey. Honey from the labours of the small,
native, stingless bee of the colony is procured in great quantities by
the Aborigines, and forms a frequent and favourite article of their
food. But the European bee has been introduced in Australia, and
propagated with remarkable success; the number of swarms which
a hive in working and breeding order throws off in a given time,
and the quantity of honey realised from the stock, with scarcely any
trouble whatever, being perfectly incredible to any person
acquainted merely with the management of bees, and the results of
that management, in England. A settler35 at Illawarra, in New
South Wales, who had directed his attention to this branch of rural
economy, had not less than twenty-five hundred weight of honey to
dispose of in one season. It was sold to a brewery in his
neighbourhood at threepence a pound. The climate and vegetation
of Queensland are, in my opinion, still better adapted to the bee
than those of Illawarra, and the circumstance suggests a source of
comfort and wealth to industrious emigrants of the humbler classes
that ought not to be despised.” (pp.176-177)
John Campbell, Laidley Creek, c1866
In Pioneer Women, Pioneer Land (1987) there is a double-page
reproduction of a drawing of Mr John Campbell’s farm at Laidley
Creek, Queensland, the original of which is held in the John Oxley
Library, State Library of Queensland. All details of the farm are
shown in fine detail: outbuildings, a simple cottage with verandah at
front, fruit trees, farm animals, neatly fenced yards and gardens.
Sitting quietly and almost forgotten in the picture is a low four-legged
table, upon which sits a flat topped skep hive. A small cloud of
hovering bees can be seen just above the hive. Was the artist
capturing what was actually present? Or was it a matter of
completeness with rural harmony satisfied by the inclusion of a skep
hive?

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

84
 skep hive, bees buzzing above, behind the railing fence
Dianne Byrne, Librarian, Reference Service, State Library of
Queensland, kindly responded to my inquiry “Campbell was one of the
pioneers of the Laidley district, along with Edward and James
Heenan and Joseph and William Cook. He was the first Justice of
the Peace gazetted in Laidley and a member of the Government
Road Board before the Divisional Board of Trampa was
established. He came to Laidley in 1866 and secured valuable land
on the western banks of Laidley Creek, near what became known
as Campbell’s Bridge, three and a half miles from the new township
of Laidley. He went in chiefly for lucerne growing and was
fortunate in securing land that proved capable of growing the crop
even in severe drought. He also went in as a sideline for grazing. He
built one of the finest homes in the district, a home that probably
was intended to be a reminder of the best farms in his native
England. I have been unable to locate any specific information on
his bee-keeping activities.”

85
John Campbell’s farm, Laidley Creek, Queensland, c1866

86
NORTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND
William Brown, Brown’s Island, Auckland, 1840
“In 1840 two hives of bees were imported from Sydney together
with many varieties of fruit trees by William Brown of Brown’s
Island, in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.” (Walsh, c1970, unpublished
manuscript) In notes taken by Chris Dawson, Brown was a member of
the Legislative Council c1851. In New Zealand and its Aborigines by
Brown “... a friend of mine in January 1844 received one hive
from Sydney ... the wild flowers afford excellent nourishment for
the bees and from blossom of the flax plant and the pohutukawa
tree in particular honey may absolutely be collected in pints
without the assistance of bees at all.”
St. Matthew’s Windsor, N.S.W., & Fr. Petitjean, Bay of
Islands, New Zealand, July 1842
It may have been that one hundred and fifty four years ago, when
some hives of bees were donated by a New South Wales beekeeper,
then to find their way to Kororareka, (present day Russell) Bay of
Islands, New Zealand, that the hives came from Windsor on the
Hawkesbury River, New South Wales. Marist Father Jean Baptiste
Petitjean had arrived on a charity seeking venture to the Catholic
community of Sydney because the mission in far north New Zealand
was in desperate need.
The first clue to this story came from a research file on New Zealand
beekeeping history, 30 years in the making, given to me mid 1995 by
a retired printer and accomplished amateur queen bee breeder. I had
come into contact with Chris Dawson of the South Island town of
Rangiora while researching my book on the introduction of European
Honeybees into Australia and New Zealand. In his file of notes,
clippings and extracts, I found his hand written entry extracted from
the 1845 work Remarks on the Past and Present State of New
Zealand, by Walter Brodie. “It was many years before we could get
flowers to seed, especially clover, at the Bay of Islands and we
only succeeded when Dr. Pompelier (sic) (the Roman Catholic
Bishop) introduced bees, which by assisting in the impregnation
of the different plants, were of considerable use in the colony.”

87
From this clue that Dr. Jean Baptiste Pompallier, head of the French
missionaries at the Bay of Islands, was connected with the
introduction of honeybees into New Zealand, there enters the efforts
of another history researcher. Bruce Stevenson, a commercial apiarist
from Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, subsequently discovered
references to a letter from Father Forest, another missionary at
Kororareka, to M. Epalle of the Marist Order in France, dated 9
November 1842 “... as arranged Fr. Petitjean went to Sydney a few
days after your departure. Our great need, already well known in
this town, has excited the compassion of many who would have
helped us if they had had the means to do so. But they have made
little impression on the rich who had to be besought very
earnestly before they provided 300 pounds together with stores
worth 100 pounds. Also the father has almost filled a ship with all
sorts of animals, a little like a Noah’s ark. He has brought us two
cows, a good number of sheep, some pigeons, some bees, and I
don’t know what else! ...”
Stevenson’s story relates “Bishop Pompallier obtained his
missionaries from the then infant Society of Mary, that we know
as the Marists. In 1839 Pompallier had established his
headquarters at Kororareka ... His mission was funded from
France and was fairly quickly into financial difficulty principally
because of the Bishop’s inability to handle money wisely. The
situation reached crisis point in 1842.” Now exit the Bishop from
the story, for prior to Petitjean’s departure for Sydney, Pompallier had
left the North Island to visit a Marist missionary on the Fortunas.
Additional research uncovered more of this unusual tale. The brig
Julia arrived on 28 June, having departed Russell on 3 June
(Australasian Chronicle, 28 June 1842). Petitjean was not listed as a
passenger but nine were noted as having travelled in steerage. It’s
most likely he was one of these, for this was the vessel on which he
returned, departing late August and arriving at Russell on 14
September. His recorded movements are consistent with the vessel’s
two month turnaround in Sydney.
In the Australasian Chronicle for Tuesday 5 July 1842, it was
reported that Petitjean addressed the Society for the Propagation of
the Faith in Sydney on Sunday 3 July. Part of his speech included the
following colourful report “He was gratified to see the zeal with
88
which they came forward for the propagation of the faith, and he
wished to express his gratitude for Bishop Pompallier, who was
the head of the New Zealand mission, as well as for himself. The
contributions were like the clouds which arose from different
parts of the earth, and collecting in one place showered down the
rain as a treasure.” Petitjean went on to explain that all donations
went to the Society headquarters in Lyons where the funds were
distributed, some of which came to his mission. There was no
mention of the Marists’ dire need for supplies, the prime reason for
his visit. I imagine his search for charity was done in a more discreet
manner.
Petitjean is next mentioned preaching, again not on behalf of himself
and his companions back at Kororareka, but for St. Patrick’s Orphan
School. The Australasian Chronicle for 23 July announced
“WINDSOR Tomorrow 24th INST. the Very Rev. Jean Baptiste
Petit-Jean will preach in the church of St. Matthew, Windsor, a
charity sermon, in favour of St. Patrick’s Orphan School.” (p.2d)
Later, under the heading “St. Patrick’s Society, Catholic Institute,
and Society for the Propagation of the Faith” in the Australasian
Chronicle of 9 August 1842 “... Rev. Monsieur Petit Jean one of the
missionaries from New Zealand, then addressed the meeting. He
was received with loud cheers ... He presented his complements to
the meeting for their generosity, for it was beyond all
expression ...” (p.2d). This article gave details of his talk, though
nothing was mentioned of the mission’s need in New Zealand.
Petitjean told of the natives interest in attending services, their
knowledge of good and evil and a description of the New Zealand
church as a sister to that in New South Wales. The sum of
subscriptions to St. Patrick’s and donations on the day was £13 8s 1d.
It’s not known what share, if any, went to Petitjean, as the alms may
well have gone to Society headquarters in Lyons.
The Australasian Chronicle of 23 August 1842 listed in the ‘Ships in
Harbour’ section “Juila, brig, 110 tons, Milne, at Milne’s Wharf,
the Captain, agent” (p.3a). On the same date, listed under ‘Projected
Departures’ was “... Julia for Bay of Islands ...” Petitjean’s fund
raising visit was almost over, though no mention of him seeking
funds for his own cause appears to have been published. At my

89
request, a time consuming search by the Archivist at Sydney’s St.
Mary’s Cathedral did not discover any mention of the Marist visit.
This time listed as a passenger, his return under Captain Robert Milne
may have been a little more comfortable than his earlier voyage. In
the Sydney Morning Herald of 3 September 1842 (p.2a), under the
section on shipping departures “the brig Julia for the Bay of
Islands, Auckland, and Tahiti, the same day, under Captain
Milne, with a general cargo”. The ship must have been crowded
with its menagerie. From Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Sydney,
1841-1844, Vol. III, the Julia’s dimensions were only 68.8 feet long x
19 feet wide x 12.2 feet draught.
Bruce Stevenson’s story In Search of Father Petitjean’s Bees, Early
History of New Zealand Beekeeping appeared in the New Zealand
Beekeeper for May 1996. The hives of honeybees obtained by
Petitjean appear to have safely arrived and prospered. Referring to
Maori linguistic research “... the French word for honey, miel, is
the root word for the Maori gainword miere, which is still used
today in some tribal areas.” The linguist argued that “the miere
gainword came as a result of the beekeeping of the French
missionaries ...”
In Fr. John Hosie’s book Challenge, The Marists in Colonial
Australia, he mentions the New Zealand Marists’ search for assistance
in Sydney “Petit-Jean had returned there, in 1842, to make an
appeal on behalf of the New Zealand mission. Specifically, he was
asking for food for the missionaries, many of whom were
suffering badly from an inadequate diet, and some almost
starving. Sydney Catholics were the poorest section of the
community, and to make matters worse, it was a time of financial
depression in the colony. Nevertheless, Petit-Jean was welcomed,
and appealed widely. ... Brady, now in charge of the parish of
Windsor, made a personal gift of a cow and calf for the starving
missionaries, and allowed Petit-Jean to make an appeal in the
parish. ... Any cash Petit-Jean raised in these appeals, he used to
purchase provisions in kind.” (p.18). He was wise to convert the
cash into provisions for “Pompallier invoked the religious poverty
of his missionaries to ensure that they had no money at all.”
(p.25).

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Indications of the fate of Fr. John Brady’s gift to Petitjean can be
drawn from Stevenson’s story “... in October of that year he and a
brother Basil undertook a most arduous overland trip to
Whangaroa driving one heifer, three sheep and three lambs as a
gift to the mission there. No doubt a small part of the Noah’s
ark.” Similarly, Fr. Petitjean probably had to drive his collection of
animals from Windsor through to Parramatta and on to Milne’s
Wharf. There they would have been loaded for the two to three week
voyage to the Bay of Islands in the far north of New Zealand. The
parishioners of St. Matthew’s Windsor, saw that some respite was
provided to the Marist fathers, and in turn the Maoris to whom the
missionaries offered their assistance.
Rev. William Charles Cotton, 1842 to 1847
For a major update on Cotton refer to my book William Charles
Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand. 1842 to 1847, published
in December 1997. Since then several items have come to my notice:
On page 60 of William Charles Cotton, reference is made to “little
Lydia”. This was Lydia Jane Williams, the tenth of eleven children of
Marianne and Henry Williams. Lydia was then 9 years old when
Cotton took 28 lbs of honey for her.
On Tuesday 2 April 1844 at Waimate, Cotton recorded in his journal
“The bees working very hard in the afternoon and carrying
enormous loads. Princess Mary has already got rid of all her
drones. They were killed last week. In the Princess Royal they are
just beginning to find them both very uncomfortable. Planted so
much Thyme in Paradise garden that it will be a very Hymettus.”
(Vol. 7, p.45). Fraser in Beekeeping in Antiquity mentions the honey
of Hymettus from the writings of Pliny (A.D. 23-79) who lived in
northern Italy “The best is produced from the calices of the flowers
on Mount Hymettus in Attica, Mount Hybla in Sicily, and on the
island of Calymna. It is, at first, thin like water, but later
ferments like must and clears itself. On the twentieth day it
thickens, and is covered with a thin layer of the froth of
fermentation which soon hardens.”

91
 Cotton in his latter years
Cotton’s book, My Bee Book, published in 1842 while he was at sea
headed for New Zealand, made quite an impact upon its readers. An
example of this appeared in The London Quarterly Review (Vol.
LXXI, March 1843). A 30 page article titled The Honey-bee and Bee-
books reviewed nine bee books published between 1817 and 1842.
My Bee Book won a mixed reception, but in part was described as “...
sent forth in one of the most elegant volumes that ever graced a
library-table. ... its exquisite woodcuts, perfection of dress,
prelude of mottoes, list of bee books (which, though imperfect,
particularly as to foreign works, is the first of the kind) -
appendices - reprints - extracts &c ., we hardly know of a book of
the kind that has pleased us more. ... professing no sort of
arrangement, it is the perfection of a scrapbook for the gentleman
or lady bee-keeper.” Cotton “is one of that noble crew, mainly
drafted from the ranks of aristocratic Eton, that have gone out in
the first missionary enterprise that has left the shores of England ,
worthy of the Church and the country that sent them.” See page
32 above where Emmeline Macarthur, then aged 13, recalls Cotton’s
visit to her fathers apiary at Vineyard House, Parramatta
From Allan K. Davidson’s Selwyn’s Legacy, The College of St John
the Evangelist, Te Waimate and Auckland, 1843 – 1992, A History,
further insights into Cotton’s complex character may be found.

92
“There were concerns about his eccentricities. Sarah Selwyn
recalled ‘that while his love for the Bishop, his enthusiasm, his
goodness and good nature, and his great cleverness would have
made him a valuable helper, it was all largely balanced by a want
of ballast which made one afraid of what he would do next’ ”
(Selwyn, Reminiscences, pp.14-15, in Davidson, pp.19-20) Sarah also
wrote “tho’ I have sometimes to take him to task for things left
undone certainly his most excellent temper and right mindedness,
make him a most easy person to live with” She found him to be “a
kind friend to me.” Jane Williams wrote “Mr. Cotton too greatly
improves upon acquaintance and has many good points in his
character, tho’ he is not what we would like to see as a clergyman
and as chief master of the collegiate school. His kindness and
attention to poor Marsh Brown during his long and trying illness
seem to have had no bounds.” (p.41) Davidson wrote “Close
superintendence of College affairs was necessary because of the
financial stringency under which Selwyn operated. Writing to
Cotton’s father, a Governor of the Bank of England, Selwyn
referred to “William’s monomania of spending” and the necessity
to “exercise the tyranny of a Dragon over every unnecessary
expenditure, as if every pound were one of the fruits of the
Hesperides36”.” (p.50)
Cotton must have been an active beekeeper even into the last decade
of his life. Showler (1978) reported that Cotton, after accepting the
living of Frodsham in 1857, threw “himself wholeheartedly into the
discussions which led up to the formation of the British
Beekeeping Association and the establishment of local and then
national British honey shows. By the late 1860s he had an
established national reputation and in 1873 judged at the
Manchester Show, England.” In 1874 Cotton judged “at the first
English national show, ‘The Great Bee and Honey Show’ at the
Crystal Palace, Sydenham, London.”

36
Hesperides, in Greek mythology, were the daughters of the Titan Atlas
and Hesperus, the evening star. Assisted by a sleepless dragon, the
Hesperides guarded the Tree of Life, with branches and leaves of gold that
bore golden apples. One of the 12 labors imposed upon the hero Hercules
was to bring back the golden apples of the Hesperides.
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Neighbour (1878) relates that Cotton had a stock of bees from Austria
c1870 and left them under his charge at the Neighbour apiary in
Hampstead “… where they did very well, working in a capital
super in the first year, as well as parting with a fine swarm. The
second year Mr. Cotton had the swarm sent to his own apiary, 37
near Chester, because he wanted the original queen, which of
course this had with it.” (pp.45, 78)

SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Mrs. Mary Ann Allom, April 1842
From a newspaper scrapbook held at the Hocken Library, Dunedin,
comes extracts of two letters. The source is probably the Hawke’s Bay
Herald if the editor’s affiliation of ‘H.B.H’ can be taken as a guide.
The date of publication is also unknown but it’s likely to be late
December 1895. The first letter under the banner ‘A Deserved
Recognition’ was from Amy G. Storr, daughter of Mrs. Thomas
(Mary Ann) Allom, dated October 1895. Amy Storr pointed out to the
editor “Knowing the interest you take in matters relating to the
early days of the colony” the achievement of her mother in
introducing bees to New Zealand. For this she was presented in 1845
a Royal Society of Arts and Commerce silver medal by the Prince
Consort.
That the effort was no ‘hit or miss’ endeavour by Mrs. Allom is
obvious from the following “I well remember the months of
anxious planning and experimenting with bees on the top of our
house in Bloomsbury, carried on by her before she perfected her
scheme for their safe transit. The special hive containing the bees
was made under her instructions by Messrs Neighbour and Sons
of Holborn.”
As an effective means of demonstrating her success, Mrs. Allom
presented “the first piece of beeswax made by these bees ... to the
Royal Society of Arts, with a small model showing the way in
which they had traveled”. Supplied with the letter was an image of
both sides of the medal. The editor described it thus “on one side of
the medal the Queen’s head, with the words ‘Arts and Commerce
Promoted’. On the reverse side is a laurel wreath, with the
37
at his residence at Frodsham
94
legend, ‘To Mrs Thos Allom, MDCCCXLV, For the introduction
of bees into New Zealand’ ”.

The relevant minutes of the Society of Arts for the meeting of 19 May
1845 in part read “... during the voyage the bees were taken care of
by the Rev Mr Saxton & his family. After passing the Bay of
Biscay the bees were fed with 2/3 honey and 1/3 water. The whole
arrived safely in the colony, and wax, the first produce of Bees in
New Zealand has been presented by Mrs Allom to the Society. …
The Chairman considered that Mrs Allom’s example would in all
probability lead to the introduction of Bees into other parts of the
world where they might be of great service.” Having passed the
Bay of Biscay the ship left behind a dangerous and difficult area of
navigation, thus allowing more genteel usage of the deck area. The
recommendation to present the silver Isis medal was agreed to on 21
May 1845.
Lady Barker, 1866
In Thomson’s 1922 work on the naturalisation of plants and animals
in New Zealand, there is mention of Lady Barker’s book Station Life
in New Zealand in which she says she ate bush-honey in Canterbury
in 1866. Thomson comments that wild bees were very common in
Southland in 1868. Thomson also supplied “The Hon. Herbert
Meade writing in 1871 says: New Zealand is par excellence the
95
land of honey, and although the bees have only been introduced
for, I believe, about twenty-five years, the woods are already full
of wild honey. A friend assured me that he had takes as much as
70 lbs. from a single tree, and known others to get 200 and 300
lbs. at one haul; another man collected a ton and a half in a few
weeks. The greatest enemies to the bees here are the dragon-flies,
which grow to an enormous size. They waylay the luckless bees
when homeward bound and laden with honey, and after nipping
off the part containing the sting, devour the remainder with the
honey, at leisure. … Dragon-flies do occasionally eat bees, but
they are not really formidable enemies; their numbers are too
few.”
Chatham Islands, October, 1890
From Thompson (1922) “Honey-bees were sent over to the
Chatham Islands in October, 1890. They had been imported
previously, though I have not got a date for their introduction,
but were supposed to have been destroyed by spiders, which were
particularly abundant.” (p.280)

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

NEW SOUTH WALES
Angus Mackay, S. MacDonnell, 1880
Within Rayment’s 1947 unpublished manuscript, in the chapter titled
‘Introduction of the Hive-bee’ “In 1880, the late Angus Makay, (sic)
then editor of the Town and Country Journal and S. MacDonnell,
of Sydney, both imported Italian bees from America. At that time
Italian queens were selling at from £2 to £5 each. ...”
E. Garrett, 1881
Rayment wrote fleetingly of “... E. Garrett, then of New South
Wales, was contemporary with I. Hopkins of New Zealand in
importing Italian queens about 1881 ... After 1882 Italian queens
reached Australia in large numbers …”

96
 A MODERN BEE FARM
from Angus Mackay’s Elements of Australian Agriculture (1885)

Wilhelm Abram, Parramatta, 1883

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

97
 IMPROVEMENT
This illustration appeared in The Town and Country Journal for 24
November 1883. It shows part of the equipment utilised at Wilhelm
Abram’s Italian Bee Farm at Parramatta. “The swarming-bag is one
of the best things we have seen in bee culture. It is about 6ft in
length, and 1/2 1ft in diameter, and formed of alternate lengths of
calico and mosquito netting, each length having a ring of cane
inside, to hold out the bag as shown in the sketch. When the bees
are about to swarm, the bag is fastened on the front of the hive,
and the other end fastened to a stake. When the queen emerges
she bounds up into the upper end of the bag, and is quickly
surrounded by her followers. Thus the swarm is captured with
ease, the alternate breadths of mosquito netting and calico
making the interior light and enticing for the bees to enter and
cluster. They are then shaken into a bar frame hive.”
TASMANIA

Thos. Lloyd Hood, Hobart, 1884

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

98
returning in about half an hour heavily laden with honey. ... Mr
Hood has provided himself with bar hives, comb foundations and
other appliances necessary to beekeeping on a scientific basis; and,
combining with these, the possession of the best honey producing
bee known to the apiarian world, he anticipates still greater success
that he has hitherto been able to achieve.” (p.9e)

SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Charles Rake, Enfield, 1883
In Garden and the Field of April 1884 an article titled ‘Paper upon
Bees’ by A. Molineux “Mr Charles Rake, of Enfield, was the first
one in South Australia who imported and who first received a
colony of Ligurian bees. The honour belongs to him, and to him
alone, as it was only as late as September last there ought to be no
difficulty in establishing the fact. It is true that a gentleman a few
years ago imported two ‘Neighbour’ hives stocked with Ligurian
(or Italian, as they were then called) bees, which arrived in good
condition, but through mismanagement he lost them. Messrs. C.
Rake, A. E. Bonney (bees imported by the Chamber of
Manufactures), and J. H. Weidenhofer obtained ‘tested’ Ligurian
bees in order of their names from Sydney, and have each been
successful in increasing their stock to several hives or colonies.”
The Adelaide Observer for 12 March 1881 reported “... two or three
attempts have been made to introduce the Italian bee into
Australia from America, but with indifferent success. Only a few
hives of this bee exist in Australia ...”
Ligurians for Sale, 1885
In Information for the People by A. O. Chambers (1885, p.53), L. T.
Chambers of Flinders Street, Adelaide, and the South Australian
Beekeepers’ Supplies Co., both advised ‘black bees’ for sale.
Chambers offered “Ligurian bees per post to any part of the
Australian colonies.”

99
100
 an 1886 advertisement, from Hopkins Australasian Bee Manual
Ligurians at Fairfield Apiary, Mount Barker, 1885
The Adelaide Observer for 23 May 1885 (p.10. cols d-e; p.11, col.a)
reported that this apiary kept Ligurian, ‘common black bees’ and
hybrids.
W. Stevens, 1886
In the Second Annual Report for the South Australian Beekeepers’
Association, among reports of honey production for several
beekeepers with stocks of black bees, W. Stevens was reported to
have obtained 556 lbs. from one colony of Ligurians and its increase.
Another Twelve Queens from Italy, September 1886
In The Adelaide Observer for 18 September 1886 “Successful
Shipment of Ligurian Bees: By the Potosi, which arrived on
Tuesday morning, Mr. H. H. Dollman received a shipment of
Ligurian queens from Mr. C. Bianconcini, of Bologna, Italy. As
on a former occasion, the whole number (twelve) arrived in good
order, reflecting great credit on the manner in which they had
been packed to stand the long journey, more particularly as they
had to cross the Red sea during the most trying month, that of
August.” It seems that this shipment travelled south east down the
Mediterranean Sea to Egypt, overland to the waters of the Red Sea,
down its length to the Gulf of Aden and east into the Arabian Sea,
then south east across the Indian Ocean towards the Australian
Continent.
One Surviving Queen from U.S.A., August 1886
The Adelaide Observer for 20 November 1886 carried an item from
the Mount Barker Courier “About three months ago Messrs.
Coleman & May, apiarists, of Mount Barker, ordered ten
Ligurian queen bees from Mr. Alley, a well known beemaster of
Wenham, Massachusetts (U.S.A.). They were dispatched per
packet post by the Californian mail steamer, being enclosed in
pieces of comb containing many other Ligurian bees. On their
arrival at Auckland the packets were opened and examined, and
it was found that only three of the queens were alive. They were
taken out, and, after three weeks’ spell in hives at that city, they
were re-dispatched. When the parcel was delivered at Mount
101
Barker it was found that only one still survived. Fortunately she
is strong and healthy. It was not expected that the whole of the
ten royalties would get safely through their voyage, but a return
of five or six out of the ten was anticipated. Messrs. Coleman and
may sent to the United States for the queens because the
Americans take more pains than the Italians over the breeding of
the Ligurians, and as a consequence they are better and more
reliable workers.”
Kangaroo Island
August Fiebig, c1881
Betty McAdam of the Hog Bay Apiary on Kangaroo Island, kindly
supplied the following details following my enquiry. “The National
Trust has erected a plaque near to Penneshaw, reading as
follows: August Fiebig introduced Ligurian bees from Italy in
1881 and established an apiary here. The strain is still pure. …
There are anecdotal stories by local residents of August Fiebig
who erected a house in an area known as Blue Gums.” Betty
advised that enquiries upon the National Trust and Penneshaw
Council have failed to produce any documentation in support of
Fiebig’s beekeeping activities. David Clifford of Cliffords Honey
Farm wrote to me paralleling Betty’s comments “Local folk lore has
it that he brought over 12 hives of Ligurian bees to Penneshaw in
1881 – I have no official confirmation of this.”
Betty also supplied “Kangaroo Island Beekeepers Association has
received a gift of an original hive used by August Fiebig, which
has been restored for a display on the bee sanctuary history. A
plaque on the hive reads as follows: Dzierzon hive (Gerzon)
German origin 1845. This hive was manufactured by Messers
Fiebig and Weidenhofer in the 1880s and was stocked with
Ligurian bees and formed the nucleus of an apiary on Kangaroo
Island. … August Fiebig is reported (anecdotal evidence again) to
have moved to Kangaroo Island from mainland South Australia,
possibly Angaston.” I’ve found little additional detail on Fiebig, only
that he read his papers “The Various Races of Bees” and “Artificial
Increase in Bees” before the South Australian Beekeepers’
Association on 8 July 1886.

102
I wonder where the pronunciation of Gerzon on the Dzierzon hive at
Penneshaw originated. I located in a 1903 edition of The ABC of Bee
Culture another two, prefixed by “Probably few readers of English
have come across this name for the first time without stopping to
look at it in order to ascertain what to call it. The Germans have
had the same difficulty, and got around it by calling it Tseer-
tsone; and as this pronunciation is pretty well established,
perhaps it would be well to stick to it. There is little doubt,
however, that it should be looked at from a Polish standpoint,
and called it Jser-zone.”
As to the design of the hive used by Fiebig, I’m keen to visit
Penneshaw one day to see it. Also from The ABC of Bee Culture
(1903) is a cryptic description of such a hive. Dzierzon apparently
began serious beekeeping around 1835 using simple box hives, each
having a removable lid. He found that these retained too much
moisture beneath the wooden cover so he devised a straw one to avoid
this disadvantage. To remove the straw top without damaging the
combs, which would otherwise have been suspended from this straw
ceiling, he placed as many inch-wide bars, spaced a finger-breadth
apart, as were required to cover the hive. He encouraged the bees to
consistently build their combs suspended from the bars by fastening a
piece of comb to the underneath of each bar. This was similar if not
identical to the top-bar beekeeping used by William Charles Cotton in
New Zealand between 1842 and 1847. The Langstroth moveable
frame method was not to appear until 1852. The Dzierzon hive was
subsequently improved by Baron von Berlepsch in 1853 when “by a
distinctive inventive process added the frames to Dzierzon’s
bars.” (Neighbour, 1878, p.129)

A. E. Bonney, December 1883

A. E. Bonney, in a letter to the editor of The Adelaide Observer for 29
September 1883, (p.13, col. c) declared himself in favour of the
introduction of Ligurian bees into South Australia. The Adelaide
Observer for 29 December 1883 (p.11, col.e) reported a shipment of
bees from J. Carroll, beemaster near Brisbane, to Bonney of Upper
Kensington, by order of the Chamber of Manufactures. Bonney
consented to raise colonies of these bees. In 1886 Isaac Hopkins stated
“In South Australia, as Mr. Bonney informs me, the Chamber of
Manufactures imported a colony of Italian bees from Mr. Fullwood,
103
of Brisbane, in December, 1883, and succeeded in establishing them
on Kangaroo Island, where they are doing remarkably well.” (p.16)

Mr. Buick, American River, K.I., April 1884

The Adelaide Observer for 19 January 1884, (p.12, col. a) contained a
report from Bonney to the Chamber of Commerce regarding Ligurian
bees “recently imported by the Chamber”. On 5 April 1884 (p.30,
col.d) the paper carried another report by Bonney regarding Ligurian
bees belonging to the Chamber of Manufactures. “I shall have two
colonies ready at Easter to go to Kangaroo island and should like
to receive permission to send one to Mr Buick, of American River
... although I have written to Mr Turner, of Smith’s Bay, relative
to withdrawing his black bees, and giving him Ligurians in
exchange, he has not sent me any reply ... It was resolved that one
colony of the Ligurians be entrusted to Mr Justice Boucaut for
conveyance to Mr Buick at American River, Kangaroo Island. Mr
Bonney to be requested, if possible, during Easter holidays, to
take another colony to Mr Turner, of Smith’s Bay.”
A report from Bonney to the Chamber of Manufactures in The
Adelaide Observer for 17 May 1884 (p.11, col.e) “... During Easter
holidays (Easter Sunday: April 13 1884) Mr J Boucaut took one
queen in a full colony to Mr Buick ... In March I imported two
colonies from Queensland.” James Penn Boucaut (1831-1916) was
at that time a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia and a
former Premier of that colony. One of his interests in his private life
was his yacht “which he could handle like a master mariner”
(Australian Encyclopaedia, 1958), safe hands then in which to entrust
the delivery of a hive of bees.
Mr. Turner, Smith’s Bay, K.I., June 1884
On 9 August 1884 in The Adelaide Observer (p.13, col.b) another
report appeared by Bonney to the Chamber of Manufactures “On
June 25 the original hive of Ligurian bees, imported by the
Chamber from Queensland, was sent safely to Mr Turner, at
Smith’s Bay, K.I. It has been arranged that on her return trip the
ketch Hawthorn will bring away the black bees, and then, so far
as I know, there will be no other than Ligurians on the island.
The settlers should, in their own interests, try to prevent the

104
introduction of black bees to Kangaroo Island during the next
few years.” Reports also appeared by Messrs Buick and Turner.
Bonney reported in The Adelaide Observer on 18 October 1884 (p.12,
cols.d-e) “... bees on K.I. are in a flourishing condition.” From W
Stevens “Ligurian queen bee granted me by the Chamber is doing
very well.” John Turner “The Ligurians are doing first rate.” John
Buick “The bees to all appearance seem to be working
splendidly.” In the newspaper column “The Beehive” in The
Adelaide Observer of 21 March 1885 “At the last meeting of the
Chamber of Manufactures a letter was read from Mr. A. E.
Bonney stating that he had not received any further reports
relative to the Ligurian bees on Kangaroo Island.”

K.I. Bee Act Foreshadowed, 1884

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

Another 20 Queens from Italy on the Cuzco, 1885

David Clifford of Kangaroo Island states three queen bees arrived on
the Cuzco on 17 October 1885. “In 1886 another 20 Ligurian queen
bees were obtained from Italy and 58 daughter queens were
reared and purely mated.” David’s information is based upon a fact
sheet put out by the S. A. Department of Agriculture and an article
written by David Woodward, then Senior Apicultural Advisor for the
South Australian Department of Primary Industries. “In October
1885 the South Australian Chamber of Manufacturers imported
ten live honey bees from Bologna in the province of Liguria in
northern Italy. A survey of Kangaroo Island residents …
disclosed that only one hive of black bees occurred on the island.
This was destroyed and replaced by a hive of Italian bees from
Queensland. The secretary of the South Australian Beekeepers’
Association, Mr. A. E. Bonney, introduced three of the queens
imported from Liguria onto Kangaroo Island after ensuring all
105
black bees had been destroyed. Twenty queens from Liguria were
sent to the island the following year and 58 daughter queens were
reared and purely mated.” (American Bee Journal, Feb. 1993,
p.124)
K.I. Confirmed “Black Bee Free”, 1886
In the section titled “The Beehive” in The Adelaide Observer for 1886
(exact date unknown) “At the last meeting of the Chamber of
Manufactures (from the Second Annual Report, Year Ending 30
June 1886) a report was submitted showing the result of enquiries
addressed to residents on Kangaroo Island as to the black bees
reported by Mr. Grainger to be existing on the island. ‘Of the 45
circulars issued 23 have been answered. The result is eminently
satisfactory, as it shows that there are no black bees on the island,
and that the Ligurians introduced through the actions of the
Chamber are almost all doing well. There is therefore every
prospect of a thoroughly pure supply of Ligurian bees becoming
established. One apiarian has already reared fifty-eight Ligurian
queens, and says that not one was impurely mated. It appears
that years ago there were some black bees introduced to the
island, but they some time ago all died out. The only vestige of
them is the statement of Mr. Hicks that his boys have seen black
bees in the scrub, but judging from all the other reports there is
very little doubt but this refers to the native bee. This insect is
spoken of in the report of Mounted-Constable Withall , who says
– ‘In answer to Question 5, I would mention there is what is
called the native bee, and which I am informed is totally distinct
from the wild bee. The native bee builds its nest in the dead stems
which grow up from the grasstree or yacka bush. The honey is
obtained from the stems of the yacka bush, which when in bloom
produces a large quantity. It is also got from the wild
honeysuckle, which grows all over the island. I have myself on
one occasion when visiting the west coast of Kangaroo Island cut
off about 3 feet of a dead stem from the yacka which had bees in
it. I plugged up the hole and brought it home. I tied the stick to a
verandah-post and took out the plug. I do not know how long the
bees would have lived, but I had them for three weeks when the
stem got broken. The bees seemed quite at home while I had
them.’ Mr. J. Turner of Smith’s Bay, after giving the answers to
various questions, adds: - ‘My bees are doing splendidly this
106
season, making a fine lot of honey – in fact I never saw them do
better, and I have been used to bees since I can remember. I work
my bees with the Langstroth bar-frame hive, and think it a great
improvement on the old style of kerosene box. I have sold four
swarms and given two swarms away this season, and have five
swarms left.’ Mr. Albert Waterman of Cygnet River, says:- ‘I
have noticed a kind of wasp very much resembling the black bee
in this district, which probably Mr. Grainger mistook for bees.’
Mr. A. E. Bonney, to whom I have referred these replies,
considers them very satisfactory. The native bee spoken of will
not, he says, prove any hindrance to the establishment of a pure
Ligurian strain on the island, its habits being so different as to
prevent likelihood of mixture.’ ”
The Second Annual Report of the South Australian Beekeepers’
Association was presented at the Chamber of Manufactures on
Thursday 8 July 1886, by the Secretary, A. E. Bonney. Among the
various items presented “You will no doubt remember that the
Chamber of Manufactures took advantage of the Bill which was
passed during last session of Parliament to prevent any but
Ligurian bees from being kept on Kangaroo island, and sent
there several colonies of this superior race.” As some believed that
black bees existed on the island, the Chamber had previously issued
some forty four or forty five circulars to residents asking for
information on the subject.
The Secretary stated “The Chamber has recently handed over to
our Association all business in connection with the distribution of
the Ligurian bees which were imported last summer, and it will
be for us to decide as to what future action is to be taken in the
matter. ... It is a fact that with the exception of New Zealand the
beekeeping industry is in a more advanced state in South
Australia than in any of the other colonies, and that this is mainly
due to the efforts of the Chamber.”

Eight More Ligurian Queens to K.I., 1886

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

107
twelve ordered nine arrived alive, but one died shortly after being
landed. Of the eight queens three were reserved for Kangaroo
Island, and were forwarded to residents there, who promised to
give their best attention to them. The other bees were distributed
to gentlemen in various parts of the province - in districts where
black bees did not at present exist. The distribution of these bees
was kindly undertaken by Mr. A. E. Bonney, Hon. Secretary of
the South Australian Beekeepers’ Association, whose attention
and trouble in the matter the committee desires to recognise and
tenders him its best thanks for his services. The reports which
have been received have been most gratifying, particularly from
Kangaroo Island, where it is fully expected a pure strain of bees
will be preserved.
Reference was made in last year’s report to the fact that a Bill
was then before Parliament the object of which was to set aside
Kangaroo Island as a reserve for Ligurian bees. This Bill has
passed, and black bees are not allowed to be taken or kept there.
the importance of this measure may not be immediately apparent,
but the fact that there is a depot so near to the Australian
Colonies whence a new strain of bees can be secured will in the
future be of great value to this colony. In support of such a
statement the opinion of Mr. C. L. Root, the eminent American
apiarist, may be quoted. In a letter to Mr Bonney, he said:- ‘If
you are successful in passing the Bill and keep only Italian bees,
the world will yet come to you for Italians. I would ask no greater
privilege than to be able to keep the Italian bee where I could
control its purity for a certainty. I would build up a strain not to
be surpassed.’
In consequence of a statement made publicly that there was a
large number of black bees on the island, the committee issued
circulars (44 in number) to public officials and private residents,
asking for definite information in reply to certain specified
questions, and the answers received were of a highly satisfactory
character. Having fostered the bee industry thus far, the
committee thought its further care might be relegated to the
Beekeepers’ Association. At the request of the committee that
Association has consented to relieve the Chamber from further
oversight of the bees that have been distributed, and all the
information collected on the subject has been handed to the
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Association.” Given the information from this and other reports, it’s
clear to me the first Ligurians reached the island on Easter Sunday, 13
April 1884 with all black bee colonies removed on or soon after 25
June of the same year.
VICTORIA
Edward Wilson, Alfred Neighbour, T.W. Woodbury, 1862
Until now the generally accepted date for the first successful
introduction of Italian honeybees, Apis mellifera ligustica, into
Australasia, was some time in 1880 when Chas Fullwood personally
introduced them into Brisbane. Isaac Hopkins reported in his 1886 The
Australasian Bee Manual “Mr. Fullwood ... determined to introduce
Italian bees ... In the year 1880 he brought five queens with himself
from Liverpool to Melbourne, and thence to Brisbane. New South
Wales also received a shipment of Ligurians in that year. Within
Tarlton Rayment’s 1947 unpublished manuscript, The Commercial
Bee Farm. A Manual on the Cultivation of the Hive-bee and the
Profitable Production of Honey and Beeswax, in the chapter titled
‘Introduction of the Hive-bee’ “In 1880, the late Angus Mackay,
then editor of the Town and Country Journal, and S.
MacDonnell, of Sydney, both imported Italian bees from
America. At that time Italian queens were selling at from £2 to £5
each.”
New Zealand was also in the picture in 1880. From Isaac Hopkins
1886 Australasian Bee Manual “... two splendid colonies of
Ligurians were landed in Auckland - one consigned to the
Acclimatisation Society, Christchurch, the other to Mr. J. H.
Harrison, Coromandel.38 Too much praise cannot be given to
Captain Cargill39, who took charge of the little creatures from the
moment they were shipped and personally attended to all their
wants on the passage across. The hives came from Los Angeles
County, California, and were procured by Mr R. J. Creighton,
the New Zealand Government representative, to whom much
praise is due. This consignment, owing to the method of packing,
having been so successful, Messrs. Hopkins and Clark, of the
Parawai Apiary, took steps to procure some colonies, and two

38
Thomson, 1922, gives the year as 1879
39
see also page 121 for Captain Cargill
109
were received in due course from Ventura County, California.
These, too, were received in splendid condition, thanks again to
the care taken of them by Captain Cargill. Following upon this I
obtained from America two other consignments, in all twenty
nuclei and two full colonies.” (pp.9-10)
A hint to an earlier introduction was in the December 1885 issue of The
Australian Bee Keepers Journal, which reported that Edward Wilson
had imported Italian bees into Victoria around 1865. Another pointer
came from Hopkins in 1886 “In Victoria, we are told that the late
Mr. Edward Wilson had a stock of Ligurians sent out to him in
1862, by. Messrs. Neighbour and Sons; ... But I am informed that
no successful attempt had been made to establish the race until
quite recently ...” (p.15). On the same page Hopkins wrote “It is stated
by Dr. Gerstaecker, that four stocks of Ligurian bees were shipped
in England by Mr. I. W. Woodbury, (sic) in September, 1862, and
that they arrived safely in Australia, after a passage of seventy-nine
days. It does not appear, however, that these stocks succeeded and
propagated their race ...”. Unknown to Hopkins, the Wilson /
Neighbour / Woodbury associations were related to the same incident.
Tarlton Rayment wrote on Woodbury’s effort in his 1925 book Money
in Bees in Australasia, “... they arrived in good condition.” (p.271).
Alfred Neighbour reported in The Apiary (1866), details of his
beekeeping goods stand at the International Exhibition of 1862 “Among
others who took a deep interest in our exhibition was Mr. Edward
Wilson, President of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria. This
gentleman requested us to pack four stocks of the Ligurian bees for
conveyance to Melbourne. With the assistance of Mr. Woodbury -
whose aid was, indeed, essential, - these stocks were sent off on the
25th September, 1862, by the steam ship Alhambra, so as to arrive
at the colony during the Austral summer. The hives were
Woodbury frame hives, having ample space and ventilation, as well
as the means of supplying water to their inmates during the voyage;
there was, also, a sufficient store of honey to last until the following
March.”
The four Italian queens were imported into Melbourne where they
eventually survived and prospered. Their progress is fully detailed by
Woodbury in The Horticultural Journal, Cottage Gardener and
Country Gentleman between 1862 and 1865. The earliest date for the
110
successful importation of the Ligurian honeybee into Australasia can
now be pulled back eighteen years from 1880, and the location
identified as Melbourne, Victoria.

<< Woodbury straw walled and roofed bar-frame hive

The bees, as is apparent in a later issue of the Journal, were shipped

in ‘Woodbury bar-frame’ hives. This hive adhered to Langstroth frame
hive principles. It held ten 13 inch x 7 3/8 inch frames. Daphne More,
in her 1976 work, The Bee Book, supplied this note “To make it more
acceptable to people who still felt that straw was the proper
material for hives, one version had sides covered with a sort of
straw matting - and very attractive it was.” (p.108)
Angus Mackay in The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist and Colonists’
Guide of 1875, provided an illustration of the Woodbury bar-frame
hive and detailed measurements, as well as the following description
“The hive is furnished with ten moveable frames ... each frame
has a small ridge or projection running along the underside. This
ridge, being waxed, induces the bees to build parallel combs, thus
obviating the necessity for guide comb ... The top bar projects
half an inch at each end ... The hive is rabbeted on the inside
upper edge three-eighths in and five-eighths of an inch down, to
receive the ends of the frames. ... When the frames are placed in

111
the hive they hang from the rabbet, and leave half an inch space
all round, between the end of the frames and the hive.” (p.158)
The Journal for 20 June 1865 stated “Woodbury frame-hives were
first introduced into the colony with the Ligurians, and appear to
have been fully appreciated, whilst we have reason to know that
the Victorian Apiarian Society numbers among its members
many accomplished bee-keepers...”. The article referred to a letter
from a beekeeper to The Australasian on 4 March 1865 “I took a
notion of keeping bees, and commenced six weeks since by
placing a swarm in one of Woodbury’s frame-hives ...” (p.478)
In the Journal for 18 March 1862 Woodbury wrote “I have been
favoured by Messrs. Neighbour & Son with a sight of, and
permission to copy the following letter from Melbourne,
Australia, making inquiries upon this interesting subject. The
difficulties attending the transportation of bees to the antipodes
are undoubtedly very great, although I am disposed to think they
may be successfully encountered and overcome. Any hints from
the accomplished apiarian correspondents of THE JOURNAL OF
HORTICULTURE which may assist in the solution of this problem,
will be highly esteemed by - A DEVONSHIRE BEEKEEPER .” From
this, how to get the bees safely to Melbourne was not immediately
apparent even to the knowledgeable Woodbury, and by inference, to
Messrs. Neighbour & Son, suppliers of beekeeping appliances.
The letter was signed by J. Sayce, President of the Apiarian Society of
Victoria “Gentlemen, - The introduction into Victoria of the
Ligurian bee having recently been a subject of much discussion
here, may I ask a favour of your replies to the following questions
in connection therewith: - viz.,
1. - Are swarms or colonies of the Ligurian bee procurable by you
in England?
2. - What would be the invoice price per stock, sent in suitable
plain, bar, or other hives?
3. - Would you undertake to forward them hived in such a
manner as would insure their safe passage to Melbourne;
ordinary casualties excepted?

112
4. - Could you forward them immediately on receipt of an order-
ie., without waiting for any particular season? As far as this
country is concerned they might arrive at any season with every
prospect of success.
In addition, any brief observations on their management - if any
management peculiar to this description of bee is necessary -
would be much valued.” (p.508)
The Journal for 30 September 1862 reported that four stocks of
Ligurians, departed for the antipodes aboard the Alhambra, a steam
ship of 766 tons, on 26 September 1862. On 24 March 1863 the
Journal carried an article titled Safe Arrival of Ligurian Bees in
Australia. This advice was copied from another journal, the Yeoman
of 20 December 1862. “We certainly entertained hopes that one or
two out of the four stocks would survive the voyage; but that not
one should have failed surpasses our most sanguine expectations,
and speaks volumes for the skill displayed by ‘A DEVONSHIRE
BEEKEEPER ’ in providing for the wants of the little travellers
during their voyage. The result cannot fail to be highly gratifying
to him, as well as to Mr. Edward Wilson, to whose public spirit,
we believe, the colony is indebted for this interesting importation,
and to Messrs. Neighbour and Son, through whom the order was
given, and who superintended the transmission of the hives from
Exeter to Southampton, their place of embarkation.” (p.235)
Edward Wilson was the founder of the Victorian Acclimatisation
Society at Melbourne in 1861. The report of the safe arrival of the
hives was lodged with the Acclimatisation Society by the Apiarian
Society. The report stated “... although a very large proportion of
the bees had perished from the confinement, yet, in consequence
of all the four queens being alive, the Society confidently
anticipate that these will form the nucleus of an important
addition to the bee-stock of the colony. ... in consequence of the
small number of Ligurians left in each hive, it had been found
necessary to strengthen the hives by placing with them some of
the common bees to provide the necessary food, and also for the
sake of warmth; but this proceeding will in no way impair the
ultimate purity of the new swarms of bees issuing from these
hives.” Their reasoning was correct, but unless future virgin queens

113
were isolated from drones of the common bee, that purity of race
would soon be hybridised.
The next episode appeared on 16 June 1863, titled Ligurian Bees in
Australia, which reported on a letter recently received from Wilson
“You will be glad to hear still further good news of your Ligurian
bees. By the last mail I hear that from one of the hives, three
fresh stocks have been already formed, raising our number to six,
and offering fine prospects for the spring. All the gentlemen who
have had these bees under their charge are delighted at their
manifest superiority over the common bee.” (p.446). One of the
original four hives had absconded. Woodbury later reported in the
Journal for 14 July 1863 “It may be remembered that the first
venture was made with four stocks. All reached Australia alive,
although with greatly reduced numbers; but one I believe
afterwards deserted its hive. Of the remaining two, the one under
the care of Mr. Sayce, the President, has well filled its hive with
honey, and the other under the care of Mr. M’Millan has formed
a strong stock.” (p.40)
Woodbury added in June 1863 “I need scarcely add how much
pleasure it gives me to learn that my little favourites are
vindicating their high character at the antipodes; and how
ardently I trust that they may amply repay, by their prosperity,
all the care which has been lavished upon them since their arrival
in the colony.”
The Journal for 14 July 1863, reported that Mr. Edward Wilson had
forwarded “various reports from the Australian Apiarian Society,
and journals kept by the gentlemen to whose care the Ligurians
were entrusted upon their arrival in Australia”. Woodbury then
reported the following as supplied by Mr. Sayce, dated 23 March
1863 “It may now be fairly stated that the Ligurian queen bee is a
more prolific insect than that with which we have been so long
familiar; and I do not hesitate to say that the industry exhibited
by these bees is unapproachable by that - great as it is - which
characterises the others; or perhaps I should speak more
correctly were I to say that the Ligurian bee is a more puissant
insect, and that this, added to a most extraordinary gift of scent,
which enables it to discover the existence of honey however
remote or hidden its receptacle, gives it a superiority in the
114
collection of food. I have also observed that its labours are less
interfered with by the weather; for during the recent rains, except
when very stormy, the bees went out and returned laden with
their stores, apparently quite unconscious or indifferent to the
existence of anything which could occasion them inconvenience or
discomfort.”
Woodbury had shut up the bees on 22 September 1862, and on the
arrival of the bees after a confinement of 79 days, Mr. H. Templeton,
of George Street, Fitzroy, began his diary “received a hive of
Ligurian bees, the property of the Acclimatisation Society, which
upon examination, proved to be in a most wretched condition, the
inner surface of the hive bearing testimony to the great distress
which the swarm had endured on the voyage. Found about three
quarts of dead bees in the empty box placed under the hive for
the purpose of ventilation, which I at once removed. On
examining the comb I discovered a few living bees - not more
than a large tea-cup might contain, and many of these in a sickly
dying state. Left these to gain a little strength before troubling
them.”
Two days afterwards Templeton “took out the frames containing
the combs one by one in order more fully to ascertain their true
state. Found on both sides of one comb and on one side of the
combs adjoining on each side of it, a number of fine looking bees,
by this time much revived, each having an orange belt round the
upper part of the abdomen, and yellow rings distinctly marked
back to the point. Discovered the queen - a fine large yellow one -
actively running about on the centre comb occupied by the living
bees, evidently enjoying excellent health.”
Woodbury related “In two days more fresh laid eggs were
discovered in three of the combs. From this time all went well.
Three stocks of common bees were at different times united to the
Ligurians, and with such skill and good fortune were these
junctions effected that no fighting took place. Copious feeding
was also resorted to, and under the influence of this stimulus a
number of drone eggs were laid.

115
Neighbour’s display, International Exhibition,
London, 1862

116
 Woodbury bar-frame hive with crown board and observation window
Queen-rearing and the formation of artificial swarms were next
attempted with similar success.” On 23 March, Templeton wrote
“The young queens are come to maturity, and are out of the cells.
I have supplied two common hives with Ligurian queens, and
have, therefore, four hives, two of which I know to be all right,
and the two others are hopeful. ... the quantity of brood deposited
by the two young queens is most astonishing.”
On 3 April Templeton recorded “... examined a few frames, and
found the old queen not only lively and well, but carrying on the
breeding as vigorously as ever. Were I to state the number of eggs
that the queen has laid since the 10th December last - viz, sixteen
weeks, it would appear quite fabulous; no beekeeper will believe
it until he sees them - it no more than double the number a
common queen could produce in the same time.” The diary ended
on 11 April with the announcement that there were four royal cells “...
which being from the brood of a young queen would produce
grand-daughters of the old queen that came from England.”
(p.40). Eight stocks in frame hives had already been supplied with
Ligurian queens. His other four were yet to receive them.
Woodbury again reported progress in the Journal for 31 May 1864
quoting from the second annual report of the Acclimatisation Society
“This bee is multiplying with almost incredible rapidity, and will
soon be accessible to all classes.” He added “I need hardly say that
the above assurance of their well-doing and rapid dissemination
throughout the colony has been perused with much
satisfaction ...” (p.408)

117
The Sydney Morning Herald for 4 April 1864 reported “Four hives of
the Ligurian bee have been obtained, and there seems no reason
to suppose that Australia will prove an exception to all other
countries into which this insect has been introduced.” (p.3d)
A note of great satisfaction appeared in the Journal on 24 January
1865 “The apiarian readers ... will be pleased to learn ... that the
Italian stocks exported from my apiary to Australia in 1862, are
doing remarkably well, and have multiplied prodigiously in a
climate which appears to be most favourable to them.” (p.82)
Under the title ‘Acclimatisation at the Antipodes’ in the Journal for
11 April 1865 “I find an advertisement in The Australasian, of the
24th December last, offering stocks of Ligurians for sale at £10
each, whilst swarms of common bees are offered at 20s. each.”
(p.299)
After the success of the first importation, Wilson subsequently requested
that three more hives be sent out. “Mr. Wilson was so well pleased
with the careful manner in which these stocks were fitted out for
their voyage across the seas, that he subsequently instructed us to
prepare him three more hives, which were sent out in a sailing
vessel. Owing to the mismanagement of the water supply during the
voyage, only one stock survived in this instance. Mr. Wilson
informs us that one of these hives contained 136lb. Of honey on 25th
of December, 1864.” (Neighbour, 1878, p.349) Not only was Victoria
the first colony to import Italian bees but also appears to have been
the first to receive and adopt the Langstroth style hive upon which the
Woodbury hive was based. Congratulations to those early Victorian
apiarists.
QUEENSLAND
James Carroll, Angus Mackay, M. Blasdall, 1866, 1872
In Volume I the years supplied for Carroll’s (sometimes unsuccessful)
introductions ranged from 1872 to 1881. The following details are
taken from a 1979 Queensland Department of Primary Industries
publication, Beekeeping “Mr J. Carroll of Enoggera imported a
colony of Italian bees from the United States of America in 1866,
but it did not survive. Between 1866 and 1872, Messrs. A
Mackay, M. Blasdall and J Carroll, of Brisbane, succeeded in
importing safely an Italian Colony from which Mr. Carroll

118
subsequently introduced the coloured Italian queens to all his
hives. From 1872 to 1880 he sent many of these Italian colonies to
different parts of Australia.” (Department of Primary Industries,
1979)

From Elements of Australian Agriculture (1885) by Angus Mackay,

in the chapter titled The Honey Bee in Australia “The illustration
(above) shows Mr. Jas. Carroll, of Lizzielea apiary, Queensland,
and amongst the first practical bee masters in the colonies. The
position shows how the bar-frame hive – largely introduced by
Mr. Carroll – facilitates artificial swarming, changing frames, for
examination purposes, to strengthen another stock, or other
necessary operation.” (p.163)
Charles Fullwood, 1883
From Hopkins 1886 The Australasian Bee Manual is an extract from
the first number of the New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal
(1883) where Charles Fullwood reminisced on old style methods
“Some years ago large quantities of bees were kept by farmers
and others in a very primitive fashion, and the bush resounded

119
with the hum of the ‘busy bee’. Timber getters, wood carters, and
aborigines frequently secured large quantities of honey from
hollow trees; both the black bee and stingless bee, peculiar to
Australia, were found almost everywhere. Gin cases, tea, or any
kind of rough boxes were appropriated to bee use, and such is the
climate, and the yield of honey so regular, that bees appeared to
thrive everywhere, and in any kind of hive, so long as they had a
cover under which to build their comb and rear their brood. No
skill was demanded in their management. Given a swarm – put it
in a box, on a stand, under a sheet of bark; then look out for
swarms in a few weeks; and, after a while, turn up the box, cut
out some honey, or drive the bees into another box to go through
the process of building and storing, to be again despoiled in like
manner.
No thought about the destruction of brood, waste of honey and
wax; no care about the queens. Would not know a queen from a
drone, or their value in the hive. What matter if a few boxes
(stock) perish? Such was the natural increase by swarming that a
few losses were of no consequence.
Anybody could keep bees who had courage enough to rob them.
The aborigines knew how to do it. With a tomahawk and fire-
stick they would attack the ‘white-fellow sugar bag,’ and driving
the bees with smoke, deprived them of their honey. ‘Pettigrew’s
old Irishman’ was not required here to teach the Australian
aborigines how to rob the bees by means of smoke. (Pettigrew
uniformly favoured skeps. In 1870 he wrote The Handy Book of Bees:
being a practical treatise on their profitable management) wherein he
championed large straw skeps as the best method of working bees;
from Lawes, The Bee Book Book, 1991, p.82)
A few years ago, however, a great change came over the land. A
moth, unknown previously, commenced its ravages. The bees
succumbed before it, and were rapidly swept away. Farmers
owning from fifty to two hundred stocks lost all. The bees in the
bush gave way also before the terrible onslaught, leaving the
invader all but master of the field. Only a very few individuals,
by dint of determined persevering watchfulness and care,
managed to save a few stocks amid the general devastation.

120
Bee-keeping naturally came to be viewed as a very precarious,
risky, and unprofitable business; and, although it has its charms
for many, there are but two or three persons in the colony who
have any number of stocks, or who attempt bee-keeping as a
means of obtaining an income.” (p.14) Hopkins commented “In
order to remedy this state of things, Mr Fullwood very properly
determined to introduce Italian bees, which are known to defend
themselves more effectually than the German bee against the
inroads of moths, ants, and other enemies.”40
NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Isaac Hopkins, 1922, abundance of “black bees”
Thomson (1922) in The Naturalisation of Animals & Plants in New
Zealand “Mr Isaac Hopkins of Auckland, formerly Chief
Government Apiarist, tells me: There have not been sufficient
foreign bees other than Italians cultivated and escaped in New
Zealand to make any difference in our wild or vagrant bees. It
might be possible to find a pure Italian vagrant colony that had
just escaped from some apiary, but not one of the second
generation. There are too many “black bees” about, and in a state
of nature they breed a tremendous number of drones, while we
restrict their breeding. Therefore there is a large preponderance
of black drones flying, and in most districts the chances are fifty
to one that an Italian queen will meet a black drone. There are
plenty of crosses, Black-Italians, about.” (p.281)
SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND
S. C. Farr, 1880
From The Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern
California, 1905, I’ve taken the following extract written by Mary M.
Bowman, from notes supplied by Noah Levering, founder of the
historical society. “For several years previous to 1880, when this
shipment was sent, numerous trials had been made by the best
apiarists of Europe and America in exporting the Ligurian bee to
the island of New Zealand, but in every instance it had resulted in
failure; when the hives reached their destination the occupants
were dead. The success of the project was considered so essential

40
see Immigrant Bees, Volume I for details on Fullwood’s importations.
121
to the welfare of the country, the Commissioner of Colonial
Industries urged the appropriation of $2500 to send a man to
Europe on this special errand. But, while the matter was under
consideration private enterprise was at work striving to bring
about its accomplishment. S. C. Farr, secretary of the Canterbury
Acclimation (sic) Society, had communicated with R. J. Creighton
of the San Francisco Post, the official representative of New
Zealand in that city. Mr Creighton wrote to Mr Levering, a
pioneer bee keeper in the Los Angeles county, then conducting a
department of apiculture in the Los Angeles Herald, requesting
his assistance, which was readily given.
Mr Creighton ordered two colonies of bees sent to San Francisco
early in July in time for the steamer Australia, which was to sail
for Aukland (sic) under command of Captain Cargill41. All the
details were left to Mr Levering’s well known knowledge and
experience in bee culture. He had hives constructed after his own
plan, similar to those used in his apiary, except that special
provision was made for ventilation in crossing the equator. An
orifice was left in the side of the hive in front, covered with wire
cloth. A small V-shaped box was placed over the opening on the
outside with a sliding cover on top. The box was filled with
sponge to be moistened occasionally with fresh water, which the
bees could inhale through the wire cloth and which also cooled
the atmosphere of their prison. A similar opening was left in the
top of the hive, covered with wire and provided with a sliding lid
for protection against possible cold. Several three-quarter inch
auger holes in the floor permitted a circulation of air. The
alighting board and the top board, each extended out about four
inches and the space between being securely covered with wire
cloth formed an air chamber through which the honey-makers
could circulate at will, or at the promptings of instinct, as the case
may be. A sufficient amount of honey in old comb well sealed
over, was provided for food, a frame of two of brood comb, empty
frames and frames of empty comb, kept in place by wooden slats,
filled the remaining space and supplied the working implements
for the ever-busy and industrious inmates. About one-half the
41
Captain William Cargill was a Royal Mail Ship captain from as early as
1875. R.M.S. Australia was a big ship for its time: 4 masts, 2730 tons,
single smoke stack, deck cabins
122
colony with a queen was put in each hive and the tops firmly
screwed down; the object of dividing the colony being to obviate
the heat that the whole would engender in crossing the equator,
which would have melted the comb and caused the bees to perish
in their own sweetness. In Mr Levering’s opinion the failures of
other shippers were due to their putting an entire colony in a
hive, which, with the honey and the comb necessary, could not
withstand the heat of the equator; an important factor in the
success of the undertaking which had been overlooked. After the
bees were placed aboard the steamer a gentleman considered an
authority on bee culture, assured Captain Cargill that they could
not survive the voyage, owing to the faulty construction of the
hives.
In October following, the Herald of Aukland announced the safe
arrival of the Los Angeles county bees; a public demonstration of
rejoicing was held and more orders for bees followed. In the
course of a few months Mr Levering shipped a number of
colonies without the loss of a single bee, 42 and the increase soon
supplied New Zealand. Mr. Levering, having been so successful
with Italian bees, was asked to send bumble bees, but after a long
and fruitless search for them in Southern California, he was
forced to abandon the project, as they are not natives of this part
of the world.
Red clover had previously been raised in New Zealand, but
produced no seed, there being no insect there to pollenize the
blossom, consequently seed for each crop had to be imported
from other countries. In 1889 the newspapers of Aukland stated
that the island was then exporting clover seed of home raising.”
(pp.208-210)
Otago, 1883
Thomson (1922) states “The Canterbury Society imported four
hives of Ligurians in 1880, and the Otago Society ten hives in
1883; but most of those introduced were brought in by private
individuals and bee-keepers’ associations.” (p.281)

42
I suspect this is an an exaggeration
123
 T. G. Bricknell, c1884, Le Levre & Robert Stewart 1886
“Robert Stewart of Southland, New Zealand’s first and best
known commercial queen breeder, bought his hive from a Mr Le
Levre of Canterbury who had imported his hives from Root and
Co. of America in 1886. About the year 1884 T. G. Bricknell
imported Italian bees from U.S.A. Before this he imported
Carniolans. Stewart bought two of Bricknell’s Italian hives. He
next purchased Italians from Mr R. Gibb of Menzies Ferry who
had imported them originally from Root & Co. He also imported
some from a Catholic institution in South Australia. The
institution had brought the queens in from Italy. The descendants
of these queens populated Mr Stewart’s apiaries at the time of his
death.” (Walsh, c1970)
Capt. Adam Blackwell & George Blackwell, c1866 to
1895
A lengthy warm-hearted article by Dorothy Wiseman appeared in the
The Weekly News on 13 March 1963. Titled Swarmed for His Honey,
Capt. Blackwell’s Days at The Barrier, the following interesting
details were supplied on this 87 year old beekeeper “Time was …
when all Auckland knew the Rosella as the ‘honey boat’ and
citizens simply ‘swarmed round her,’ Captain Blackwell recalls
… when he brought her up from the Great Barrier Island with
her cargo of honey. All the coastal townships knew the Rosella too
… her honey was sold for 2/6 a five-pound tin.” Adam, born 1876,
ran his own small boat service on the Wave at the age of 14. At age 23
he gained his coastal master’s certificate.
… for the Blackwell family, bees, boats and Great Barrier Island
have been immediately associated for a very long time. It was
after the Maori wars that Adam’s father, George Blackwell …
who had served as a blacksmith with the Royal New Zealand
Fencibles when they were encamped at Panmure, was allocated a
40-acre section – in common with other veterans of the wars – on
Great Barrier Island in the vicinity of Tryphena (in 1866). On the
Great Barrier, George Blackwell and his fellow-settlers realised
after a few years that their 40-acre sections were much too small
for effective farming, and with some others who were also ‘game
to give it a go,’ Blackwell therefore decided to try bee-keeping as
offering better possibilities, perhaps, for making a living.
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 Captain Adam Blackwell in 1963, aged 87
Nine years after they had begun the Blackwells possessed 500
hives and their flourishing business included their own sawmill
for making frames, boxes and so on. In six weeks, in the 1895
season – a typical example – they procured and canned 10 tons of
honey, a goodly quantity of which was exported to England. They
also distributed foundation wax comb all over New Zealand, and
were, it is thought, the first people to import a foundation wax
printing machine from the United States of America.
‘We were among the first in New Zealand to import queen bees
from Italy,’ said Capt. Blackwell, ‘and before long we were
sending queens all over New Zealand, and also to some of the
Pacific Islands.’ The bees in the Great Barrier Island bush when
the Blackwells first went there were the English ‘black bees,’ …
They were ‘vicious brutes’ according to Adam Blackwell, and, as
a species, they also produced an unduly large number of drones.
The introduction of the Italian bees and the ‘smoking-out’ of as
many as possible of the black bees soon effected a great
improvement. Steadily the Great Barrier built up a reputation as
an excellent honey-producing area – the bee-keepers in the main
being about 10 of the original families and their descendants. …
the gallant captain is still best remembered for his bees, and
‘Where’s your honey?’ is still the first question asked of him by
old acquaintances he may chance to meet.” (p.7) Adam Blackwell,
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as captain of the trading schooner Rosella, personally took the queens
to the islands. Captain Blackwell passed away at the age of 94 in
1969 (Walsh, c1970). Isaac Hopkins recalled in 1916 that upon his
discovery of foul brood in his Auckland apiary in the 1888-89 season,
he subsequently arranged with another Blackwell (Thomas) to raise
all his queens “there being no disease there”.

How Were Bees Shipped until the 1850s ?

A CLUE FROM 1959
This 1959 incident sheds some light on 19 th Century possibilities. In
The Australian Bee Journal of February 1959, in an article titled Bees
Choose Home on Ship “A number of reports about bees aboard the
Barwon, an Australian coastal freighter, has reached us. The
swarm went aboard the Barwon at Watson’s Bay, Sydney, about
three months ago and were hived by one (or more) members of
the crew. Since then they have been to many Australian ports.
There is speculation on how long they will survive, as they will
lack supplies of pollen and nectar for days at a time while the
ship is at sea, and suffer losses of field bees each time the ship
leaves port. It is contended that there will be little or no loss of
field bees while at sea.” (p.16) The bees were obviously allowed free
flight while at sea. I have yet to find a subsequent report on the
longevity of this hive.
Toge S. K. Johansson of N.Y., U.S.A., replied to me in 1996 as
follows “Yes, bees could be given flights in port and also at times
when the vessel was becalmed at sea.”
NUTT’S HIVES TO NEW ZEALAND, C1846
From Neighbour’s The Apiary (1866) “Upwards of twenty years ago
we sent a Nutt’s hive stocked with bees to New Zealand. We then
adopted the plan of fixing the hive in a meat safe, so that the bees
could fly about a little, and also cleanse the hive of their dead, for
the bees are very attentive to sanitary arrangements; they always
remove the dead ones from their midst, and do not void
excrement within the hive.” The meat safe, typically constructed of
perforated metal (or latterly, wire gauze), would have provided
sufficient ventilation. It’s likely that only the brood chamber of the
Nutt hive was shipped within the meat safe, space being a valuable

126
resource on board ship. The collateral boxes, like William Charles
Cotton’s top bar hive boxes during his 1842 voyage to New Zealand,
used as packing cases en route. The 1878 edition of The Apiary
omitted the reference to “excrement”, I think in deference to the
genteel sensibilities of the book’s broad readership.
ITALIAN BEES TO SOUTH AFRICA, 1875
Neighbour (1878) reported other shipments of bees to Madras and
South Africa since the 1866 edition of The Apiary. The latter
shipment was sent under the care of the lady who ordered them. A
letter received from Grahamstown on 3 November 1875 “Mrs.
Mullens is very pleased to inform Messrs. Neighbour and Sons
that the stock of Ligurian bees supplied to her on board the
Nyanza at Southampton on July 23rd have arrived quite safely.
Mrs. Mullens thinks they were exceedingly well packed; they had
a trying journey by bullock wagon two days after leaving the sea.
They were released from the hive on September 3rd, and appeared
weak at first, but began to work in less than an hour. A large
number of dead bees were found at the bottom of the hive on
opening – most likely caused by the boat in which the bees were,
having water in it.” Two observations: firstly, that the bees were not
released upon arrival of the ship, having to wait two days before
consignment on the bullock wagon; secondly, the packed hive was
carried inside one of the ship’s boats, I think to keep it both out of the
way and out of sight from those passengers who may have been
concerned by its presence.

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Conclusion
Thus ends Volume II. The basis for this work, as for the first, was a
chronological gathering, research and analysis of information I’ve
collected over the last three and a half years relating to the
introduction of honeybees to Australasia. I’ve added, in places, hard
to find descriptions of the local beekeeping methods of the 1800s and
an emphasis on the beekeepers of the 1830s and 1840s.
Time and the fruits of subsequent research and contributions will
determine whether I produce a Volume III. Trevor Weatherhead and I
have largely scoured the resources of the State Library of Queensland,
National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South
Wales. Finds may also be possible at the State libraries of Tasmania
and Victoria. There awaits the greater possibility of interesting finds
at the State libraries of South Australia and Western Australia, largely
untapped by us due to their remoteness relative to our home States. I
hope you, the reader, has found value in this latest collection.

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

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Book Reviews
THE IMMIGRANT BEES (VOLUME I)
The New Zealand Beekeeper, June 1996
To begin, a confession. When Bruce Stevenson first asked me to
consider reviewing this book for the New Zealand Beekeeper, I’m
afraid I tried to “beg off”. After all, there are any number of NBA
members who are better students of beekeeping history than I am.
And I’m not even qualified to make much comment on New Zealand
history in general, being an immigrant to this country of only 13 years
standing.
Bruce is a persistent person, however. And so I took on the job,
reading Peter Barrett’s book as simply an interested observer. Now
that I have finished, I can say that I’m certainly glad I did. Because
the book is (to use a 19th century Australasian phrase) “a rollicking
read”. In making this statement, I must warn potential readers that
The Immigrant Bees isn’t what you might expect from a history book.
To begin with, Peter Barrett isn’t a professional historian. He’s
instead a beekeeper with a strong curiosity about who brought the first
honey bees to Australia and New Zealand, and when and how.
We’ve probably all thought about those things, from time to time, and
supposed that somebody whose business it was had already figured it
all out. Peter, on the other hand, decided to try to find the answers for
himself. And so the book is in many respects a story of his quest, a
tale of investigation where there are lots of interesting clues, but not
as many certainties as you might think.
The problem, as beekeeping historians as far back as New Zealand’s
Isaac Hopkins have realised, is that it’s very difficult to determine
historical “truth” on this subject because of what appears to be a lack
of public records and source material.
For historical sleuths, however, I’m sure the search is also a big part
of the fun. And Peter has delved through lots of historical records, in
public libraries and museums, both in Australia and New Zealand,
trying to “add one more cryptic piece to the puzzle”. He has also had
some valuable help from a number of interested beekeepers, including
in this country, Chris Dawson (who was for many years a queen
129
producer in Timaru), and Bruce Stevenson of Kerikeri. Chris has
spent over 30 years collecting information on the introduction of
honeybees to New Zealand, and graciously made his records available
to Peter. Bruce, of course, lives right in the middle of one of the most
historical areas of European settlement in New Zealand, and has taken
a keen interest in both New Zealand’s first beekeeper, Mary Bumby,
and new information regarding beekeeping by Catholic missionaries
centred around Pompallier House in present day Russell (see last
month’s New Zealand Beekeeper).
The winding trail Peter takes the reader down in The Immigrant Bees
includes conflicting evidence on the introduction of honey bees to
New South Wales, Tasmania and New Zealand. He concludes that it
was Captain John Wallis who made the first successful introduction
of the European Dark honey bee into Australia, in New South Wales
in 1822. Interestingly, however, Samuel Marsden may have
attempted an earlier introduction, in 1810, with the bees supposedly
purchased from Rio de Janeiro in South America. The question which
still remains to be answered, however, is were Marsden’s bees Apis
mellifera, or the stingless Meliponans native to South America?
A Scottish naval surgeon on one of the convict ships, Dr. Thomas
Wilson, brought the first honey bees (also European Darks) to
Tasmania in 1831, but from England, rather than from New South
Wales, as some historians have believed.
And then of course there’s New Zealand’s mother of beekeeping,
Mary Anna Bumby, who brought one hive to the mission at
Mangungu, in the Hokianga, when she arrived there as housekeeper to
her brother, the Reverend John Bumby. It turns out, however, that the
bees may not have made it onto dry land on March 13, 1839, as is
commonly supposed. And the other question, which is very
interesting, is where the honey bees may actually have come from. It
has always been stated that they came from England, but the good
ship ‘James’, which carried the bees and the Bumbys, spent 36 days
in Hobart before carrying on to New Zealand. Honey bee colonies
were already in Hobart, and were being propagated through swarms at
the time, and I couldn’t help wondering if what the Bumbys put back
on board was their original skep, or another, stronger colony obtained
from the supplies of Dr. Wilson or some other local enthusiast.

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Peter Barrett also provides some fascinating research regarding how
the honey bee colonies were transported on board ship. The ingenious
(but perhaps unsuccessful) methods devised by William Cotton in
1842 (including a 4 skep design inside a massive wine barrel,
complete with cooling ice) are quite a wonder, but so is the fact that at
least for the early introductions, we actually know very little about the
methods used. Barrett believes the owners (or at least guardians) of
the colonies may actually have allowed the bees to fly during the
journey, which could last for over four months.
I also enjoyed the investigations into later introductions, for which
better records are available. Believe it or not, Italian bees were first
introduced to Australia at about the same time as the first large scale
introduction to the U.S. (late 1860s). New Zealand began receiving
Italian stocks in the 1880’s, with stocks coming from both the US and
Italy itself. The world’s first commercial queen producer, G. M.
Doolittle from the U.S. was also a regular shipper of queens to New
Zealand, and reported that queens in his shipping cages had survived
a bungled journey to Australia which took 64 days (the normal
journey via steamship was 35 to 40 days).
The Immigrant Bees is very much a work in progress. Peter Barrett is
the first to admit that there are plenty of questions to be answered and
lots of gaps to be filled. One can only hope that the sort of curiosity
which drove him to write this first edition, and publish it himself, will
remain unabated for long enough so that we will see a further, revised
edition (or two) sometime in the future. For that to happen, though,
Peter will need more than just a bit of our moral support.
So my recommendation to beekeepers in New Zealand is that they
purchase a copy of The Immigrant Bees (first edition), both for the
“rollicking read” and to help Peter on his way. I know I will, if for no
other reason than the hope that he will be able to find out more about
the fascinating Apis aenigmatica (it even has a mysterious name!),
which supposedly existed in parts of eastern Australia before the turn
of the century, but has since disappeared. It was a true Apis species, a
comb-building, stinging colony bee a bit bigger than the Apis florea
of India, but smaller than the Apis cerana of South-east Asia. Peter,
my cheque is in the mail!
Cliff Van Eaton

131
 The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1996
Peter’s book is about the introduction of honeybees into Australia and
the extra-ordinary personalities and circumstances which surrounded
that event. What does is serve anyone to know that the first honeybee
arrived in NSW in 1822 and to the other states in later decades?
There are many answers to the question. But the most significant to
me is that it highlights the number of generations of our native flora
which have come and gone with bees in the environment. Clearly in
those areas the honeybee Apis mellifera has found and settled into its
ecological niche. And, for better or worse, the honeybee is now as
much apart of the Australian environment as the trees and plants born
through its pollination, the present day citizens whose ancestors
brought it from their native land and the community which benefits
from its economic and food input.
Peter Barrett has researched so far and so thoroughly that many
stories, myths, legends and heretofore unknown facts about this, and
former, introductions have been raised and answered as well as can be
expected.
Bees do not exist on their own. They require beekeepers and the
pioneer beekeepers of the 19th century are as much apart of the story
as the introduction of the bees themselves.
Who, nowadays knows of Mr W. Abrams, a German immigrant who
came to Australia with a full career of beekeeping behind him and
passed on his extensive knowledge to his sons and others and are now
only a generation into our past? Mr Abrams is as much a part of the
history of the commercial honey industry as the almost unknown
person who took over the bees introduced by Capt Wallace (Wallis?)
and kept them successfully until they reproduced. This unknown
“person” may have been many “persons”, but, Mr W. Parr (perhaps a
convict?) figured very prominently among them.
And there was the Shallards - father and son. Have you ever heard of
Elisha and Sarah Jane Wiggins? And, did you know that the Sisters of
Mercy in St Mary’s (outer suburb of Sydney and within spitting
distance of the Wallgrove Quarantine station where bees no longer
come to Australia) have a link to the importation of bees before 1822?
What did these people contribute? Peter Barrett details many of their
exploits. The most significant of which was the introduction of the
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Italian bee in or about 1862. But more importantly they pioneered the
understanding and management of bees in an environment so unlike
anything anywhere else in the world that a whole new science had to
be created tested and perfected. Probably no other rural industry has
successfully faced such a challenge in the entire history of agriculture.
The Immigrant Bees is not likely to advantage contemporary bee
management let alone honey production. But, it has the potential to
force readers to look again at our history and our cultural heritage and
see that the honeybee is inextricably linked to our past. The early
missionaries, ship’s captains, owners, agents and surgeons and men of
property and education who created and built the foundations on
which our nation stands today all had a hand in bringing the honeybee
to Australia and ensuring its multiplication.
The Immigrant Bees should be compulsory reading for every
beekeeper. Although there were times when I thought it heavy going,
it seemed to jump from place to place, the time sequence is the key
and having recognised that everything quite naturally falls into place.
The Immigrant Bees may never rank in the public mind as highly as
Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore. But, it is up there with that seminal
book because it tells the truth so far as it can ever be known and
supports it with the personalised accounts of all the people who
surrounded the central event.
Perhaps on the 9th March 1997 a few stalwart beekeepers may like to
visit the Governor’s garden (if the Governor is still there!) and
celebrate the 175th anniversary of this most significant event.
Bob Gulliford

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 NSW Apiarists’ Association News, January 1996
Peter Barrett sent us a copy of his fascinating new book, The
Immigrant Bees. I believe that any beekeeper with an interest in
history will enjoy the book immensely. Those without such an
interest should also derive great pleasure from accounts of
successfully transporting skeps through north sea gales and the tropics
on a non-stop journey of 125 days in a sailing ship.
Our early settlers seemed very pleased that the first hive successfully
introduced into Tasmania “swarmed 16 times in its first summer”!
Peter’s research has been painstaking and professional, with the result
that the Bibliography is extensive and the index thorough. Tracking
down the far flung source material on which the book is based must
have been a real labour of love because Peter will be lucky if the
cover price will recoup the cost of printing.
Fred Benecke
Peter Barrett’s books have been sold to readers in:
 Australia
 New Zealand
 U.S.A
 U.K.
 Holland

Peter has also contributed articles to:

 The Explorer’s Tree, November 1995, “Two Blue Mountains
Pioneer Beekeepers”
 The Hawkesbury Crier, June 1996, “St Matthew’s Windsor and
New Zealand’s Fr Petitjean, July 1842”
 The Beekeeper: Quarterly Newsletter of The North Shore
Beekeepers’ Association, March 1997, “Tamburinei, Turramurra’s
Native Social Burrowing Bee”
 The Australasian Beekeeper, January 1998, “Victoria, The First
Australian Colony to Import Ligurian Honeybees”
 Aussie Bee, February 1998, “Springwood’s Railway Bees”

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WILLIAM CHARLES COTTON, GRAND BEE MASTER OF NEW
ZEALAND, 1842 TO 1847
The Australasian Beekeeper, April 1998
A companion volume to The Immigrant Bees this book looks at the
development of the New Zealand beekeeping industry and its
founding father W. C. Cotton. The essence of the book is summed up
in Mr Barrett’s foreword paragraph:
“This book is intended for lovers of history who desire to share the
travels and exuberant experiences of a man on a mission, one aim
being to spread his knowledge of beekeeping, whether to the cottagers
of England or the Maoris and settlers of New Zealand. Cotton’s
beekeeping adventures have never before been revealed so fully as
depicted in this book. If you’re a beekeeper or one that enjoys history,
or both, take a most pleasant journey back to the 1840s.”
Peter Barrett has again used his considerable talent for perseverance
and attention to detail to document the life and times of one of the
strangest characters ever to encompass beekeeping.
That Cotton was a brilliant student at Eton and Oxford is not
surprising by the volume and detail of records he kept of his bee
work. That he was also a curate and went to New Zealand as Chaplain
to the Bishop simply adds his name to the vast list of churchmen of
all denominations who took up beekeeping as a hobby, profession,
scientific study or whatever else. It makes one wonder what it is about
bees that inspires men of religion to adopt them or is it the other way
around? I don’t think that readers of Peter’s book will be inspired to
take up holy orders. But I found that after an initial ‘speed read’ for
the purpose of this review that I will devote more time and effort to a
second reading in the not too distant future.
I commend the same to all beekeepers – Australian or New Zealander.
Bob Gulliford

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 New Zealand Beekeeper, July 1998
Since 1996 readers of The New Zealand BeeKeeper have been
variously bombarded by a series of historical articles by Peter Barrett
of New South Wales and Bruce Stevenson of Kerikeri. Taken
together, these more or less document the establishment of
beekeeping in New Zealand in the early 1840s, explore fascinating
facts of past beekeeping practice and paraphernalia, revive the
excitement of beekeeping under virgin frontier conditions, and
introduce some engaging historical characters, ranging from the
methodistical Mary Bumhy through Father Petitjean of the Roman
Catholic mission to most lively and memorable of them all - the Rev
‘Bee’ Cotton.
In William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New Zealand,
1842-1847, Barrett sets out in 1841 to follow the young and ebullient
‘Bee’ from England to the Bay of Islands via Sydney, Bee coming out
as part of the entourage of the first Bishop of New Zealand, George
Selwyn. Mad about bees from infancy, the hyperactive cleric and
classicist was at this time bursting upon English beekeeping
consciousness with his beautifully illustrated, impressively
informative but above all bubblingly eccentric My Bee Book. Though
Bee’s ingenious if involved and confidently trumpeted scheme to ship
chilled bees out from England came to a mysterious naught, once
ashore in New Zealand he soon had beekeeping - then in its bumbling
infancy - established on a sound footing, disseminating knowledge,
experimenting with hive types, and above all crusading against the
barbaric and ‘ungrateful’ method of asphyxiating hives before
harvesting the honey.
Unaware that Mary Bumby and Father Petitjean had imported bees
before him, in 1843 Bee persuaded James Busby (thenceforth
clandestinely ‘Buzz Bee’) to bring three hives back from Sydney.
From the sole surviving swarm - immediately and naturally christened
‘The Queen’- he soon hived a plethora of swarms, all, inevitably,
named for members of the burgeoning Royal Family. These were
distributed between Busby and the Bay of Islands missionaries, who
took up beekeeping with alacrity. Whilst playing a key (if highly
individual) role in the founding of St John’s Theological College, first
at Te Waimate (1842-44), and then in Auckland, the mercurial ‘Te
Katene’ also went to great and markedly successful lengths to interest
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and instruct Maori in beekeeping, his Maori beekeeping manual, Nga
Pi (of which the author provides an English translation) being
published in 1849, a year after his pioneering classic, A Manual for
New Zealand Beekeepers. Although Barrett does not pursue the
obvious commercial interest of Bay of Islands missionary beekeepers
in this area - Henry Williams for one set out to establish 100 hives at
Paihia and the Kemps built a large beehouse at Kerikeri - early Maori
ventures into commercial beekeeping, and late prejudice against them
and their highly effective and original methods, form an interesting
sub-plot.
Illustrated with charming vignettes from Cotton’s journals, My Bee
Book and other contemporary sources Barrett’s book teems with both
beekeeping and more general historical interest. Extended quotations
from Bee’s own journals and correspondence are particularly
rewarding, throwing an intensely human and original light not just on
their author’s oscillating yo-yo of a personality, but on everyday
people and events of 150 and more years ago, Bee’s cordial but
guarded encounter with the Roman Catholic Bishop Pompallier - he
was ashamed of his shabby tartan trousers and terrified about being
seen playing the Good Samaritan and so ‘talked about’ by the rabidly
biased Anglican missionaries - is a classic of its kind. As is his
meeting with Governor Robert Fitzroy, the again shabby but
observant Bee typically concluding on the basis of their personal chat
that ‘it is a defect in the Governor’s character to be too ready to listen
to everything that everybody has to say’!
Aided by his own knowledge of beekeeping, Barrett has put a great
deal of careful research and insight into this interesting book. The
history and much of the technology associated with the introduction
of beekeeping to New Zealand stands well grounded in it, particularly
when backed by his own and by Stevenson’s earlier articles. Given
the interest and scope of the material and characters he has brought
together, the book deserves wide readership. ...
As for the late Bee Cotton cum Te Katene - it is plain from Barrett’s
work that his New Zealand journals demand publication in their
entirety, they throwing an intriguing and intensely personal light on
life in the Bay of Islands, Auckland and beyond at a formative stage
in the country’s modern history.
Fergus Clunie, Historic Places Trust, Kerikeri
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 Bee Craft, October 1998
This is Peter Barrett’s second book about early beekeeping in
Australia and New Zealand. William Charles Cotton, 1814 – 1879,
Anglican priest, beekeeper and eccentric, lived life to the full as far as
his mental health allowed. As well as playing a major role in
establishing beekeeping in New Zealand, he gave strong support to
the Great Manchester Show, 1873, that was itself a turning point in
British beekeeping. The BBKA, as a rare mark of esteem, elected him
Vice-President.
Peter Barrett’s focus is on Cotton’s work in establishing honey bees
in New Zealand and how he made links with the Maori, both by his
mastery of their language and the publication of a bee book for them,
Nga Pi. Peter Barrett has drawn on, and transcribed, entries from the
unpublished Cotton diaries, the originals of which are kept at the
Mitchell library, Sydney. Like so many men of his pre-photographic
generation, Cotton was taught to both observe and draw, so Peter has
used original illustrations to illuminate his text.
Anyone who has an interest in New Zealand or in William Cotton
will enjoy a delightful, well structured text that contains a large
amount of hitherto unexamined material. In common with many
‘private press’ books, the number printed is small, so this volume and
its earlier companion will always be collectors’ items.
Karl Showler

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 New Zealand Historic Places, March 1999
The following article titled “Bee” Cotton’s Passion: The Trust’s
Northland properties played a part in the introduction of beekeeping
to New Zealand was written by Sue Clunie, the Historic Places
Trust’s gardens adviser in Northland:
When William Charles Cotton, Bishop Selwyn’s chaplain, wrote
“God Save the Queen and all the Royal Family” in 1939, it might
have seemed like patriotic fervour. Victoria was not long on the
throne and Cotton was bound for New Zealand, soon to become
Britain’s most distant colonial outpost. But anyone who knew the
ebullient “Bee” Cotton would have known that he was writing of
other than British royalty.
Cotton, a passionate advocate of progressive and more humane
beekeeping, was then engrossed in trying to transport chilled bees
from England to New Zealand. But for all the eccentricity of his
science, Bee’s bees perished on the passage, allegedly cast overboard
by superstitious sailors. It was not Cotton but Miss Mary Anna
Bumby who first established honey bees in New Zealand. She
brought two straw skep hives from Sydney ashore at the Wesleyan
mission station at Mangungu, Hokianga, in March 1839, while Bee
was still planning his elaborate, gimballed, self-draining, bee-chilling
contraptions.
Honey bees had only been established in New South Wales since
1822. Suddenly it became the rage to establish them in New Zealand.
Mrs Hobson tried and failed at Okiato in the Bay of Islands in 1840.
But by 1842 others had succeeded in shipping bees from Sydney to
New Zealand. In that year Mrs Allom sent bees and Nutt’s collateral
hives from London to her son in Nelson, and when Father Petitjean of
the destitute French Roman Catholic Mission at Kororareka (now
Russell) in the Bay of Islands, went to Sydney desperately seeking
money and supplies, he returned laden with livestock including bees.
Bee Votton meanwhile had reached Sydney where various apiarists
promised to send hives to him in the Bay of islands. He had fifteen
months to wait however, before James Busby returned from Sydney
with three hives, one for Cotton and two for himself. Cotton’s swarm
failed, so he endured seven more frustrating months until March
1844, when “Buzz Bee’s” surviving hive at Waitangi, headed by “The

139
Queen”, produced several swarms, named by Cotton after the British
Royal Family. Busby kept the Queen and Princesses Maud and
Matilda at Waitangi; Cotton took the Princess Royal and the
Princesses Mary and Alice home to the Te Waimate mission station;
the Prince of Wales went to Marianne Williams at the Paihia mission;
Prince Henry to Henry Williams’ farm at Pakaraka; Prince George to
Whangarei with Gilbert Mair; Prince Frederick to Auckland with
William Clarke.
There was great experimentation in hive design during the mid-
nineteenth century and Bee Cotton, who deplored the practice of
killing bees in order to harvest honey from the old fashioned straw
skeps, was at the forefront of it. At Te Waimate from 1842 to 1844 he
built various types of hives in the workshops. Marianne Williams,
who participated in his experiments, wrote in November 1844, “The
bees swarmed into Titfords garden and were put into a large new
octagon hive, Mr Cotton’s last new experiment to be called “The
Cotton”. A first rate swarm and hive.”
There were two basic methods of managing box hives, both of which
Cotton used. With collateral hives (such as the Nutt’s hive) additional
boxes were added onto the sides of the hive. With storifying or
supering hives, which are still used, extra boxes were put on top to
make additional space. Particularly popular in the 1840s was the
octagonal Stewarton storifying hive, which was illustrated in Cotton’s
My Bee Book (1842) as was the basketry Sicilian hive, which he used
in Auckland. Huber’s leaf hive was also favoured by Cotton.
At Te Waimate, Cotton, who “all my life desired to have such a
summer house” but who had to come to New Zealand to find it”,
housed his various hives in his summer house. But in November 1844
he had to pack them up for transport to Auckland with the rest of
Bishop Selwyn’s establishment. Before leaving the Bay of Islands,
however, he gave Marianne Williams instructions for the management
of her six hives, and was dubbed “The Grand Bee Master of New
Zealand” by her.
While Cotton often went there he did not mention beekeeping at the
Kerikeri Mission Station although beekeeping was subsequently
established there. James Kemp’s journal entry for Christmas 1849
mentions serving the “natives … a good meal of pork, potatoes and
tea in the evening with bread and honey”. Certainly an 1888 sketch
140
shows a hive and honey house of archaic construction in Kemp’s
orchard, the number of box hives indicating a commercial beekeeping
operation.
Bee Cotton went on to teach Maori theological students (whose
response to their first taste of honey was He mea uka wakaharahara,
a very exceedingly sweet thing) and others to be beekeepers using his
modern humane system. He wrote Nga Pi, a manual on beekeeping
for Maori, whom he found more receptive to his methods than the
settlers who continued to use the wasteful and cruel methods they had
brought with them from Britain.
Acknowledgements: This article is based on research by apiarists
Bruce Stevenson and Peter Barrett. Readers are referred to articles in
The New Zealand Beekeeper, September 1996 to July 1997. Peter
Barrett has also written The Immigrant bees: A Cyclopaedia on the
Introduction of European Honeybees into Australia and New Zealand
(1995) and William Charles Cotton, Grand Bee Master of New
Zealand, 1842-184 7 (1997). Copies of the latter are available from
Bruce Stevenson, Kemp Road, Kerikeri.

Kemp’s hive shelter, 1888

141
 Some Reader Comments

Elizabeth Mocatta, aged 82, Springwood, N.S.W.

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

Chris Dawson, aged in his 80s, Rangiora, New Zealand

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

Sue Ellison, Editor, The Beekeeper: Quarterly Newsletter of

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

Bill Ringin, Moe, Victoria.

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

142
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147
3. Garden and the Field, April 1884
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149
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Putting a Swarm in a Bar-Frame Hive, 1885

150
Index
4 America....96, 99, 109, 110, 121,
40th Regiment....................24, 30
of Foot..................................24
9 Anderson...................................30
96th Regiment..........................31
A Apiarian Society of Victoria. .112
ABA..........................................28
Aberdeen...................................57
aboriginals...........................21, 51
aborigines 15, 26, 27, 84, 87, 120,
145
Abram
W 51, 132
Wilhelm....................51, 97, 98
Acclimatisation Society. 24, 109,
110, 113, 115, 117
of Victoria....................24, 110
Adelaide...7, 22, 79, 82, 99, 103,
105
Agricultural Gazette of NSW. .51,
148
Agricultural Society of W.A....79
Albert R. Mann Library............65
Albion.......................................67
Alexander.................................73
Alhambra........................110, 113
Alley, Mr................................101
Allom
Mary.....................................77
Mrs...................82, 94, 95, 139
Mrs Thomas (Mary Ann).....94
Mrs Thos..............................95
see Storr, Amy G..................94
Allport, H. C..............................31
Amateur Beekeepers’
Association of NSW....28, 148
151
124, 130
American River......................104
Americans...............................102
Anglican.......31, 56, 57, 137, 138
Church..................................56
Apis florea..................19, 20, 131
Arabian Sea............................101
Armit, Barbara..........................26
Arthur
Governor........................66, 67
Lieutenant Governor, George
..........................................65
Wall......................................67
Ashby........................................23
George..................................23
James....................................23
Atlantic.....................................25
Attica........................................91
Auckland 8, 87, 90, 92, 101, 109,
121, 124, 136, 138, 140, 145,
149
74, 77
Aukland, see Auckland. .122, 123
Australasia. .10, 13, 27, 109, 110,
111, 128, 143, 146
Australasian8, 13, 18, 23, 88, 89,
100, 109, 112, 118, 119, 129,
132, 134, 135, 145, 148, 149,
150
Chronicle................88, 89, 149
126
126
Australian Apiarian Society...114
Ayling
George..................................53
 Revd John....7, 36, 51, 52, 53,
54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60
B
bananas......................................46
Bank of England........................93
Barhsah forest............................21
Barker
Lady......................................95
W. C.....................................60
Barkly Table Land....................17
Barossa
region....................................53
West Council........................53
Barwon....................................126
Basil, brother............................91
Batman, Edward John..............77
Bay
of Biscay...............................95
of Islands. . .11, 25, 31, 33, 37,
87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 136, 138,
139, 140
88
Bedlam Point............................49
Beechwood...............................56
Beecroft....................................51
beeswax....14, 21, 23, 35, 36, 38,
39, 40, 42, 45, 50, 95, 120,
125
Bent...........................................61
Berry
Alexander...........23, 25, 26, 27
Barbara (Armit)....................26
David.....23, 26, 27, 29, 81, 84
John................................25, 27
Beuhne, F. R..............................22
Bianconcini, Mr. C.................101
Bidwill..................33, 34, 49, 143
John Carne............................33
Blackwell
Adam..................................125
Capt....................124, 125, 149
Capt. Adam........................124
Captain.......................124, 126
152
George................................124
Blasdall, M.....................118, 119
Blaxland, Gregory11, 15, 31, 32,
63, 76
Bloomsbury..............................94
Blue Mountains......9, 12, 16, 134
Bogan River..............................16
Bologna...........................101, 105
Bond, Peter...............................28
Bonney, A. E..99, 103, 105, 106,
107, 108
Booth, Captain Charles O’Hara
.................11, 70, 71, 144, 148
Boswell, Annabella....34, 35, 36,
37, 144
Botanic Garden 11, 21, 33, 48, 49,
144
Tasmanian............................66
Botany Bay.........................37, 63
Boucaut
J 104
James Penn.........................104
Mr Justice...........................104
Bounty......................................30
Bourke
Act........................................56
Governor...............................66
Sir Richard...........................56
Bowman
Mary M...............................121
Mr.........................................30
William....................29, 30, 59
box26, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 44,
45, 50, 58, 77, 103, 107, 115,
120, 122, 140, 141
hives...32, 35, 36, 38, 58, 103,
140, 141
Boyle, Captain...........................68
Brady, Fr. John...................90, 91
Bricknell, T. G........................124
Brisbane...11, 18, 33, 36, 38, 41,
46, 47, 83, 103, 109, 119, 145,
147
Brisbane Water11, 36, 38, 41, 46,
47, 147
Britain..........24, 36, 78, 139, 141
British
Beekeeping Association.......93
87
Broken Bay...............................47
Brown, William........................87
Buick, John.....................104, 105
Bumby, Mary.........130, 136, 139
Bunbury....................................30
Busby, James............25, 136, 139
Bussell
Mary...................11, 75, 76, 77
Mrs...........................31, 76, 77
C
Cadden
J. D.......................................60
J. D. G..................................60
Cadiz.........................................25
Calder, James Erskine..65, 68, 73
California................................110
Californian..............................101
Calymna....................................91
Camfield, Henry.......................83
Campbell, John...................84, 86
Canaan......................................27
candles.......................................33
Canterbury......9, 11, 95, 122, 124
Canton Grison...........................24
Cape
of Hood Hope.......................76
York......................................81
captains
Booth....................................71
Boyle.....................................68
Cargill, William.........109, 122
Fitzroy..................................31
Irwin, Frederick Chidley......77
Maconochie..............11, 30, 31
Miller, Henry........................24
Milne, Robert.......................90
Molloy, John............74, 76, 83
153
Turton, Richard....................30
Wakefield.............................81
Wakefield, Arthur................81
Wallace, John...........21, 23, 28
Wallis, John..........................28
White, Robert........................22
Wiseman, William................68
Cargill, Captain William......110,
122, 123
Caroline.....................................83
Carroll, James.........103, 118, 119
Carte, Mr............................70, 71
Cascade Bay.............................30
Castlereigh Street.....................60
Catholic....7, 8, 87, 89, 124, 130,
136, 137, 139, 150
cedar boxes...............................50
Chamber
of Commerce......................104
of Manufactures.99, 103, 104,
105, 106, 107, 108
Chambers, L. T.........................99
Champion.................................79
Chatham Islands.......................96
Childs........................................30
Christchurch...........................109
City of Edinburgh...............25, 30
Clarence
River.....................................35
Town.....................................47
Clark.......................................110
Clayton, Mr.............11, 68, 69, 70
Coleman, Mr...........................101
commandants
Anderson..............................30
Booth........................11, 70, 71
Bunbury................................30
Childs...................................30
Day.......................................30
Donaldson.............................30
Hunt......................................30
Maconochie....................30, 31
Morisset................................30
Price......................................30
 Ryan.....................................30
Wakefield.............................30
Wright..................................30
Commissioner of Colonial
Industries............................122
Congregational
Chapel..................................53
convict18, 22, 30, 40, 41, 49, 66,
67, 68, 130, 132
Cook
Joseph...................................85
William.................................85
Cooks River..............................63
Coolangatta......7, 25, 27, 84, 149
Cornell University................8, 65
Coromandel............................109
Cotton
Francis..................................72
Mr.............................32, 93, 94
Rev. William Charles. .11, 22,
25, 31, 32, 52, 63, 91, 103,
127, 135, 136, 138, 139,
141, 143, 147
Creighton, R. J................110, 122
Crows Nest.........................23, 25
Crystal Palace...........................93
Cumberland........................70, 77
Warehouse............................70
Cygnet River...........................107
D
Daley, C. F................................60
Dalton, Mary Ann.....................53
Daly, F. G.................................60
Davidson, gardens superintendent
..................................66, 67, 92
Davies, Rev. R. R......................68
Dawson, Chris..........87, 130, 142
87
Deptford....................................65
Derwent River...........................67
Devonshire.........24, 38, 112, 113
Beekeeper............24, 112, 113
154
Director of the Botanic Gardens
..............................................34
Dixson Library.....17, 31, 46, 68,
149, 150
Dollman, Mr. H. H.................101
Donaldson.................................30
Dunedin....................................94
Dzierzon...................24, 102, 103
E
Earls Court................................65
East India Company.................25
East-Indian................................20
Ebenezer.......................52, 58, 60
Presbyterian Church.......52, 58
Edmonds, John..................8, 9, 21
Egypt.................................27, 101
Eipper, Rev. R..........................57
Elizabeth Farm......................8, 31
Ellen......................................7, 77
Enfield......................................99
England 9, 11, 22, 24, 30, 34, 38,
40, 48, 64, 66, 67, 68, 72, 75,
77, 78, 81, 83, 84, 85, 92, 93,
110, 112, 117, 125, 130, 135,
136, 139
English
bee. 23, 27, 30, 46, 63, 68, 136
Beemaster.............................48
black bees...........................125
domestic bee.........................17
home.....................................54
national show.......................93
patent....................................82
seeds.....................................66
Enoggera.................................118
Enquirer, see (The) Inquirer...78,
79, 80
Epalle, M..........................88, 150
Europe.............................108, 121
European. .14, 18, 21, 23, 27, 63,
66, 75, 84, 87, 130, 141, 143
Exeter......................................113
F Bourke..................................66
Gipps..................30, 31, 46, 49
Fairfield Apiary......................101
Hutt.................................78, 79
Fiebig, August................102, 103
Grahamstown..........................127
Fife............................................26
Grainger, Mr...........................106
Fifeshire....................................49
Grampians.................................21
Fitzroy................33, 34, 115, 137
Great
Captain, R. N.......................31
Barrier Island.............124, 125
Flinders Street...........................99
Britain.....................15, 23, 145
Forest, Father............................88
Exhibition.............................73
Fortunas....................................88
Gregory River...........................17
frames. .13, 35, 65, 98, 103, 111,
Guildford..................................75
117, 123
Gulf of Aden...........................101
France.......................................88
Gunter, Mr................................65
74
74, 78, 80 H
French...................70, 88, 90, 139
Hampstead................................94
Fullwood...................21, 119, 121
Hardey
Chas (Charles).....................109
John Wall.............................75
Mr...............................104, 109
Joseph...................................75
G William.................................75
Harrison, J. H..........................109
Gale, Albert....13, 22, 36, 51, 144
74
Garrett, E.............................19, 96
Hastings....................................56
74
Hauraki Gulf.............................87
George Street....................70, 115
Hawkesbury.. .10, 12, 29, 47, 52,
German.............82, 102, 121, 132
58, 59, 60, 87, 134, 143, 144,
Germany...................................24
146, 149
Gerstaecker, Dr........................110
Agricultural College....12, 52,
Gibb, Mr. R.............................124
59, 144
Gipps, Governor.....30, 31, 46, 49
District Beekeepers’
Gippsland..................................19
Association......................60
Gladesville mental hospital......49
River..........29, 47, 58, 87, 146
Glenorchy............................68, 73
Hawthorn................................104
Gordon..........................7, 28, 145
Heenan
Gosford...........................7, 46, 47
Edward..................................85
Goulburn......7, 9, 51, 54, 55, 148
James....................................85
Government
Helpman
Botanist................................34
Benjamin Franklin...............78
garden.............................62, 64
Lt....................................78, 79
Road Board...........................85
Lt. B. F.................................79
Governor of New Zealand........31
Mr. F., R. N..........................80
governors
Henty
Arthur.......................65, 66, 67
Edward.................................83
155
 James....................................83
Hentys.........................77, 83, 143
Hermann, M..............................24
Hesperides................................93
Hicks, Mr................................106
hive13, 14, 15, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27,
28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38,
39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48, 50, 61,
62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70,
71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 81,
82, 84, 85, 87, 88, 94, 98, 102,
103, 104, 105, 107, 111, 113,
114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120,
122, 124, 126, 127, 130, 134,
136, 139, 140, 141
Berlepsch..............................76
Nutt collateral......................77
oblong box............................77
observatory...........................76
top-bar........32, 35, 36, 38, 103
Hobart 11, 22, 38, 61, 62, 64, 66,
68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 77, 98, 130,
144, 148, 149
Hobart-town..............................65
Hobson
Mrs...............................33, 139
Sir William...........................33
Hocken
Library..................................94
T. M......................................94
Hog Bay Apiary.................7, 102
Hokianga........................130, 139
Holborn.....................................94
Holden, Mr...............................25
Holland, Rev.............................56
Holmes, see Hulme..................31
honey..12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29,
36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44,
45, 46, 49, 50, 60, 62, 63, 68,
69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 80,
81, 82, 83, 84, 87, 90, 91, 93,
95, 96, 98, 101, 105, 106, 111,
114, 115, 118, 120, 122, 124,
156
125, 126, 129, 130, 131, 132,
133, 136, 138, 139, 140, 141,
142
Hood
Mr.........................................98
Thos. Lloyd...........................98
Hope..........................................70
Hopkins, Isaac..13, 96, 100, 103,
109, 110, 119, 121, 129, 145
Hosie, Fr. John.............7, 90, 145
Hulme
Colonel.................................31
Lieutenant-Colonel. .11, 30, 31
William.................................31
Hunt..........................................30
Hunter River.......................18, 47
Hutt, Governor...................78, 79
Hydromel..................................49
Hymettus...................................91
I
Illawarra...........25, 27, 47, 81, 84
Steam Packet Company.......47
Imlay, Dr...................................81
India......................19, 20, 22, 132
Indian Ocean...........................101
Innes
Annabella...34, 35, 36, 37, 144
Lake................................34, 35
Major Archibald C................34
Margaret................................35
Inquirer.............................79, 148
International Exhibition...110, 116
Irwin
Captain.................................77
Captain Frederick Chidley...77
Isabella......................................68
Italian 23, 24, 59, 96, 98, 99, 104,
105, 108, 109, 110, 111, 118,
121, 123, 124, 125, 127, 131,
133
Bee Farm..............................98
Italy 91, 101, 102, 105, 124, 125,
131
Ithaca....................................8, 65
J
James Pattison....................11, 75
Jervis Bay.................................51
Johansson, Toge S. K. 8, 126, 150
John.....................................64, 65
journals
Agricultural Gazette of NSW
.................................51, 148
126
Julia..............................88, 89, 90
K
Kangaroo....7, 9, 11, 17, 73, 102,
104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 144
skin.......................................73
Kangaroo Island..7, 11, 102, 104,
105, 106, 107, 108
Beekeepers Association.....102
residents..............................105
Kelvedon...................................72
Kempsey...................................56
Kerikeri......7, 88, 130, 136, 137,
138, 140, 141
Kermode, William..............61, 62
Kidd, James............11, 48, 49, 50
King George’s Sound...............77
Kirby, William.........................64
Kororareka............87, 88, 89, 139
L
Laidley
Creek........................84, 85, 86
district...................................85
Lang, John Dunmore.................15
Langstroth, Revd.....35, 103, 107,
111, 118
Launceston67, 68, 72, 73, 77, 79,
82, 83
Horticultural Society.............68
Laurie, James Stuart.................81
Le Levre, Mr...........................124
Legislative Council......32, 51, 87
157
Leichhardt, Dr..........................15
Lempriere
Susannah...............................70
T. J.........................11, 71, 150
Thomas J..............................70
Levering, Noah.......121, 122, 123
Ligurian....11, 23, 24, 28, 96, 98,
99, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105,
106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112,
113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 121,
127, 134, 149
Linnean Society........................64
Liverpool..............16, 61, 98, 109
Plains....................................16
74
Lizzielea apiary......................119
London.8, 22, 27, 53, 62, 64, 66,
70, 92, 93, 116, 139, 144, 145,
146, 147, 149
Longford....................................68
Los Angeles............110, 122, 123
County................................110
Herald.................................122
Lynd, Mr...................................15
Lyndoch........................53, 54, 56
Volunteer Rifles Company. .53
Lyons........................................89
M
M’Millan, Mr..........................114
Macarthur
Edward..................................31
Elizabeth..........11, 31, 37, 145
Emmeline Maria..........32, 144
Hannibal.........................32, 33
Mrs.................................32, 63
Papers...........................46, 150
William.................................33
MacClay, see Macleay.............63
MacDonnell, S..................96, 109
Mackay, Angus....10, 76, 96, 97,
109, 111, 118, 119, 128, 146
Maclean, see Macleay........63, 66
Macleay....34, 38, 56, 63, 64, 147
 Alexander.......................63, 66
family...................................64
Fanny............................64, 144
Frances Leonora (Fanny).....64
Margaret...............................34
William Sharp......................64
Maconochie........................30, 31
Alexander.............................30
Captain.....................11, 30, 31
Madras....................................127
Maitland..................35, 38, 39, 40
Makay, see Mackay..................96
Manning, Miss..........................59
74
Maori........90, 124, 137, 138, 141
Marist.....................87, 88, 90, 91
88
Markham, Edward.............67, 150
Marlin, George.........................30
Marquis de Spinola...................24
Mary..........................................61
Massachusetts.........................101
Maylands..................................75
McArthur, see Macarthur...32, 63
McConochie, see Maconochie. 31
Meade, Hon. Herbert................96
meat safe.................................126
Mediterranean Sea..................101
Meeinderry...............................29
Melbourne......81, 109, 110, 111,
112, 113, 143, 144, 145, 146,
147
Melville, Henry........................62
Menzies Ferry.........................124
Methodist lay preacher.............75
Miller
bees.......................................23
Commissary..........................23
Henry....................................24
Milligan, Dr. Joseph............72, 73
Milne, Captain Robert..............90
missionaries. . .25, 88, 89, 90, 91,
130, 133, 136, 137, 144
Molineux, A..............................99
158
74
74
Molloy, Captain John...74, 76, 83
Molong......................................60
Mona Vale................................61
Montague Road.........................83
Moore
Mr. Geo. E............................78
overseer (gardener)..............67
Moreton Bay...........18, 24, 33, 83
Morisset....................................30
Moses........................................27
moth............................21, 23, 120
Mount
Barker.........................101, 148
Duneed..............................8, 21
Hybla....................................91
Hymettus..............................91
Seymour................................62
Stuart....................................17
Mowle, Mr. Stewart M.............51
Mudgee...............................10, 23
Mullens, Mrs...........................127
N
N.S.W.
Beekeepers’ Union...58, 59, 60
Presbytery.............................55
National
Beekeepers’ Association of
N.S.W..............................52
Trust...................................102
National Beekeepers’
Association...............51, 52, 58
native. 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 27, 28,
29, 62, 66, 80, 84, 85, 106,
130, 132
beekeeper.............................27
bees 14, 16, 18, 27, 28, 29, 106
boy........................................27
hive.................................13, 18
Nautilus.....................................30
Neighbour
 A 24, 94, 99, 103, 109, 110,
112, 113, 116, 118, 126,
127, 146
and Sons.......94, 110, 112, 127
Nelson......81, 139, 143, 147, 148
New England.............................34
New South Wales. . .9, 10, 16, 17,
21, 31, 35, 40, 41, 51, 64, 65,
66, 69, 80, 83, 84, 87, 89, 96,
109, 128, 130, 136, 139, 144,
146, 148
New York.....................8, 65, 147
New Zealand. .7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 21, 22, 31, 32, 33, 34, 52,
60, 72, 77, 81, 82, 87, 88, 89,
90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 103,
107, 109, 119, 121, 122, 123,
124, 125, 126, 129, 130, 131,
134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139,
140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 147,
149, 150
Newcastle...........................35, 47
newspapers
Australasian Chronicle 88, 89,
149
Australian. .25, 33, 34, 40, 46,
52, 60, 63, 75, 79, 80, 110,
126, 147, 148, 149
Independent............53, 68, 148
South Coast Herald......23, 148
Sydney Gazette 14, 21, 27, 48,
148
Sydney Morning Herald22, 31,
38, 41, 48, 49, 51, 64, 69,
70, 90, 118, 149
The Adelaide Observer 41, 72,
82, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105,
106, 108, 148
74
The Enquirer, see The Inquirer
.............................78, 79, 80
The Inquirer.................79, 148
True Colonist................68, 149
159
Norfolk Island....11, 30, 31, 143,
145
Norfolk Plains...........................68
North Sydney..........................144
NSW Agriculture....................29
Nutt.............22, 82, 126, 139, 140
Nyanza....................................127
O
Orwell.......................................70
P
Pacific.....................................125
Islands.................................125
Packham, George.....................60
paddle steamers
Kangaroo..............................48
Sovereign..............................48
William the Fourth.......47, 148
Paihia..............................137, 140
Panmure..................................124
Parawai Apiary.......................110
Paris...........................................73
Parr, William.............................21
Parramatta. .8, 11, 31, 32, 33, 34,
49, 63, 71, 91, 92, 97, 98
River...............................33, 49
74
Penneshaw......................102, 103
Council...............................102
Perth..........................................75
Petitjean, Father Jean Baptiste 11,
87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 134, 136,
139, 150
Pettigrew, A............................120
Philo-mel..................................48
Phoenix......................................22
Pitcairners.................................30
Pliny..........................................91
Plymouth......................10, 30, 68
Point Clare................................46
Pompallier, Bishop Dr. Jean
Baptiste....87, 88, 89, 90, 130,
137
 87, 88
Port
Adelaide...............................53
Arthur.......................11, 70, 71
Jackson..................................22
Macquarie. .34, 35, 36, 55, 56,
57, 144
Nicholson.............................34
Phillip Association...............77
Portland Bay.............................83
Portsmouth................................22
Potosi......................................101
Pratt Creek................................17
Presbyterian. . .52, 54, 55, 57, 73,
144, 149
Church School......................54
Price..........................................30
Prince Consort..........................94
Q
Queade, Charles........................22
Queensland...7, 9, 15, 18, 24, 35,
83, 84, 85, 86, 104, 106, 118,
119, 128, 144, 145, 147
R
Rake, Charles.....................11, 99
Rangiora...........................87, 142
Rayment, Tarlton. .18, 19, 20, 96,
109, 110, 146
Red
Gum forest............................21
Sea......................................101
Richmond.............29, 59, 60, 144
Rien, E. J...................................59
Roods, F....................................60
Root
& Co...................................124
A. I........................................24
Mr. C. L..............................108
Rosella............................124, 126
Ross
Clara.....................................70
Dr..........................................72
160
Dr. James..............................70
Rout, W.....................................73
Royal
Colonial Institute..................73
Hotel.....................................55
Navy.....................................78
Society...............8, 64, 94, 149
Society of Arts and Commerce
..........................................94
Western Australian Historical
Society.........................8, 79
Russell................87, 88, 130, 139
Ryan..........................................30
Rydalmere.................................33
S
Sage of the Seven Hills............49
San Francisco..........................122
Post.....................................122
Saunders, Mrs. Elizabeth.........60
Saxton, Rev Mr.........................95
Sayce
J 112
Mr.......................................114
Scone........................7, 56, 57, 58
Scotland....................................26
Scots Kirk.................................55
Scott, Thomas Alison...............46
Selwyn
Bishop............31, 32, 139, 140
Mrs........................................31
Sarah.....................................93
William.................................31
Willie....................................31
Shamrock............................18, 32
Sherratt, Mr........................75, 76
Ship Inn.....................................69
ships
Albion...................................67
Alexander.............................73
Alhambra....................110, 113
Australia.............................122
Barwon...............................126
Bounty..................................30
 Caroline................................83
Champion.............................79
City of Edinburgh..........25, 30
Cumberland....................70, 77
Ellen.................................7, 77
Hawthorn............................104
Hazard..................................31
Hope.....................................70
Isabella..................................68
James Pattison................11, 75
John................................64, 65
Julia..........................88, 89, 90
Maitland................................35
Mary.....................................61
Meeinderry...........................29
Nautilus................................30
Nyanza................................127
Orwell...................................70
Phoenix.................................22
Potosi..................................101
Rosella........................124, 126
Shamrock.......................18, 32
Sovereign..............................48
Thistle...................................83
Tranby..................................75
Upton Castle.........................63
74
Wave..................................124
Shoalhaven.............7, 25, 27, 149
Sic Vos non Vobis..............48, 49
Sicily.........................................91
Silesia........................................24
Simpson
John......................................29
Mr.........................................70
Reverend William................71
Simson
Rev. Mr.................................73
Sir Richard Bourke Act............56
skep........22, 76, 77, 85, 131, 139
Society
for the Propagation of the
Faith...........................88, 89
of Arts...................................95
161
of Mary.................................88
Sorell, Colonel..........................61
South
Africa..................................127
America..............................130
Australia7, 8, 9, 11, 35, 53, 54,
81, 82, 99, 101, 102, 103,
104, 105, 107, 108, 124,
128, 149
Brisbane................................83
Coast Herald.................23, 148
Island................11, 87, 94, 121
South Australian
Beekeepers’ Association..101,
102, 106, 107, 108
Beekeepers’ Supplies Co.....99
Southampton...................113, 127
Southern California......121, 123,
148, 149
Southland..........................96, 124
Soverign....................................66
Spain.........................................25
Spence, William.......................64
Spithead....................................65
St. Andrews..............................54
St. Mary’s Cathedral............7, 90
St. Matthew’s Church, Windsor7,
87, 89, 91, 150
St. Patrick’s Orphan School.....89
St. Peter’s Cook’s River...........64
Stanmore...................................51
State Library
of N.S.W...............................46
of Tasmania.................7, 8, 71
Steele
Jas.........................................59
Mr.........................................63
Revd.....................................37
Revd Mr...............................63
Stevens, W..............................101
Stevenson, Bruce. . .7, 88, 90, 91,
129, 130, 136, 137, 141, 150
Stewart, Robert.......................124
Stirling......................................77
 Sir James..............................77
Storr, Amy G............................94
sugar...........................46, 72, 120
Supreme Court of NSW...........29
surgeons
Wilson, Dr. T. B. R.N..........51
Wilson, Dr. T. B., R.N.11, 38,
51, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69,
70, 76, 77, 130, 131
Swan River.11, 74, 75, 77, 78, 83
Swansea.....................................72
Swiss apiarist............................24
Switzerland...............................24
Sydenham.................................93
Sydney.. .7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21,
22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30,
31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40,
41, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 55,
56, 58, 60, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69,
70, 77, 78, 79, 82, 84, 87, 88,
90, 96, 99, 109, 118, 126, 132,
136, 138, 139, 143, 144, 145,
146, 147, 148, 149
Morning Herald22, 31, 38, 41,
48, 49, 64, 69, 70, 90, 118,
149
Sydney Gazette.........................48
Sydney Morning Herald............51
T
T.H.S..........................42, 46, 150
Table Bay.................................76
Tahiti.........................................90
Taronga Park Zoo...............28, 29
Tasman......................................34
Tasmania 8, 9, 10, 12, 23, 24, 35,
38, 61, 68, 73, 81, 83, 98, 128,
130, 134, 143, 146
Tasmanian..8, 10, 61, 63, 66, 68,
73, 98, 145
Beekeepers’ Association8, 63,
68
Botanic Garden....................66
tea chest........................36, 50, 74
162
Templeton.......................115, 117
Teneriffe....................................22
The Adelaide Observer....41, 72,
82, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105,
106, 108, 148
The Australian25, 33, 34, 40, 46,
52, 60, 63, 74, 75, 79, 80, 110,
126, 147, 148, 149
The Independent.........53, 68, 148
The Inquirer......................79, 148
the Rocks..................................14
Thistle.......................................83
Thyme.......................................91
Town and Country Journal96, 98,
109, 149
Toxana................................30, 59
Trampa, Divisional Board.........85
Tranby.......................................75
True Colonist....................68, 149
Tryphena.................................125
Turner, John...........104, 105, 107
Turton, Richard........................30
U
U.K..........................................134
U.S.A.7, 8, 9, 101, 124, 126, 131,
134, 150
Ulladulla...................................29
Ultimo.......................................58
United States..........102, 118, 125
of America.................118, 125
Universal Exhibition of Industry73
University of Western Sydney...52
Upper Kensington...................103
Upton Castle.............................63
USA................................8, 24, 35
Usher of the Black Rod.............51
V
Van Diemen’s Land....11, 34, 62,
63, 65, 66, 69, 71, 72, 73, 144,
146
74
Ventura County......................110
Victoria...8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22, 35,
79, 83, 109, 110, 111, 112,
118, 128, 134, 139, 142, 143
Victorian
Acclimatisation Society.....113
Apiarian Society.................112
Department of Agriculture....22
Vineyard House..................33, 92
W
W.A.
Department of Agriculture...75
State Library.........................74
Waimate.....91, 92, 136, 140, 147
Waitangi.................................139
Wakefield.................................30
Captain..................................81
Captain Arthur......................81
Colonel.................................82
Edward Gibbon.....................81
William.................................82
Wallace, Captain John 28, 69, 132
Wallis, see Wallace..................28
Walsh................87, 124, 126, 150
Wandsworth........................53, 54
74
74
Waterman, Albert...................107
Wauchope.................................56
Wave.......................................124
Weatherhead, Trevor23, 128, 147
Weidenhofer, J. H............99, 102
Welch, Mr.................................80
Wellington..........33, 73, 145, 147
Wenham..................................101
Western Australia. .7, 10, 35, 74,
75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 128, 143,
147, 148, 150
74
Whangaroa................................91
White, Bruce.............................29
White, Robert............................22
163
William the Fourth, S.S.. .47, 148
Williams
Henry....................................91
Jane.......................................93
Lydia Jane............................91
Marianne..............................91
River.....................................47
Wilson
D. 62
Doctor...................................62
Dr...62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69, 131
Dr. T. B. R.N........................51
Dr. Thomas Braidwood 38, 62,
65, 110, 114, 118
Edward.11, 24, 109, 110, 113,
114
George..................................62
Mary Braidwood...................51
T. B..............38, 51, 66, 67, 77
Thomas...............................130
Thomas Braidwood 11, 62, 70,
76
Windsor7, 10, 11, 23, 24, 29, 47,
58, 60, 87, 89, 90, 91, 134,
143, 147, 150
Winter, Gillian......................7, 71
Wise, George.............................69
Wiseman
Captain William....................68
Dorothy......................124, 149
Withall, Mounted-Constable.. .106
Wollstonecraft, Edward............25
Woodbury
bar-frame....................111, 117
frame hives.................110, 112
I. W.....................................110
Mr.................................24, 110
Wright.......................................30
Z
zinc, perforated.........................77
Zoological Society...................64
164