Always was, Always will bee

Always was, Always will bee

Countryman

- Percy Mumbulla 

From the hollow trees in their native home

them old fellows cut the honeycomb.

On honey and little white grubs they fed,

'cause them young bees was blackfeller's bread.

That's why they was so mighty and strong

in their native home in Currarong.

An' them old fellers' drink was honey-bul;

honey and water, a coolamon full.

Naked through the bush they went,

an' never knew what sickness meant,

them native bees could do you no harm,

they'd crawl all over your honey-smeared arm.

But them Eyetalian bees, they'd bung

your eyes right up. When we was young

we used to rob their honey-trees,

Savage! they'd fetch your blood, Them bees

would zoom an' zing an' chase a feller

from Bombaderry to Bodalla

Well Old Uncle Ninah, and Billy Bulloo

Old Jacky Mumbulla, King Merriman too,

them fierce old fellers, they're all gone now.

An' the wild honey's still in the gumtree bough.

 

Statement: Position Paper 21.02.2026

Honeybees thrive throughout the Pacific region. The warm climate, abundance of native forage, nesting sites, clean air and crystal clear water provides a perfect habitat for the Honeybee and the Apidae family.

The Southern land is a unique and important landscape for honeybee conservation as it is home to several free living Apis species: The Eastern Honeybee (Apis cerana), the Red Honeybee (Apis florea), and numerous subspecies of the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera, Apis mellifera carnica, and Apis mellifera ligustica). This diversity of honeybee genetics and landscapes offer the honeybee an excellent habitat for the advancement of genetic strength.

Following international best practices and research standards, we advocate for the  research and conservation of wild Apis populations across the Pacific region.

Apis. florea (Red Honeybee)

Apis. florea is unique for its morphology, foraging behaviour and defensive mechanisms. They are the most primitive of the living species of Apis, reflected in their small colony size, and simple nest construction.

Apis. cerana (Eastern Honeybee)

Displays a wide range of genetic, morphological, and behavioural variation. 

Apis. mellifera (Western Honeybee)

IUCN guidelines (October 2025): Wild populations of the Western Honey Bee are here defined as self-sustaining groups of free-living colonies. The attribute “self-sustaining” is applied in relation to a ten-year period and refers to the capacity of the free-living cohort (i.e., group of colonies) to persist for at least that duration by maintaining itself through the reproduction of its member colonies, without relying on the immigration of swarms from managed ones (as there is no genetic division among free-living and managed cohorts). The period of ten years is used, as it corresponds to length of three generations (following IUCN guidelines, the average generation length of a Honey Bee colony was calculated as 3.3 years, see Habitats and Ecology section).

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