Bee Hives to Sydney 1824 in the convict ship Phoenix
The well known introduction of honey bees into Sydney aboard the convict transport
Isabella
in 1822 wasnot the only incident in which hives of bees shared space with convicts aboard a sailing ship bound for “Botany Bay.” My first mention of the convict ship
Phoenix
appeared in my 1995
The Immigrant Bees,Volume I
. The short entry, titled “The
Phoenix
, 1824”, is as follows: “Gale (1912) quoted from an issue of the
Sydney Morning Herald
, 10 August 1863 “.
... it stated that at a meeting of the Acclimatisation Society
of New South Wales … bees were brought from England to Sydney in the year 1824, in the ship’Phoenix,’ which sailed from Portsmouth in March of that year.
” Three convict ships carried the name
Phoenix
. One of these, under Captain Robert White and surgeon-superintendent Charles Queade, departedPortsmouth 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 Augustarrived off the entrance to Port Jackson.
” (Bateson, 1969, p.230) Several searches of the
Sydney Morning Herald
failed to locate the item referred to by Gale.”In my 1999
Volume II
update I added the following minor note: “F. R. Beuhne at the time of writing
Beekeeping in Victoria
in 1915-1916 was a former bee expert of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. Hewrote “
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 wellover the whole of Australia.
” (p.13) Unfortunately, Beuhne supplied no primary source in support of the1824 date.” Now in 2006, just when I thought my
Volume III
was ready for publication, I acquired three old Australian beekeeping books within the span of three months. Two of these now contribute to this update on the convicttransport ship
Phoenix
and its supercargo of bees. The first of this trio was Beuhne’s 1925 revised andenlarged edition of
Beekeeping in Victoria
. During the intervening nine or so years since the previous editionhe must have become aware of Wallace’s 1822
Isabella
bees, for the same chapter titled “Races of Bees” hasthe 1824 date modified to 1822: “
The Black Bee, it has been stated, was first brought to Australia fromGreat Britain in 1822. Since then the variety has spread well over the whole of Australia.
” (p.13)
1824 v’s 1831 ? – Mowle, 1898 & Ross, 1863
I next acquired a bound annual of the
Australian Bee Bulletin
, April 1896 to March 1897. An entry in theMarch 1896 issue was taken from an article by Isaac Hopkins in the
New Zealand Farmer
. It appears stronginterest was also evident across the Tasman re the first introduction of bees to New Zealand “
… At presentthe case stands thus: …
And finally,another bound annual of the
Australian Bee Bulletin
, April 1898 to March 1899. The August issue contains1½ pages of revelations addressing the first introduction of bees, with the inference this was an ongoing topic.I expect the 1897-98 annual, when located and studied, will contain more of interest. Now to the first item from August 1898: A Miss
then Usher of the Black Rod
to the Parliament of NSW, at the Exhibition of 1888, presumably the GreatExhibition held in Melbourne.
Mowle had promised to provide her with some personal recollections on thefirst introduction of bees to Australia. In her July 1898 letter to E. Tipper, editor of the
ABB
, she’d written“
As there has been some interest shown by beekeepers lately
with regard to the first importation of
1
Nicholson in his
Log of Logs
gives arrival date as 26 July 1824
2
Mowle refers to Sophie Bradley as “Mrs” and elsewhere as “Madam”. The
ABB
refers to her as “Miss”.
3
Stewart Marjoribanks Mowle
4
Mowle was Usher of the Black Rod at the Parliament of NSW between 1 Aug. 1883 and 31 Jan. 1905, being thethird office bearer since the role’s inception on 15 May 1856. Refer http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/web/common.nsf/key/ArchivesLegislativeCouncilUshersofTheBlackRod
5
The stately Great Exhibition Hall
still stands.
6
By “lately” she must be referring to an earlier monthly issue of the
ABB
. A search of the 1897/98
ABB
mayuncover earlier correspondence.
bees to the colony, I wrote to Mr. T. M. Mowle,
a relation of whose I knew had in some way taken partin the introduction of bees to the colonies. I enclose his communications to me on the subject, as theymay be of interest to some of your readers, and if published in your columns prove a public record of past events …
” (p.104) Mowle wrote to her on 28 June 1898: “
I had to go through my scrap books athome last night to obtain the information … I had forgotten the interview I had with you …
(in)
1888.We were always under the impression that the produce of the bees imported into Tasmania by Dr.Wilson found their way to Sydney, and that the originals were the first introduced to the colonies. Inlooking through the old Gazettes some two or three years ago, I was quite surprised to find theauctioneer’s notice and the paragraph, copies of which you now have.
”Mowle was referring to the Sydney Gazette for Friday 21 June 1822, the contents of which he provided: “
Wecongratulate our readers upon the complete establishment of that most valuable insect, the bee, in thiscountry. During the last three weeks, three swarms of bees have been produced from two hives, theproperty of D. W
ENTWORTH
, Esq, purchased by him from Captain Wallace, of the Isabella, at his estate,Homebush, near Parramatta.
” A similar notice also appeared in the 1 Nov. 1822 issue.Mowle continued “
We cannot ignore these facts, and those contained in Mr. Ross’s letter,
and wetherefore must conclude that bees were numerous in N.S.W. long before Dr. Wilson brought them toTasmania. I am puzzled to think that in his numerous
voyages to these colonies, from 1821 to 1836, hewas not aware that bees were acclimatised here, and that he should have taken the trouble to haveimported them from England, instead of sending them from Sydney to Hobart.
”
This latter possibilitywould likely not have been possible for Wilson would sail next, not south to Hobart, but back to England for his next convict transport posting. Given the evidence available throughout my three volumes of
The Immigrant Bees
, I don’t doubt Wilson was the first to successfully introduce honeybees into Tasmania.
A Digression – could Wentworth’s 1822 hives been viable?
A discussion is needed here to explore the likelihood of the “complete establishment” of Wentworth’s twohives. The 1822 Gazette notice declared success because three swarms issued from the two hives during athree week period. There is another possibility: that the swarms were “poverty” swarms, cast in desperationrather than the usual positive cause - generated due to overcrowding in the hive of stores and/or bees. Aswarm having issued in desperation may not necessarily leave behind a yet to hatch virgin queen. But, if therewas a virgin queen, on hatching, she’d have scant chance of mating successfully on the wing if there wereinsufficient drones available.The convict transport Isabella departed England on 4 Nov. 1821, at the beginning of the last month of Autumn in the northern hemisphere. It’s possible eviction of drones from the hives chosen for shipment mayhave already begun. If the drone population in the hives was significantly depleted on departure, the prospectof successfully mated future queens in Australia could be seriously at risk in June at the commencement of a NSW southern hemisphere Winter. Should any feral swarm grow to prosper in both honey stores andnumbers of bees, and subsequently swarm again with the original English mated queen, then again, anyvirgin queen left behind would need to successfully mate with whatever drones were then available.Even a seemingly prosperous hive with good stores of honey would eventually dwindle as the queen agedand her laying rate diminished, thence to die out after her death, should no virgin queen be available for subsequent mating. For the non-beekeeper, on issue of a swarm headed by the reigning queen, failure of thevirgin queen left behind to mate after hatching must result in the death of the hive. Note, that for any virgin
7
The initials “T.M.” appear throughout this section but it must be an
ABB
typographical error, for Mowle’s Christiannames were “Stewart Marjoribanks”, ie “S.M.” Mowle added a note in his letter which confirms his identity “He(Dr. T.B. Wilson) was my children’s grandfather”. S.M. Mowle married Wilson’s daughter, Mary BraidwoodWilson, on 12 may 1845
8
Read on for these valuable details
9
Nine voyages in total
queens in Wentworth’s two hives, only the (limited supply of ?) drones from those same two hives would beavailable for mating, unless by chance, other Isabella hives were propitiously close by.
A possible earlier introduction, Parramatta, c1820
Within Heaton’s 1879 Dictionary of Dates coverage of the Isabella’s seven hives of bees is a note that “
Aspecies of this industrious race was introduced into Parramatta some years ago, and lived only a shorttime.
” This note, in tandem with details of the Wallace /
Isabella
introduction, are dated “April 1822”, onemonth after the arrival of the
Isabella
on 9 March 1822. Was this note recalling a failed event of “someyears ago”, which had otherwise gone unrecorded, either c1820, or an even earlier introduction of a hive or hives to Parramatta?
Mowle on 1824 and 1831
Mowle continued “
It is possible, as I have said, that the N.S.W. stock might have perished, and that itwas necessary to replace them from England. The vicissitudes of this climate favour the idea.
” Mowlesigned off his letter “
Believe me, yours truly.
” After the revelations in John Ross’s letter, which follow,Mowle added a note “
Dear Madam, - You must come to your own conclusions from the abovestatements. The bees early imported may have died, as they died in vast numbers years ago.
Dr.Wilson, who first came to the colonies in 1821, might have known this, and brought a fresh supply.
”
John Ross, 1863, a witness to 1824
letter, dated 10 August 1863
Herald
(date not supplied). Ross wrote “
In your paper of the 28
th
July,
I see it stated at a meeting of theAcclimatisation Society of New South Wales, that bees were first brought to this country by Dr.Braidwood Wilson, from Hobart Town, in the year 1831. This is evidently a mistake. Bees werebrought from England to Sydney in the year 1824, in the ship
Phoenix
, which sailed fromPortsmouth in March of that year.
”The web site
titled “Historical overview of events and development of the Eurobodalla Shire” provides theentry “Capt John Ross arrived on 14 October 1850 to start the Pilot Station at Moruya Heads. At that timeover a hundred ships sailed up the Moruya and Clyde River a year.”
10
Research by Keith Campbell, made available via an ABC Radio program in 2002, may be linked to the failed“c1820” introduction. Campbell stated “In 1821, John MacArthur (of
Elizabeth Farm
at Parramatta) wrote to his brother James (1798-1867) from London, that he understood that he had acquired English bees, and wanted to knowhow they were doing. The MacArthurs were first to do with livestock in Australia: perhaps this was another.” A possible location for these bees was the MacArthur’s
Camden Park
estate.
11
I believe this is a reference to the wide destruction to hives caused by foul brood, eg., A Mr. “W.A. McK” of Mingoola (in the Tenterfield / Texas region of Qld.) wrote to the
ABB
, January 1896 “…In the year 1870 foul brooddestroyed all or nearly all the bees in the Tenterfield district. …”
12
I’ve become aware (Sept. 2006) of a biography: “The Career of Captain John Ross as First Piilot of the Newstead
Pilot Station, Moruya River, NSW, 1860-1871” in the April 1979 issue of
Great Circle
(pp.33-35), the journal of theAustralian Association of Maritime History. Copies are held at the State Library of Queensland. I intend to seek outa copy, and if possible, provide more details on this 1824 witness.
13
My following thoughts may be considered rambling, but there’s a probability of truth in them: Is it a coincidencethat Gale quoted from a copy of the
Sydney Morning Herald
of 10 August 1863, the same date that Ross wrote hisletter to the
Australian Bee Bulletin
? Could Ross have seen the
SMH
article and penned his relevant memories thatsame day? If so, why not write to the
SMH
rather than the
ABB
? Ross would have to have been in Sydney to readthat day’s paper for copies would, I expect, have taken some days to reach the south coast of NSW, lest they be sentthere each day by steamer.
14
As at Oct. 2006 I’ve not sighted this edition of the
SMH
. Investigation of it must await a future trip to the StateLibrary.
15
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Bee Hives to Sydney 1824 in the Convict Ship Phoenix
The well known introduction of honey bees into Sydney aboard the convict transport Isabella in 1822 was not the only incident in which hives of bees shared space with convicts aboard a sailing ship bound for…
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