Some early German beekeepers in Queensland

It should not be surprising that many German Gustaf Adolph Ziebig (1845-1927),
immigrants, particularly those with a farming citrus farmer, apiarist, Saxon Gardens Apiary,
background, brought with them their beekeeping Rockhampton, 1892: Despite Dzierzon’s many
skills and the intention to keep bees following their German beekeeping publications, there was no
settlement here. The first mention of early German guarantee the latest improvements in beekeeping
beekeepers in Queensland appears in the Brisbane techniques always entered Australia via German
Courier, 17 January 1863. “The real worth of immigration. Some beekeepers may have brought
many things may be often enough talked about, with them, or manufactured after their arrival, a
and even widely known; yet, somehow, people bagenstulper, a hive with a round top. (mentioned
don't care to trouble themselves about making use in The Queenslander, 10 Sept. 1887) Once
of them, and this is the case with bees. They thrive exposed to the society of advanced Queensland
to a remarkable degree here, but the German beekeepers and the modern methods promoted in
settlers are nearly the only parties who seem to the press, no doubt some Bienenzüchter
appreciate their value. … I know a small farmer, [beekeepers] eventually recognized the benefits of
who has over thirty hives; he sells the honey at change. One such was Dresden born Gustaf
sixpence per lb., and the wax he sells to people at Adolph Ziebig.
less than one-half its value, and they use it with
their tallow in making candles. Young hives he
sells at 10s. each, and he has cleared from £25 to
£30 a year by them for these last three years. …”
Some arrived skilled in modern European
beekeeping methods. Rather than extol the
exquisitely designed American movable bar-frame
hive, invented by Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth in
October 1852, and still in use today by both
commercial and hobby beekeepers, these
Germanic beemasters followed the teachings of
their fellow countryman, Rev Dr Johannes
Dzierzon (pronounced “zerzon”). The
Queenslander, 14 October 1871, saluted him as
“an eminent German apiarian, [who] resides in …
Lower Silesia … has succeeded in realising nine
hundred dollars as the product of his bees in one
season.”
The Brisbane Courier, 2 February 1907, printed an
obituary: “Germany's oldest beekeeper has passed
away at the good old age of 95 years. As
Langstroth was the father of American beekeepers,
so was Dzierzon that of the German and the great A Dzierzon hive, from Deutscher Bienenfreund,
progress made in apiculture in Europe during the Dec. 1876 (p.205)
last century is attributable to his research in no The Bee Notes report in Rockhampton’s The
small degree. … He was an able writer and Capricornian, 7 June 1890, indicates Ziebig had
contributed to many of the leading German
been keeping bees from at least that year: “Mr.
journals. His work Rational Beekeeping was
Ziebig began the season with four hives, increased
subsequently translated into English, and forms
one of the leading text books of modern to twelve, and produced 160 lbs. honey. Forty
beekeeping. … His father kept bees in logs which pounds per hive, spring count, is rather a low
were eventually placed by young Dzierzon in average, but he confidently expects to do better
improved hives and here he was within an ace of next season.” Fellow townsman Emil Weisse “has
the discovery of the movable bar flame. …” had a pretty favourable season, and has been
somewhat fortunate in getting runaway swarms
from different places.”
In July 1892 Ziebig “opened the season with thirty
four colonies, increased to 48.” (The
Capricornian, 1 July 1893) A year later Adolph
Ziebig [now using his second Christian name]
reported his Saxon Gardens Apiary consisted of
56 hives which produced a honey surplus of 6.5
imperial tons. The apiary subsequently increased
to 65 colonies. (Morning Bulletin, 27 July 1894)
From The Capricornian, 2 Sept. 1893 “During the
year Mr. Ziebig ... exported a trial parcel [of
honey] to his native country, but owing to the
opposition of merchants who handle an article they
call 'Californian honey', it has, so far, been
difficult to make an impression on the German
market.”
Competing against local beekeepers who presented
their produce in the Bees section under the
patronage of the Central Queensland Dog and
Poultry Club, Ziebig won first prize for his exhibit
of a "1 lb. cake of beeswax" and a second for a
“frame hive of local manufacture." (Morning
Bulletin, 11 Nov. 1893)
From Rockhampton’s Morning Bulletin, 3
December 1897 “It will doubtless interest our
readers to learn that quite recently there have been
several large transactions in bee business in this
district. … Mr. Ziebig has recently sold out a large
portion of his apiary and, so we arc informed,
intends to go into beekeeping on a new system.”
Presumably, Ziebig intended to change over to the
American Langstroth designed hive style.
Adolph’s overall beekeeping expertise was
recognised when in April 1899 he performed as
sole judge of the bee section at Rockhiampton’s
Agricultural Society show. (The Capricornian, 6
May 1899)
Friedrich Ruttner, in his 1981 article “Johannes
Dzierzon und die deutsche Bienenzucht”
[“Dzierzon and German beekeeping”] published in
Allgemeine Deutche Imkerzeitung (Vol. 15 No. 11)
commented that "no good explanation has been
found for the prolonged dichotomy between the
use of movable-frames in back-opening hives -
often in a bee house in German-speaking parts of
Europe - and in top-opening hives out of doors in
the rest of the continent and of the world.
Gustaf Adolph Ziebig
Was it perhaps partly a reverence for Dzierzon,
who had a very strong personality? Or an
attachment to bee houses, which preceded
movable-frame hives? In German-speaking areas
the use of top opening hives lagged a full century
behind their full use elsewhere, and most hives
were still back-opening in the 1980s." Even so, not
all Queensland beekeepers, German or otherwise,
upgraded their methods from those commonly
practiced into the latter years of the 19th Century.
Many continued to use the weidenkorb [wicker],
simple straw skeps (inverted baskets) or the
problematic and antiquated, simple closed
frameless box hive made from a gin case, kerosene
case, candle box or similar.
Jean Baptiste Louis Isambert (1841-
1906) Ipswich wine merchant and beekeeper,
soap and candle manufacturer, politician,
mining investor: There was much debate in the
pages of The Queenslander and the Brisbane
Courier (eg., 12 Dec. 1872), between the
Germanic proponents of the Berlepsch / Dzierzon
style of hive and the zealots such as bee columnist
Jas Carroll, who preached the benefits of the
American designed Langstroth style hive and
variants known by such names as the Quinby,
Kedder's, Pettitt's improved, Neighbour’s, the
Woodbury improved or the Milton (Carroll’s
pattern).
Carroll quoted a French bee-master, writing to the
French Bee Journal in December 1867: "... the
construction of the hives in Germany requires the
patience of a German to manage them, and would
not suit anyone accustomed to the simplicity and
ease of control of the Langstroth hive." Carroll
observed “In my hives any comb may be taken out
without removing the others, whereas in the
German hive it is often necessary to remove many
combs to get to a particular one." Around the year
1862 Isambert stated he "procured a pattern-box
from the Rev. Mr. Dzierzon and adopted his
system entirely, and I must state that my "German
patience" was more severely tried by the
Woodbury system and in working the hives from
the top than by the Dzierzon system, and working
the hives from the sides."
In the Brisbane Courier, 12 December 1872,
Brisbane regional apiarist Mark Blasdale of Long
Pocket, Indooroopilly, recognized Ipswich’s Mr.
Isambert with the introduction of the Dzierzon
hive to Queensland. His observation epitomized
the Australian fair go. "Should the Dzierzon hive
prove superior, I shall be greatly pleased and
acknowledge greatly surprised, for I was certainly
under the impression that the class of hive I am
now working (Mr. Carroll's pattern) are very
closely allied to perfection. I have twenty four now
at work, and if any person will pay me a visit I
think I can convince him by an inspection of the
inside of my hives that if the Dzierzon hive is
really superior to mine, both for honey and brood
producing, it must be a very desirable hive
indeed."
Isambert must at some stage have kept bees
commercially for in The Queenslander, 23
November 1872 “Mr. Isambert no longer keeps
bees as a business, or he would give instructions in
the art of making the Dzierzon hive and managing
bees, but there are some of the hives in Brisbane,
as well as other places, and they are so simple that
any carpenter can easily make them after seeing
the pattern.” Isambert considered the Dzierzon
hive to be “ne plus ultra” [“nothing more beyond”
being “the best or most extreme example of
something”] in principle and construction.” (The
Queenslander, 2 Nov. 1872)
From an 1865 issue of Melbourne’s Weekly Age
and reproduced in the Brisbane Courier, 18
January 1873, its editor commented on Dzierzon's
bee hives: "the principle and plan of which are new
to the colony, although not to the continent of
Europe." Isambert was observed as he wielded his
tobacco pipe bee smoker. “On a recent occasion
we had the pleasure of witnessing the depriving
process as performed by Mr Isambert, who, having
covered his face with a light net and lighted a pipe
of tobacco, one side of the door of a hive was
opened, and the inmates having been treated to two
or three whiffs of smoke to keep them quiet, the
door was taken quite down. …”
Jean Baptiste Louis Isambert (ca. 1889)
Image from State Library of Qld.
Despite his German heritage, beekeeper J.
Isambert’s letter to “The Honey Bee” column of
The Queenslander, 7 June 1873, displays a
commanding use of the English language. Typical
of such beekeeping letters, Isambert and others
entered into lively discussions, this one
surrounding the ebb and flow of the honey season
in different Queensland districts. Isambert
commented, in part "The beekeepers of Germany
have an extensive and high class literature on bees
and their management, in books and bee journals.
… [eg.,] the Eichstadter Bee Journal [is] a bi-
monthly paper of about sixteen sides. … No
beekeeper there of any standing would be without
a bee journal, as they contain much useful
information, and are frequently interesting through
the lively controversies therein; and no matter how
keen these controversies and their arguments are,
yet they are entirely free from all animosity. ..."
The Queenslander, 10 September 1887, mentions
one beekeeping journal subscribed to by German
ex-patriot beekeepers - the Illustrated German Bee
JournaI. Copies of Dzierzon’s magazines Der
Bienenfreund aus Schlesien (The Bee-friend from
Silesia) published 1854-1856 and Rationelle
Bienenzucht (Rational apiculture) published 1861-
1878 may also have been subscribed to by
Australian resident German beekeepers. His 1882
Rational bee-keeping; or The theory and practice
of Dr. Dzierzon of Carlsmarkt, translated into
English and published in London by Houlston &
sons, 1882, no doubt found an antipodean
readership. Indeed, this author has a 1909 copy, in
German, of Unfere Honigbiene [Apis mellifera, ie.,
the common honey bee], very likely brought to
Australia a century ago by a German immigrant.
An obituary for J.B.L. Isambert appeared in
Rockhampton’s Morning Bulletin, 2 March 1906
"... at one time member for Rosewood in the
Legislative Assembly of Queensland, [between
July 1882 and 25 October 1892] says the
Townsville Bulletin of the 24th of February, died in
the Cooktown Hospital on Thursday last from
fever contracted on the Alice River goldfield. At
one time Mr. lsambert was in a good position as a
vigneron and wine maker in the Ipswich district;
but misfortune overtook him, and of late years he
had a hard job to make ends meet. He was a well-
educated and highly intelligent man, and his death
will be regretted by many who remember him in
the good old days." (Notes: The Alice River
Goldfield, discovered in 1904, is located
approximately 30 klms slightly south west of
Townsville on Cape York Peninsula, and about
440 klms by road from Cairns in Far North
Queensland. The Alice River fever Isambert
contracted possibly equates to today’s Ross River
Virus, given that the two locations are but 51 klms
apart by today’s roads.)
“an intelligent German bee-keeper, The engraving above, taken from The Town and
Country Journal, 24 November 1883, is a
near Walloon” 1873: In The Queenslander,
caricature of a late 19th Century German
15 February 1873, a beekeeper at Mount Alfred
beekeeper, operator of a large commercial queen
(located in western Queensland, 300 klms NW of
bee breeding apiary in eastern Australia from
Birdsville) sought assistance “Can any of your
1882. Note the oversize tobacco pipe used to
correspondents - Mr. Bee-master Carroll or other -
smoke the bees. The honey frame in hand comes
give a description of how to avoid, and how to
from the German Berlepsch / Dzierzon style of
expel, moths and their maggots from the hives? …
hive.
A gentleman who owned a large number of bees
on the Patterson was looking at my bees last week, W. Boldeman, Rockhampton
and told me I should lose them all from this [wax] beekeeper 1867, brewer, soap
moth: since then, I have seen an intelligent manufacturer: The following report appeared in
German bee-keeper, near Walloon; [off the the Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland
Warrego Hwy, 17 klms west of Ipswich] he told Advertiser, 2 November 1867 “We have lately
me that at the commencement of the season he had examined four hives at Mr. Boldeman's, near the
27 hives, - now (although he has saved swarms) be Upper Dawson Road, which, though common
is reduced to 15. He further told me that an uncle enough in Germany, will seem to the British eye
of his owned over 100 swarms, and now has not a complete novelties. There are four hives, two over
single swarm left, all through these pests. … I have two. Each hive consists of an oblong box standing
nine hives, but no honey - owing to this moth and upright; there is a door in front extending nearly
grub I suppose; and in an observing hive [Jas the whole length of the box, with a small aperture
Carroll’s, editor of “The Honey Bee” column in at the bottom for the bees. On opening this door,
The Queenslander] the bees stopped making comb the bees are discovered in full work. At each side
or filling it for nearly a fortnight. I, and I doubt not of the box is a ledge supporting a series of
many others, would feel grateful if you could moveable partitions, or frames, on which the bees
publish a remedy in a foot-note to this enquiry.” build their combs. These frames can be removed
separately. The operator, previously to opening the
hive, lights a piece of dry wood, and opening the
door cautiously, effectually mesmerizes the tiny
labourers by “incensing” them. He then takes out
frame after frame with its load of golden honey,
the bees clustering over it harmlessly. Our
practical German friend went so far as to cut a
large slice off one of the outer combs, to the
astonishment of the bees, and putting it on a plate
invited us to try it. We found it delicious …” This
style of hive “has been almost universally adopted
on the Continent. We would recommend any one
who intends forming an apiary, to visit Mr.
Boldeman's establishment, and that gentleman and
his obliging and polite partner will give the
necessary information.”
In the Morning Bulletin, 13 October 1886 “... the
Black or English Bees ... were first introduced into
this district about twenty years ago, by Mr.
Boldeman and Mr. Isambert ... For a time they did
remarkably well, and colonies were planted in
many parts of the surrounding country. When the
[bee] Moth began its destructive course, Bee-
keeping, as a rural industry, was destroyed. One
selector, [Glenny Naish] near Raglan, who, we
have been informed, had sixty hives, did not
manage to save one. ..."
The Morning Bulletin, 19 December 1923,
reported Boldeman established his soap making
business at Rockhampton in 1867 in conjunction
with J.B.L. Isambert, who, after some years in
partnership, removed to Ipswich. Boldeman and
family were initially resident in Sydney from at
least 1854, then relocated to Queensland in 1862.
Glenny Naish, Raglan, ca. 1875: was a
citrus, lucerne and maize farmer as well as a
sometime absentee apiarist. Rockhampton’s
Morning Bulletin, 2 June 1900 stated “Mr Naish
came to Rockhampton twenty-five years ago (ca.
1875). … [he] has an apiary from which he gets
about two tons of honey annually. He has received
high encomiums (high praise) for the product,
which finds a ready sale in the western country. It
is arranged in neat tins, labeled Cedar Valley, the
name of the farm.” His thoughts on "The Habits of
Bees in Queensland” appeared some twenty years
previously in The Honey Bee column of The
Queenslander, 13 September 1879. “I have in my
apiary over thirty colonies of bees, the direct
descendants of two hives imported into
Queensland some years ago.” A beekeeping
pioneer in the Rockhampton region, he informed
the Morning Bulletin, 18 October 1886: “Some
years ago I conveyed over forty hives by steamer
to Raglan. [470 klms NNW of Brisbane, being
west of Gladstone and south of Rockhampton.]
These being the first ever landed …” Disaster was
to strike these hives.
Naish’s letter to The Capricornian appeared on 23
October 1886. His hives, which succumbed around
a decade previous to this clarification “were
manipulated by me substantially to my satisfaction
for some years prior” to bringing them to Raglan.
“My bees succumbed to an insidious foe,
commonly known in Europe and America as foul
brood. ... The disease originated through the
purchase of an imported hive, which had been
supplemented by brood combs from a so-called
Italian colony, received from San Francisco. They,
no doubt, contained the germs of this fell disease,
which had at that time decimated some of the
largest apiaries in America. In conveying my hives
from the steamer, they were unavoidably exposed
to the full glare of the sun's rays, a state most
favourable to the spread of the disease, which I at
that time unknowingly assisted, by giving frames
of brood combs from infected hives to others
which were fairly healthy. As the disease
developed, and showed itself in a more marked
degree, I was enabled, by my acquired knowledge,
to see what the trouble was; but to remedy it was
another matter. After battling with it until my
colonies were reduced to small proportions, I
adopted the only remedy then generally known,
viz., destroying the balance, and subjecting the
hives to a bath of I caustic soda, with the idea of
starting at some future time with non-infected
colonies from another district. ...”
Begin again he did for in a report on the Summer
Show of the Fitzroy Pastoral, Agricultural, and
Horticultural Society, which appeared the Morning
Bulletin, 24 January 1880 “... the visitor is ...
pleased and surprised by what might be called a
"bee trophy." Honey in the comb, of the purest
quality, is displayed in glass cases, underneath
which is the honey bottled, tinned, and attractively
labelled, and all varied by specimens of wax
evidently prepared by an adept at the business.
These are the exhibits of Mr. G. Naish, North
Rockhampton, and both from an industrial and
artistic point of view deserve the attention of the
visitor.”
In The Capricornian, 23 September 1893 “The
crops of maize and potatoes have been most
abundant. Dairying has been most successfully
carried on, and bee-keeping has succeeded beyond
all expectations. Mr. Naish and Mr. Christiansen
are large bee-keepers, and they have already sent
away over three tons of honey this year.” (To place
“large bee-keepers” in context, Christiansen had
20 hives of bees in 1900. Morning Bulletin, 2
June.)
In the Morning Bulletin, 1 November 1892 “There
seems quite a craze in this district for bee-keeping,
and some of the apiarists seem to be doing
remarkably well too, judging from the way their
stocks are increasing. The largest apiary contains
sixteen colonies, the owner of which commenced
last December with only one. …”
Continuing to work as a commercial traveller in
1900, Naish’s “peregrinations extended all over
the far west to the border.” The prevailing drought
that year “debarred his traveling and he has in
consequence remained at home to work on the
farm. While away he manages it by
correspondence. Mrs. Naish and the Misses Naish
are enthusiasts in agriculture, and they do the
supervising during the absence of the chief.” Cedar
Valley Farm must have been a pleasant place to
visit for “the cottage home is almost embowered
with trailing vines and creeper flowers, trained and
tended by the feminine hand”, a place where
“music, mirth, and jollity help to while away the
hours.”
Would that I had lived in that region and in that
time for I could have gathered together my
beekeeping paraphernalia and looked forward to a
convivial visit to Cedar Valley.
.