News Archive

They do not eat their fruit and veg, but without them you wouldn't either.  And even though they are vegetarians, they help produce the meat you eat.  Their labour is valued at up to $6 billion here in Australia alone, but their workforce lives in dark wooden sheds.

Curious?  Find out more about these mysterious workers at this year's Honey Festival, WA's contribution to the National Honey Month of May.

The University of Western Australia's Centre of Integrative Bee Research ( CIBER ) is one of the main organisers behind this free, non-for-profit family event, which is now in its fourth year and has attracted more than 2000 visitors in the past.

The festival's aim is to promote the importance of honey bees for our food security, to increase public awareness about the situation of the local bee-keeping industry and the environmental threats endangering our honey bees.

The team's scientists will volunteer their time to enable the public to get close and personal to ‘her majesty' the queen, a mum of 70,000, and her regime of scents in the dark.  Visitors will also learn all about CIBER's research, as the team's director Professor Boris Baer will give a free talk, and the CIBER exhibition will be on display.

People can sample the tastes of different honeys, learn about the benefits of beeswax candles and watch the Aboriginal dance group Wadumbah perform a honey bee-dance.  Children in bee outfits will learn to waggle dance and get crafty at the Scitech stall.

Visitors can also learn how to keep bees, how to build a bee box, light a smoker, rub shoulders with local beekeepers, see beekeepers loading hives onto trucks or relax and browse the various stalls and listen the groove of Paul Davies and his guitar.

The Honey Festival is at 867 Great Northern Highway (House of Honey) in the Swan Valley, on Sunday, 3 May from 10am to 4pm.  There are refreshments for sale or people can bring a picnic, and the event is wheelchair accessible.

For more information see Facebook:  Honeyfestival Inc.

Media references

Dr Barbara Baer-Imhoof (Outreach Officer, UWA Centre of Integrative Bee Research)  (+61 4) 24 638 754
David Stacey (UWA Media and Public Relations Manager)  (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 32 637 716