QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Imkerei Kriege

German immigrants’ honey was among Queensland’s first exports in the late 19th century, but it was as under-appreciated back home as the merits of apiarists here – initially, at least, writes Peter Barrett. An early reference to German beekeepers in Queensland, on 17 January 1863 in the Brisbane Courier observed: “Bees thrive to a remarkable degree here, but the German settlers are nearly the only parties who seem to appreciate their value …”

There was much debate in the pages of the Brisbane Courier and The Queenslander (on 12 December 1872) between the proponents of the Dzierzon hive and

protagonists like bee columnist Jas Carroll, who preached the benefits of the American designed Langstroth-style hive and its variants. 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.”

Jean Baptiste Louis Isambert 1841–1906, Ipswich beekeeper, wine merchant, politician, soap and candle maker, et al Around 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 (Langstroth) system and

Some were highly skilled in contemporary European beekeeping methods, but rather than employ the exquisite movable bar-frame hive, invented by American Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth in October 1852 An engraving from the Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon of 1908 shows one style of outdoor beehives in use at the time.

(and still in use today by commercial and hobby beekeepers), these Germanic “bee friends” followed the teachings of their countryman, the Rev. Dr Johannes Dzierzon, from Lower Silesia.

Isambert in about 1889 Image courtesy of State Library of Queensland

in working the hives from the top than by the Dzierzon system, and working the hives from the sides.” From an 1865 issue of Melbourne’s Weekly Age and reproduced in the Brisbane Courier on 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

Engraving of a Dzierzon hive, from Deutscher Bienenfreund [lit. “German Bee Friends”] Dec. 1876

Friedrich Ruttner, in a 1981 article Johannes Dzierzon und die deutsche Bienenzucht (Dzierzon and German beekeeping’) which was published in the Allgemeine Deutsche Imkerzeitung Vol. 15, No. 11, noted that “no good explanation has been found for the prolonged dichotomy between the use of movable-frames in back-opening hives – often in…German-speaking parts of Europe – and in top-opening hives out of doors in the rest of the continent and of the world.”

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. …”

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