1948 Field Day in Papakura
In the 1940’s, there were 2 National Bkprs Assn branches in Auckland.
- The South Auckland branch was more commercially focussed, and was in fact what would later become the Waikato branch.
- The Auckland Central branch was really more of a really well-organised and well-attended hobbyist club.
During early 1947 there had been a bit of a ‘stouch’ between the Auckland Central branch and the NBA. That had arisen at the previous NBA conference when there was some outrage at a pamphlet that had been produced by Percy Hillary, acting as “Hon Secretary pro tem of the Beekeepers’ Progress Committee.” Another aspect that was unsettling to Conference was that Hillary had been at the Conference in effect representing both of the Auckland branches (as well as being quite insufferable, it would seem to read reports of the conference). Billy Bray led the resolve to ask the branches to send their minute books for examination…
https://archive.org/details/1946_08_nzbkpr/page/11/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/1947_nba_exec_minutes/page/40/mode/1up
But the Auckland Central branch was actively planning a branch field day for March 1948. From the plans for 1947/1948 it is clear the branch was very active, and the planned field day at Percy and Gertrude Hillary’s Papakura bee business would for sure be a drawcard…
https://archive.org/details/1945_10_nzbkpr/page/15/mode/1up
The Hillary’s were both well-known in the industry, Percy for his strong feelings about marketing, and Gertrude for her queenrearing capabilities. They sold queens, nucs and honey as Clovergold Apiaries. With them, by the time of this story, would be their two sons, Ed Hillary and his younger brother Rex. Ed would have been not quite 30 years old, and may well have been at this field day.
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/timeline/1940_06_Clovergold_Apiaries_prices.pdf
Sir Ed described some of that period in his talk to the NBA Conference in Tauranga in 1994.
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/1994_NBA_Conf_videos/1994_Hillary_at_Tauranga_NBA_Conference.m4v
And when the field day came around, it had both good attendance and publicity – the National Film Unit came to do a short film about the day!
The “Bee Day” starts 5 min 45 sec in…
I’m not sure which speakers are which. But one stands out, for sure. At 6 min 15 sec in, Percy Hillary demonstrates how gentle his bees are.
Following the day, the branch continued to get publicity for it. A short report appeared in some newspapers.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19460325.2.40
And a more full report appeared in a later NZ Beekeeper magazine.