The 1974 MAF Seminar in Taupo

I came to NZ to be a beekeeper in 1974…

For me the date was memorable, not only for my emigration, but because the US president Richard Nixon had resigned – while I was waiting in LAX for the plane to New Zealand!

I was coming to Eltham Apiaries to work for Trevor Rowe, and within only a day or so of arriving, I got taken to my first beekeeper’s event/field day/seminar type thing.  An absolutely eye-opening event to introduce me to NZ beekeeping!

The other beekeeper for the trip was Chris Bromell, a commercial beekeeper from Manaia.  Chris pulled into Eltham Apiaries to drive us to Taupo, in his beautifully-kept 1965 or 1966 (?) Rambler.

So this bit of a ramble is in honour of those two beekeepers, the first beekeepers I ever met in NZ!

The 1974 seminar, organised by the Ministry of Ag and Fish, had an amazing set of papers and people – scientific, practical – all sorts.  In those few days, I met many beekeepers that I would continue to respect throughout my time in the industry.

Murray Reid – after meeting him at the seminar, I pestered him with letters (yes, we wrote those) and badgered him for information for many, many years.  Still do, sometimes, but now by email.

Peter Pegram was there, talking about extracting manuka honey.  Peter was an ex-WWII serviceman, and ended up with resettlement as a beekeeper in the Wairoa area of the North Island’s East Coast.  Manuka was not a blessing.  It was hard on combs, and on strainers, and then once you got it extracted, you’d have money deducted from the payout because it tasted like manuka!  Peter, Snow and their family became good friends, all after meeting him in Taupo.  I can remember Peter railing about “the IMD” – HMA (Honey Marketing Authority) had taken over from the IMD more than 20 years previously, but in Peter’s speech they were all the same…

I first met Ted Roberts at the seminar, as he delivered a talk on “Honey Through the Ages”.  This was when Ted was still with Massey University, before he joined the MAF.  I miss Ted’s wise counsel, and I’m amazed when I realise he was 32 years old when I first met him back then!

One speaker, a marketing expert, decried the unimaginative packaging of NZ honeys, giving examples of honey packs that didn’t really ‘play’ to the consumer.  He put up the image of a pack that he thought was appealing and informative.  It had a background of citrus flowers and leaves, and the pack was from “Citrus Apiaries”.  He felt promoting the select source in that way was a good thing for marketing the pack.  

The audience broke into laughter.  They all knew that the Citrus Apiaries label was from Bill Haines and his son Malcolm – and that it was not so much citrus, as some of the finest of Northland’s manuka honey!

I did not realise at the time that it was a magnificent event I had been taken to.  Trevor and Chris introduced me to the commercial beekeeping industry in taking me to the seminar.