From the Archive: Five, Ten and Fifteen Years Ago.
Making the archive of TAB Back Issues easily accessible is an important part of maintaining the history of our association which is 72 years old this year.
Currently ABA holds pdf copies of most of the issues back to the beginning of 2008. By which year we were up to Volume 40 of TAB, so hopefully someone out there has some of the missing history.
The 5, 10 and 15 year concept is borrowed from Scientific American who are currently doing a 50, 100 and 150 year article in every issue.
15 Years Ago (April May 2011)
In 2011 TAB was a 4 or 5 page newsletter. Click here to view the whole issue
The stand-out article is an impassioned letter by a member who is appalled at the Federal Governments decision to retreat from the attempt to eradicate an incursion of Asian Honey Bee (Apis cerana) in Nth Queensland. An extract is below.
"Dear Minister Burke,
Appalled at your government’s premature retreat from the
Asian Honey Bee invasion, I am writing to urge that you seek
advice from your Department about the likely impacts on native
flora and fauna as this new exotic pest fans out across Australia.
During recent weeks, wide media attention has been drawn to
the devastating impacts of this nuisance bee upon apiarists and
the multi-billion dollar crops which rely upon European bees
for pollination...... Having smaller but more plentiful hives, I fear
the Asian Honey Bee will eventually occupy a much greater
percentage of roosting sites."
Needless to say, Apis cerana still exists in FNQ but the remainder of the continent has not been devastated by this Feral incursion.
10 Years ago (2015)
Please note the issue shown is the October November 2016 issue as we are missing the Feb- Mar, Apr-May, Jun-Jul and Aug-Sep issues for 2016. If anyone out there has copies of these please contact editor@beekeepers.asn.au.
There is a Swarm catching article with a variant of Fiona Fernie's Scottish ditty shared in the March issue Swarm Feature.
A swarm of bees in Spring
Is worth a silver ring.
A swarm of bees in Summer
Is worth the extra number.
A swarm of bees in Fall
Is worth nothing at all.
Fortunately, the swarm season in 2016 did not seem quite so frantic as our last summer.
5 Years Ago (April May 2021)
The big issues for the April May 2021 issue of TAB were About Sugar Shake Month and how to do a Sugar Shake Test.
Famous last words!
"The chief critter to be looking for is Varroa – the parasite that devastates colonies in every other major beekeeping country around the world. And while nobody wants to discover it here, we all need to be on full alert. And to act quickly if we discover anything suspicious. The key to stopping its spread will be early intervention. And that’s why regular checks are vital. (Not to mention they are also mandatory under the Beekeeping Code of Practice that is a condition of being allowed to keep bees in Australia.)"
On a more mundane level there was an article on the "9 Things Every Beekeeper Should Know About Selling Honey" with tips on issues like Food Handling Regulations, The Honey Levy, Correct Labeling and Health Claims.