Historic: The NZ HoneyBee magazine...

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Everyone knows that Sir Edmund Hillary was a beekeeper - he came to the 1994 NBA conference and told some good stories!

Fewer people know of his father, Percy Hillary. Percy was involved in the 1920s/1930s especially. He lost some credibility in the middle 1930s in a poor production year when NZ Honey Co. got caught importing Australian honey, intending to use it to maintain some orders for low value honey. Long story there...

But very few people know that Percy produced a beekeeping magazine in 1938/1939, just preceding the launch of the NZ Beekeeper magazine. Percy had a journalism background and seemed to enjoy the production, though he appeared put out when the NBA got some funding from the Govt to produce an 'official' magazine.

I haven't got all the issues yet, but you can see most of these magazines at:


I hope to add others, and maybe go back to re-scan this lot, as I'm not all that happy with the quality.
 

NickWallingford

BOP Club
323
476
Tauranga
Experience
Retired
Thank you, @Bron . I didn't (don't?) have much of a real plan, but figure now is the time to digitise these magazines/pamphlets/newsletters that contain most of the real information about the industry for those times gone by. I guess I do have a plan, in the sense that I want to free up all that additional space full of papers in my garage!
 
245
156
Christchurch
Experience
Beginner
Thank you, @Bron . I didn't (don't?) have much of a real plan, but figure now is the time to digitise these magazines/pamphlets/newsletters that contain most of the real information about the industry for those times gone by. I guess I do have a plan, in the sense that I want to free up all that additional space full of papers in my garage!
Hopefully someone will take the physical copies off your hands. They must have historical value?
 

NickWallingford

BOP Club
323
476
Tauranga
Experience
Retired
When I first started to deal with the materials I had, I found something of a resounding 'not interested' for the most part. But with persistence, I have started to exit some of the materials. But other people - Murray Reid in particular - have also be generous in allowing me to scan old stuff. Once I complete this current phase - the 1914/1922 NZBkpr magazines, the NZ Honey Producer (WB Bray) and the NZ HoneyBee (P Hillary) - I'd like to ultimately fill in that 1922-1938 gap when the 'official' magazine was in fact just a section in the middle of the NZ Fruitgrower and Apiarist magazine (renamed several times). That 1930s period was a very hard time for beekeepers in many ways...
 
3,607
6,747
Hawkes Bay
Experience
Commercial
I have started reading through them. A lot of it is still really good practical advice. The ads are fascinating and far more interesting than modern ones. Tirau Museum has one of Hillary's honeypots , I unfortunately never met Ed but my father certainly knew him.
 

Sailabee

BOP Club
1,238
1,296
North Auckland
Experience
Hobbyist
Percy was one of the founding fathers of the Auckland Beekeepers Club. As far as I know, Ed's son Peter still has the Hillary Honey Limited company still registered.
 


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