Sydney Branch (Sydney Native Bee Community)
Sydney branch ventured out to the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens on 4 December 2021 and held their AGM as a morning walking meeting.
Dan & Natalie welcomed the members through an acknowledgement of country. The new branch executive was elected. Natalie presented an annual report, see below. The vision for 2022 was discussed and ideas generated for next meeting.
Next Meeting: Saturday 5 February 2022 – 10am to 10:45 (location TBC)
All members are welcome to join us – we would love to hear what you are doing in your local area and share our ideas for 2022.
Welcome
Introduction of committee members
Discuss Ideas for 2022
• Sydney Conference 2022 – planning for our representation
• Rescue, honey tasting & Walk facilitated by Isaac
• Reconnect with Indigrow – education workshops, donations
• Royal Easter Show – Sydney – Native Honey Com-petition – promote and send information on how to extract honey and apply
•Xylocopa walk – nesting sites
Contact details, new branch executive
Co-Chairs: Michelle Carrick (michelleacarrick@gmail.com) and Sam Higgins (sam.higgins@outlook.com.au)
Secretary: Natalie Er (natalieer@hotmail.com)
Treasurer: Dan Smailes (dan@sydneynativebees.com)
Rescue & Conservation Co-ordinator: Zac Narker (zacnarker@icloud.com)
Culture, Arts & Education Coordinator: Amelie Vander-stock (ameliemareva@gmail.com)
Communications & Promotion: Dan Smailes (dan@sydneynativebees.com)
Art & Film Coordinator: Isaac Mayer (isaac@bushbees.com)
Representative to ANBA Management Committee: Sam Higgins (sam.higgins@outlook.com.au)
Co-Chair report 2021, by Natalie Er
Looking back over the year that has been, I know I feel a little disappointed that we were not able to achieve as much as we would have liked to. We tried to keep our spirits up during this second year of Covid-19, and planned events for our members, such as a walk to find Xylocopa nesting sites that we were subsequently forced to postpone. We felt the risk was too great to bring people together from all over Sydney. It has been a difficult year for most of us, and we all felt the disadvantage of an inability to meet, and generate ideas and energy from each other.
So, our wings have been a little clipped this year. We had hoped to hold a “moveable feast” of activities celebrating each season, but have been limited to the digital world. I feel we have continued to build on that very real sense of community with our online groups. Fostering knowledge exchange and attitudes of respect for one another and sharing and learning from the discoveries and experience of our SNBC online community. It is a wonderful representation of our Philosophy, supportive, welcoming and gen-erous in sharing knowledge.
We have successfully performed T. carbonaria rescues in and around Sydney, building upon our established connections arborists, councils and environment workers, volunteers and residents. Most of these colonies are relocated immediately back into places of community, educational, cultural or environmental importance. Others go into much needed recovery and respite for an extended period of time, before they can be relocated to a place of permanence. Some of these colonies are reboxed into a hive, if their original habitat isn’t suitable or is detrimental to their future survival.
These are a handful of rescues that were donated through the collaborative efforts of our conservation volunteers over the last 12 months.
• At our SNBC launch, we donated a colony to an enthusiastic bee conservationist who has already begun educating her streets community on the importance and diversity of our native pollinators. We will soon undertake an education and propagation session with Saffi and her community (North Shore).
• Relocated two infant colonies into hive and kept them connected to their Mother nests and to be soon propagated for our donation program. (Eastern Suburbs and Northern Beaches).
Page 12. The Cross-Pollinator, Dec/Jan 2022
Sydney Branch News (continued)
• Donated one natural habitat and one observation hive to Noel and Trish Butler from Nura Gunyu (Budawang elder from the Yuin Nation on the South Coast) who recently lost their home, their Indigenous food forest and education centre, vast Aboriginal artifact collection and basically everything. Currently rebuilding to continue educating community on local Aboriginal culture language. Our donations will hopefully help contribute to their cultural con-servation.
• One hive to a local Public School, which is now ready to be propagated including another education session + demonstration (Northern Beaches)
• One Natural habitat back into Stony Range Botanic Gardens and Native Bee Sanctuary.
• One unique observation hive to a true environment educator, Costa Georgiadis
• One natural habitat colony ready to go to a local Public School in the Eastern Suburbs, who recently lost their two colonies from an accident with a contract worker.
• One hive donated to a disability housing centre of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (Northern Beaches)
• One natural habitat and one hive to Peter Cooley and Indigigrow for cultural awareness and education. Indigigrow, located in La Perouse (South Sydney) is an Aboriginal Social enterprise group dedicated to making positive environmental change through education and rejuvenation of local endangered species. We hope this will be the beginning of a partnership with SNBC as we support their expansion of hives to share with their local community.
• We produced a short video “Wintering Native Stingless Bees in the Sydney Basin” addressing concerns and questions of new Sydney meliponists with the onset of cooler weather. This will be a valuable re-source for us Southerners who enjoy a delineation of seasons.
• I would like to finish by thanking outgoing committee members Francisco, Brad and Eilis for generously sharing their time and expertise. I would also like to thank the rest of the team for being so supportive- we really have a hive mentality; no-one is left to do a job alone! I look forward to being a small part of whatever is in store for SNBC for 2022.
For more info on branch activities, visit our Facebook page Sydney Native Bee Community, https://www.facebook.com/groups/207413959836380
