16/10/2026
Native Bee Workshop - How to split a native bee hive
Wednesday 11 November
10:30 am to 12:30 pm
At The Habitat 251 Quarry Road, Ryde.
Places are limited so please RSVP ASAP to [email protected]
Help us celebrate Pollinator Week at this workshop with presenter Gavin Smith. Gavin will show you how to split a native bee hive using our hive of Tetragonula carbonaria bees that live at The Habitat.
Gavin will demonstrate the various tools required in bee keeping and hive splitting. He will explain how to recognise wasps, flies, native bees and honey bees. If the weather is favourable we may walk around the food garden looking for various bees to identify. Gavin will explain about the workings of a hive, how queen bees, drones and workers interact and how bees tell each other where the flowers are. Come along and be amazed by these fascinating creatures.
Presenter - Gavin Smith
Gavin is a retired teacher of visual art and industrial technology. He is also involved in sustainable gardening methods and Permaculture and is a member of Beyond Zero Emissions (a think tank connected across Australian Universities for the reduction of Australia's emissions of GHG). He has run workshops related to soil productivity covering composting methods, worm farming, maggot farming, fish farming and aquaponics.
His interest in native animals, birds and insects has been lifelong and his first involvement with Aussie bees was through Michael Mobbs (author and owner of Sustainable Home in Chippendale) and Peter Clarke (Native Bee and Pools to Ponds specialist at Ku-ring-gai Council). He was introduced to honey bees by old school friends Phil and Steve Kavanagh in an email challenging him to take on "Big Big Bees" as well. Gavin had his own sustainability stall at the Horticultural Pavilion at the Royal Easter Show for four years and was the first to display native bees and hives there.
He is a member of the Amateur Beekeepers Association and is on the committees of the Sydney Bee Club and the Inner West Beekeepers as Biosecurity Officer. He has been teaching beekeeping for a number of years and gives talks to gardening and community groups, and children of all ages in schools. Another claim to fame is “Love Your Larvae” when he appeared with Costa on Gardening Australia to talk about composting Hermetia Illucens or black soldier flies.
Photo: Gavin with Bev and a native bee hive at The Habitat
