Mirrung Garden at South Sydney Uniting Church in Waterloo is now home to a hive of native bees.
The beehive is located in the south-east corner of the garden, which also includes a variety of native plants and trees, egg-laying hens, fruit and veggie plots, a beautiful contemplative garden, worm farm and compost bins.
Stingless bees (tetragonula carbonaria) are highly social insects, with one queen and thousands of workers who live together in a protected place, which, in nature, is usually in a hollow tree.
Stingless bees inhabit the northern parts of Australia, although on the east coast they reach a bit further south than Sydney. They also occur in other tropical parts of the world.
The Australian species are much smaller than European honey bees. They are generally black in colour.
As their name suggests, they do not have a sting although they can give you a little bite with their jaws.
Although there are hundreds of species of Australian native bees, the stingless bees are the only ones that make and store quantities of honey.
Read more about stingless bees here.
