July 1967 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

Erisbane Girls' Grammar School lvtagazine

JulV, 1967

July,1967

the consent of the Executive of the political Labour League of New South Wales. _ - Thus, from its rather shaky, disorganized beginnings, the Australian Labour Party has grown into a strong organization -which has made secure the traditional two-party system of democratic government that all Australians hold in such reverence todav.

KENDALL BROADBENT ESSAY THE WONDERS OF A BEE.HIVE

For many thousands of years men have studied these magicians of the insect world and have profited by their industry. As long ago as 389 - 295 B.C. the Greeks attached so much significance to tire honeybee that they engraved its form on their coins. The Old Testament refers to bees many times - the haven of the ancient Israelites was the Promised Land of "Milk and Honey". Other ancient evidence of the honeybee's importance to mankind include a painting of honey being collected from a bee's nest, at least 7,000 years old in a cave in Spain. Numerous murals in ancient Egyptian graves depict honeybees also. Their lvax brought the first artificial Iight of candles into man's shelter and provided the first modeliing and sealing agents. For these reasons the craft of keeping bees was developed. In very early times bees were kept in hollowed-out tree trunks and in coiled straw hives. Through the ages, beekeeping has grown into a very speciaiized science with great economic importance. Honeybees occur in every coiLrntry throughout the world which possesses a flora sufficiently varied for their needs. 'Ihe success of the honeybees as colonists is due to their habit of storing large quantities of honey and that they can adapt themselves to every kind of climate by keeping an even temperature within their hive. The lifeline of each colony is the worker, the busiest of all bees who enters a life of toil and service from the moment it hatches. The eggs are laid in a part of the hive called the brood chamber. One square inch of the brood chamber contains about 28 small cells for eggs destined to be workers. To ensure the survival of her family the Queen lays many thousands of worker eggs each season. The eggs are minute banana-shaped objects which are attached by one end to the base of the cell. They hatch after an incubation period of three days andt the bee larvae then appears. At the end of their feeding period they are stretched out to their full length and the bees begin to seal the cells. After the cells are sealed the larvae line the interior with a delicate silken cocoon and then change into pupae and remain this way until the 19th day; the young bees then shed their pupal skin and gnaw their way out of the cells. From the moment the female worker bee is hatched she has her tasks clearly cut out for her. The life of the worker may be divided into three periods. The first task of the young workers is to clean and polish the cells and help maintain the right temperature of the hive. Preventing disease is an important function in the bee world. These young workers carry out the dead bodies of workers and cast them as far as possible from the hive. During the first five days while the workers are serving as house cleaners their nursing glands mature. Then for the next seven days they are able to feed the young larvae. The second period is begun with their first flight from the hive and for short periods in the middle of the day you can see them flying in ever-widening circles around their hive while memorising the home and place where it stands. During this period the bees also

KENNEDY.

-ELIZABETH

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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"The Australian Labour Movement 185G1907" Selected .by N. N. Ebbels. Published by Noel Ebbels Memorial Committee in Association with the Australasian Book Society. Sydney 1960. "Austraiia: A Social and Political Historv-" Ed. G. Greenwood. Angus and Robertson. Sydney 1955. "How Labour Governs." Vere Gordon Childe. Melbourne University Press. Melbourne 1964. "Labour's Role in Modern Society." A. A. Calwell, M.H.R.

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Lousdowne Press. Melbourne 1963. "Australia" R. M. Crawford, Hutchinson University Library. London 1952. "The Changing World of Australia." R.'M. Younger. Franklin Watts Inc. Nevt York 1963. 5. 6.

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