Unbee-lievable local expert joins our crew

Did you know?

• There are more than 1700 species of native bees in Australia, possibly up to 2000! 
• Most species don't live in colonies we would call hives, many are solitary with 70% of them nesting in the ground. 
• Native bees come in an array of sizes, colours and interesting behaviours.
• The taste of the honey from native bees varies considerably, depending on where they live and on what they forage.

Presenters Chris Brown and Amanda Keller from The Living Room found this out when they invited Ian to rate their native honey in the golden honeypot challenge.

Bee-lieve it, he's an expert

Ian Driver is a native bee educator and business owner. He runs a small family run Sunshine Coast based business, A Green Soul Native Bees, and is involved with the Australian Native Bee Association, where he was a former President.

Ian says he originally became interested in native bees while on a trip to green up his family’s life. Inspired, he left his inner city Brisbane block and moved to the Sunshine Coast, settling on acreage. 

With more space for bees and food, Ian turned his interest into a sustainable family business, building beehives, selling bee products and sharing his knowledge in ‘Native Beekeeping 101’ workshops across South East Queensland. 

Throughout the year, Ian has kindly agreed to pass on some of his extensive native bee wisdom to Living Smart QLD. 

In the meantime, check out the A Green Soul Native Bees website for more info on our native bees and to shop online for stingless beekeeping supplies and gifts.

Native beekeeping 101 workshop

Ian will be running a workshop on 15 November 2025 at Landsborough Museum - the cost is just $5 and registrations are essential. 

This will be a short session covering both our stingless and our solitary bees. There will be live bees in observation hives, an entertaining slide show with lots of stories about our bees, many displays, and you will get to taste the delicious Stingless Bee Honey.

While you're there, enjoy the stunning free watercolour exhibition Transformations: Art of the Scott Sisters on loan from the Australian Museum, which is on show Wednesday to Sunday until 7 December. 

Getting there

With Landsborough train station just 400m from the museum, getting there is as simple as catching a 50c train.