Working bee, 2026

From 11 to 22 March 2026, an army of 17 working bee ants from the Friends of Melaleuca, accompanied by Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife rangers Dan Rowe and Marty Doyle, slaved away on a great variety of jobs. Well, slaved away with frequent breaks for good food and company. Two parks volunteer caretakers and two Orange-bellied Parrot project volunteers came and went, helping out with various jobs and joining social occasions. We had the usual highly changeable, wet and windy SW Tasmanian weather. This caused major interference to flights so that the working bee stretched out, with people dribbling in and then dribbling out as the weather and flights allowed. Some arrived by boat, kindly bringing in some of the heavier supplies and food. At peak numbers, about 25 people squeezed into Deny King’s house for a dinner.

The happy boaties head for work in the rain: Jannie Chin

Jobs done included four days of track work on Clydes Hill at Claytons Corner, with many new steps and drains put in, plus minor clearing on the Mt. Beattie track. As usual, minor works were done on the Claytons’ house and the garden there was weeded and tidied up.

The carpet tiles were replaced at the Deny King Heritage Museum at Melaleuca; the old ones were more dust than carpet!

A variety of repairs were done on the Willson house and a new water pump installed. Blueboat was lovingly worked on at the Kings’ to try to fix leaks and keep her happier.

Around the King residence, firebreaks were brush cut, drains dug out, the garden weeded, work done on a shelter for fire equipment, painting and joinery done on parts of the King house, bits and pieces fixed at Karina’s hut, First Camp and the garden shed.

The happy floorer: Jannie Chin

As usual, the working bee ant army was very efficient, with workers heading off to their jobs, supplied by Tony Fenton with the appropriate tools and safety equipment. Some workers did tasks they were professionally trained for (for instance the professional historian and the museum conservator who documented objects in the Rallinga Mine smelter) while others, such as the carpet layers, did their best to pretend to be qualified for their jobs. As in ant colonies, all the workers kept busy, worked cooperatively and helped each other when needed.

Objects in the Rallinga Mine smelter were documented: Ian Terry.

All was not work. Dinners alternated between Melaleuca North (King residence) and Melaleuca South (Willson residence) and were highly social affairs. After the end of the working bee, remnant worker ants enjoyed a day away from Melaleuca, most going by boat to climb Mt. Rugby. That was aborted, as the weather was not appropriate and the view would have been seen from the top. However, a good time was had out in the vicinity of Claytons.

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