John Bush – Passion and Identity in Beekeeping Until the End

 OBITUARY: EDWARD JOHN BUSH 

John Bush was born into beekeeping in Marlborough and, for the recently deceased 94-year-old who pioneered beekeeping on New Zealand’s largest farm, it was his passion and a huge part of his identity right to the end. Murray Bush reflects on his father’s beekeeping life, from the supreme work-ethic of a boy raised in the depression, to building an iconic South Island honey-brand and mentoring the next generation of local beekeepers.

John Bush was born into a Marlborough beekeeping family and was still harvesting honey boxes into his seventies, and delivering the iconic J Bush & Sons brand he created to shops into his nineties. Dad with comb honey in bee suit. Photo: Rob Suisted, Naturespic.

By Murray Bush

My father was born Edward John Bush on l2 April 1931, but was known as John Bush all his life. He was born into the beekeeping world as his father Horace had started keeping bees in 1916.

Like all children of beekeepers, he would have started playing and working in the honey shed from the day he started walking. Fast-forward and Dad threw his last honey box at 76, and stopped delivering honey to the supermarkets every Friday aged 91.

At one stage, Dad thought about entering the forestry industry, but when he left school, he made two decisions that defined the rest of his life. One was to court and marry Joy, for an incredible 57 years before Mum passed away in 2011. The second decision being to start working for his father as a beekeeper.

For the next 50 years bees and honey became Mum and Dads’ lifetime passion, their identity, and their avenue for helping others in the community. As a result Bush’s honey was always known as ‘Joy and John Bush, Beekeepers'.

They created lifelong friends from operating the shop from our honey shed. A five-minute trip to get a honey pot filled was often turned into a one-hour social catch up.

They loved loading up the car with honey and travelling together to build a new customer base in Nelson and other towns. Many of these shops, and descendants of previous owners, continue as customers 50 years later.

They opened up their honey shed annually for hundreds of school kids to have tours, showcasing live bees and tasting honey. Sadly these times have been lost, but Mum and Dad were never happier than seeing a smiling face from someone who had just had a spoonful of honey.

Taming the Mighty Molesworth

Dad enjoyed helping new beekeepers develop skills and knowledge, and helping farmers understand how bees helped with clover pollination. He considered his greatest business achievement was developing bees on Molesworth Station from 1958 to help the great Bill Chisholm establish clover as a stock food, but critically to stop soil erosion and weeds.

Bill Chisholm had read an article that bees could improve clover seed viability by more than 70%, and save money by eliminating annual reseeding. So began a synergy between bees and high-country environment management that continues today, in 2025.

In the early days the road to Molesworth was tough, with narrow windy roads, multiple river crossings with the risk of being stuck on every trip. Snow and heavy rain was a constant risk any week of the year.

For the first ten years Dad generally worked by himself, manually loading honey boxes after driving four hours each way to start and finish his bee work. All this in a Bedford truck with no power steering or heater.

Molesworth station view, from near the Red Gate Hut, showing clover and blue borage in flower – a forage source which John Bush’s bees have turned into an iconic honey brand for more than five decades and continues to this day, beyond his recent passing.

The physical and mental fortitude required of beekeepers and other farm staff, working in this high-country environment back in the 1950s and 1960s, is almost impossible to comprehend in 2025, as we now race along in air-conditioned trucks towing forklifts.

My grandfather started delivering his honey to grocers around the top of the South Island in the 1930s, and Mum and Dad expanded this practice as they developed the Bush and Sons brand. They understood the concept of vertical integration and control from production to customer, long before management magazines made it standard practice.

Extra Curricular Activities

With five kids, a business and church commitments, Dad found he could not afford the time for National Beekeeper Association administration roles, but he loved being involved with the Canterbury Beekeepers Association and always kept up to speed on national beekeeping issues.

In 1984 he was a founding member of the Marlborough Beekeepers’ Association and loved mentoring the new generation of beekeepers. A number of these inaugural members are still involved in Marlborough beekeeping and Dad had real pride seeing them develop over the years.

A Family Affair

All five of us kids worked in the bees or honey shed growing up, as a means of getting the all-important pocket money. I'm sure we probably got in the way more often than not, but Dad's real satisfaction came when two of his sons, Peter and myself, returned full-time to the honey business. Thus completing the third generation.

Dad officially renamed his business J Bush and Sons Ltd in 1977, without ever knowing if his kids would like beekeeping. So having two kids involved, was something he cherished.

He only stopped coming to the honey shed for morning smoko with "the boys" when he went into the rest home aged 92.

In 2016 J Bush & Sons celebrated 100 years of the family beekeeping enterprise in Marlborough. Long term employees, from left to right, Michael Jamie, Murray Bush, the late John Bush, Peter Bush and Don Freeth, the latter putting in 45 years of work for the business.

Adventure Seeker

Dad has been an adventurer all his life. He loved taking the family on caravan holidays around every corner of New Zealand, and there are very few roads we have not explored.

As a 16-year-old he biked from Blenheim to Christchurch return on gravel roads and single speed bike. Why? He and his mate just felt like doing something different.

Dad always treated beekeeping as a continuous adventure. He loved the landscapes, fresh air, and dealing with the farmers and shop keepers. While continually trying to shield the family from his stress, he navigated the weather, honey prices, markets, and bee health. He hated American foulbrood and demanded vigilance when inspecting hives, and was quick with a match if required. Not much has changed in 2025.

Varroa – a Game Changer

It broke Dad's heart when varroa arrived in the country, as he knew his cherished bees were going to suffer. Dad and the rest of us were working the bees from the Red Gate Hut in the back of Molesworth the day we heard about varroa in Auckland. Dad declared then and there he would retire the day varroa arrived in Marlborough, as he didn't want his memories tainted with dying bees.

Dad lived his life with a purpose to serve others in all aspects of his life. He loved to communicate, and was never shy to start conversations with complete strangers, with bees and family generally top of the topic list. Contacts he made on Apimondia trips from all around the world stayed with him long after retiring.

In the last 18 months of Dad's life, he was excited to get to know the new owners of J. Bush and Sons, Matt and Sarah Goldsworthy, and Jordon Watson and Jenna Marfell. Visiting their new honey shed in Nelson, and seeing his precious honey still being sold in the supermarket, gave him immense pleasure.

Even aged 93, Dad told me he had to quietly talk to a customer in Pak n’ Save who had picked up another brand of honey, other than Bush's. A true passion never fades away.

It is impossible to really give Dad's life the full justice it deserves in one article, but he strove to give his absolute best to his faith, his family, his community, and his business. Over a span of 94 and a half years, Dad achieved this goal in spades – and more.

Edward John Bush, 12 April 1931 – 11 November 2025.