Sugarbag

sugarbag and sugarbag bees

egng ubanyj egng alko mayi wi'a in Uw Oykangand in Uw Olkola in Pakanh

Sugarbag, near Oriners Station, February 1996

Sugarbag is the honey of wild Australian stingless bees (Trigona spp., belonging to the family Apidae). The bees are called sugarbag bees.

The words above are used as the generic for any sugarbag and sugarbag bee species in each language.

There were few sweet foods available to Aboriginal people in traditional times and so sugarbag was highly prized.

sugarbag entrance, "nose"

egng ew egng ulbmul mayi mee'e in Uw Oykangand in Uw Olkola in Pakanh

Sugarbag entrance, near Oriners Station

Different sugarbag bees make different types of entrances for their hives. Some are thick, some are fine and pointed. The entrance for this sugarbag was inside the rotted out knot of a tree.

The sugarbg entrance is important because sugarbags are classified by the shape and size of the entrace. Sugarbags are also categorized by the size and colour of the bee.

Hunting for sugarbag involves following the movements of the bees. Bees may be followed by sight flying from a nectar source to the hive. When the bees are observed entering a tree, you can tap on the outside of the trunk to find out where it is hollow.

batumen plug

egng od egng oto or egng ulginb mayi mangka in Uw Oykangand in Uw Olkola in Pakanh

honey

egng orch egng ojo or egng olgngg in Uw Oykangand in Uw Olkola

Sugarbag honey and wax inside a billycan.

Sugarbag honey is very sweet and tastes good!

After harvesting a sugarbag, the honey and wax is put into a container such as a billycan, coolamon, bark dish or shell to carry it back to camp.

sugarbag wax before squeezing it

egng ongor in Uw Oykangand and Uw Olkola

sugarbag wax after squeezing it

egng ayogol or egng oyogol egng akamar mayi wama in Uw Oykangand and Uw Olkola in Uw Olkola in Pakanh

Sugarbag wax ball, Kowanyama Land and Natural Resources Management Office, March 1996

The wax inside a sugarbag is saturated with honey. It needs to be processed by chewing and squeezing it to remove the honey. It may then be used much as other traditional waxes, to fasten together the parts of various implements.

Sugarbag wax is very important in traditional material culture. Its uses include the following:

It is used to fasten together or fix the components of woomeras, shark tooth fighting knives, axes, hammers, hand adzes and certain spears such as the bunched porcupine spear.
When string is used to fasten parts of a weapon or tool together, wax may be applied to the taughtened string to seal it and hold it in place. This is the case with wallaby spears.
Wax is also be used to fasten string to something else, such as attaching fishing line to a hook, or a string wrist band to a shark tooth fighting knife.
Wax is also used to strengthen or buttress certain tools such as awls and wallaby jawbone engravers.
It may also be put to largely ornamental purposes. For example, it is used to fix a layer of red giddee-giddee beads on the exterior of firestick covers and bead pendants. Wax balls are also fastened to the end of string such as in a pubic tassle.

Sugarbag wax is softened by heating it over a fire or by chewing it. It may then be applied in the desired way, smoothed out and/or flattened with a resin pallet, and left to harden.

When being stored it is normally rolled into a ball, as shown in the accompanying image.

sugarbag wax net

egng onyen in Uw Oykangand and Uw Olkola

sugarbag pollen store

egng ubanyj egng upanyj mayi thupan in Uw Oykangand in Uw Olkola in Pakanh

brood

egng adn egng adna mayi kuna in Uw Oykangand in Uw Olkola in Pakanh

sugarbag grass

ug ewen in Uw Olkola

cut sugarbag

egng enychem mayi muula in Uw Oykangand in Pakanh

Cut sugarbag

After harvesting a sugarbag, a portion of it may be left in place. In this case we placed the pieces of the tree trunk back in place. The bees will return, fasten the loose pieces of wood in place, and continue to build the hive and produce honey. A sugarbag may be harvested regularly in this way.

drink made from sugarbag

egng og egng oko in Uw Oykangand in Uw Olkola

e-mail: Philip Hamilton.