Honey ran in the blood of three generations of Waikirikiri Selwyn’s Pearson family

Honey ran in the blood for three generations of the Pearson family. The first of these was Tom Pearson (Snr) who worked as a general labourer for Sir Heaton Rhodes at Otahuna in the 1920s. He lived in a cottage on the golf course at Tai Tapu, where he kept 30-40 beehives. His wife Hannah helped him produce prize-winning honey for sale, while raising their four children, Sally, Tom (Jnr), Rhoda and Jim. In 1927 Tom Snr was the first president of the new Tai Tapu branch of the National Beekeepers’ Association, hosting 80 Canterbury apiarists for a field-day, where 19-year-old Tom Jnr gave a demonstration of managing the larvae of queen bees, a process known as grafting.

The Pearson family of Tai Tapu.
Left to right: Tom (Snr), Sally, Rhoda, Tom (Jnr) and Hannah c.1912. Baby Jim was born in 1913. 
Courtesy of Peter Pearson and Marianne King.

Back row, l to r: Peter Pearson, Jean Pearson. Front row, l to r: Tom Pearson Jnr with Marianne Pearson and Mickey Pearson.
Courtesy of Peter Pearson and Marianne King.

Tom Pearson (Jnr) followed his father Tom Pearson (Snr) into beekeeping as a teenager. He was an accomplished apiarist by the age of 19, specialising in the rearing of queen bees. Known as the 'whisling beekeeper' and an accomplished accordion player, he became a noted apiary educator, advocate and spokesperson. His son Peter followed him into beekeeping, becoming the third generation honey producer, selling honey from the production shed at 13 Cridges Road, just as his Dad had done.

Jean Foster McLachlan and Tom Pearson (Jnr) on their wedding day, 7 November 1936

Courtesy of Peter Pearson and Marianne King.

Tom Jnr called his beloved wife Jean Foster Pearson (nee McLachlan) his ‘Queen Without Wings’. Allergic to bee stings, she kept him grounded despite the seasonal ups and downs of honey production. As he wrote in 1952:

‘...The beekeeper comes close to being a freak of nature. He is a man of many moods: up in the skies with pleasurable anticipation, down in the depths of despair – hoping always for rain, for sun, for calm, for less sheep on the pastures, for deliverance from what seems like a hopeless situation...he is as changeable as the weather, quite unpredictable and preoccupied with many things. He seldom realises the reaction of his behaviour on those that live closely with him’.

Peter Pearson developed his father's honey production premises at 13 Cridges Road, Darfield and sold honey at the gate, just as his parents Tom and Jean had.

Peter Pearson, as President of the Canterbury Branch of the National Beekeepers Association, The Press, 12 July 1967.

Courtesy of Peter Pearson and Marianne King.

Tom Jnr and Jean’s eldest son Peter trained as an electrician but could not stay away from bees, becoming an apiarist at 23. From the 1960s he doubled the number of hives at Cridges Road to 1,200, and invented gadgets, such as a hive-lifter, that helped ease the hard work. He set up hives in the bush, taking bees as far as Aitkens near Ōtira when the rata bloomed.

Like his father, Peter used Italian bees and sold a range of honey at the gate. The largest tins weresold to places like Christchurch Hospitaland weighed 60lbs (27kg) - the tins were so tall you had to insert your whole arm to reach the honey at the bottom!

The original Pearson honey production shed, built around 1927 by Tom Jnr at his father's apiary in Tai Tapu. It was then moved to 13 Cridges Road, Darfield. Originally used for honey extraction, it then became a shed for rearing queen bees. 

Courtesy of Peter Pearson and Marianne King.

Peter Pearson outside what was known as the ‘whare’ at 13 Cridges Road, Darfield, July 2023. This modest corrugated iron-clad building was used as single men’s quarters by the Pearsons during the honey production season. The Pearson's honey site is now known as 'Dunbuzzin'.

Photographed by Sarah Davy