Honey Tins on display at Oamaru visitor center including Cloakes Honey. Below: Painting by Roselyn Cloake inspired by the Cloakes Honey Tin. I've really enjoyed rediscovering our family roots. If Annabelle was a boy we were going to call him Bertie. Above is a painting of the honey tin label. Cloakes Honey Limited (Fairview Road, Timaru) was incorporated on 12 December 1963, with Mervyn David Cloake serving as a long-time director
I can remember looking up to a shelf in our hallway as a child. My parents Marthy and Geoff, had all their special things up high, I guess out of reach from us kids, and in a dark spot to protect it from New Zealands damaging UV rays. On this shelf was a Cloake's Honey tin. I used to look at this like it was a badge of family honour. I loved Cloakes honey, I remember we would visit my aunty and uncle and come home with a plastic tub of creamed clover honey to spread on toast. Over time I have become more appreciative of what this tin represents: innovation, resilience, respect, and a deep connection to the land and our community...
I come from a family of beekeepers
My maiden name, Cloake, is well known in South Canterbury thanks to the family honey business, Cloake's Honey. My great-grandfather Bertie Cloake came out from Deal, England and started the business with just a few hives.
My family’s roots trace back to Cornwall, England, where two Cloake brothers and three Couling sisters began a journey that would help shape our New Zealand story. David Cloake, born in 1859 in Landulph, and William Couling, born in 1855 near Heskin Mill, were part of a generation that looked beyond England’s shores for new opportunities. My great-grandparents Bertie Cloake and Sarah Couling were among those early settlers. They married in England and immigrated to New Zealand with their first child, Mary, in the early 20th century. Not long after, Bertie’s younger brother Arthur Cloake followed, along with his future wife Alma Chubb. Then came Sarah’s sisters Annie and Emmy, with Emmy’s husband Bill Harper, further weaving together a strong family network. These pioneers brought their Cornish work ethic and resilience to Aotearoa, laying the foundations for generations of Cloake and Couling descendants—including those who built Cloake’s Honey and contributed to South Canterbury’s rural legacy.
Bertie kept bees near the homestead and I assume taught my grandfather Harry the basics. They worked side by side through trial and error, observing and adjusting how they handled the hives. Over time, more family members came on board. With the help of Harry, uncles Mervyn and Russell, aunties Margaret and Janet, and cousins like Peter, Michael and Paul, it grew to become one of the largest apiaries in the South Island.
Before beekeeping became his life, my grandfather Harry was working as a policeman in Greymouth. Funny enough, that's also my husband’s hometown. Even more remarkable, our grandfathers were best friends, and they played together in the local Marist rugby team. I love that connection across generations, between places and people. Eventually, Harry left the police force and came back to Fairview to the honey business.
Harry and Mervyn Cloake were practical, generous innovators. They developed a now world-famous beekeeping tool known as the Cloake Board, which helps rear queen bees by temporarily dividing a hive into two functional sections—a queenless upper box for starting queen cells and a queenright lower box for finishing them. This method allows beekeepers to raise batches of high-quality queens efficiently.
Harry didn’t keep this discovery to himself. He shared his methods with many, including renowned U.S. queen breeder Sue Cobey. She brought Harry’s technique to a global stage, teaching it in North America and beyond. The Cloake Board is still used by beekeepers around the world today. Just as significantly, the Cloakes developed the creamed clover honey process, producing that smooth, spreadable honey we know and love. An American once travelled to New Zealand to sell rights to his patent for creamed honey, only to find out it had already been figured out here. No patent necessary. Harry and Mervyn believed in doing what was best for the hive, and for the industry.
A Cooperative Legacy
The Cloake family’s honey was so well regarded that it eventually became part of a larger cooperative network. In the 1970s and ’80s, Cloake’s Honey was packed and distributed under Holland’s Honey, a brand managed by the New Zealand Honey Marketing Authority. The Authority acquired and used real apiary brands like Holland’s (originally from Pleasant Point) as part of its effort to market New Zealand honey domestically and abroad.
This connection to Holland’s and the Honey Producers Co-op of Timaru helped bring the Cloake family’s product to even more homes, blending individual craftsmanship with cooperative scale.
Merv and Margaret Cloake continued operating the family honey plant for many years. When Amy and Andy Westland, now of Westlands Honey in Kimbell, began their beekeeping journey, they were able to purchase the Cloakes’ extracting plant. As Amy said in a 2020 article, “We were very lucky to be able to buy the extracting plant from Merv and Margaret Cloake.” The Westlands ran the contract honey extracting side of Cloake’s Honey for three years before establishing their own shed and continuing the work—an echo of the way my own family had passed down knowledge and resources.
People in Timaru still remember our family. When I speak at events, I often meet people who tell me they used to get their honey from Fairview Road. It’s lovely hearing that and knowing how respected my family was, and still is. It’s heartwarming to see how fondly they’re remembered.
The Bees That Built a Nation
Some people may not realise, but New Zealand didn’t have honey bees (Apis mellifera) until Europeans brought them. In 1839, Mary Bumby landed in the Hokianga with two hives. Although Aotearoa has native bees, they don’t make honey or pollinate European crops effectively. It was the introduction of honey bees that made large-scale farming and orchard development possible.
Italian bees were later imported for their gentleness and productivity. With the invention of the Langstroth movable-frame hive and the introduction of the Apiaries Act in 1907, New Zealand developed a strong and regulated apiculture industry. Isaac Hopkins, a pioneering commercial beekeeper, pushed for some of the first bee disease control laws in the world.
By the 1920s, there were nearly 100,000 hives. Following World War II, that number grew even further, and honey became an export commodity. The Honey Marketing Authority dominated the export market until deregulation in the 1980s allowed for greater innovation and diversity in honey types and branding.
I'm really proud to learn that my family were part of building that industry. That the bees were central to the sucess in farming and leterally growing the economy. As well as increasing the critical bee population and producing honey.
Learning more about my family’s beekeeping history drew me further into the world of bees.
According to a Google search, New Zealand now has more than 800,000 registered hives, but bees face big challenges. Varroa mite, first found here in 2000, hit hard. Pesticides, climate change and habitat loss have added to the pressure. Even our native bees (who don’t get varroa) are struggling. They don’t sting, they don’t make honey and they live alone in soil or hollow stems. But they’re essential to pollinating native plants. They can only fly short distances and need nearby flowers. Concrete and neatly mown lawns don’t help. At the same time, the mānuka honey boom has brought huge global interest. Mānuka honey is prized for its antibacterial properties and fetches high prices overseas. This has led to trademark battles, regulations, and even theft. Our bees are part of a much bigger picture now.
The Cloake family legacy didn’t end there. Merv and Margaret Cloake, my uncle and aunty, carried on the business at Fairview for many years, playing a vital role in local honey production and mentoring others in the industry. In fact, when Amy and Andy Westland, who now run Westlands Honey in Kimbell, were starting out, they were able to buy the extracting plant directly from Merv and Margaret. As Amy shared in a newspaper article, “We were very lucky to be able to buy the extracting plant from Merv and Margaret Cloake, of Cloake’s Honey in Fairview, Timaru.” That same article reflects on how the Cloakes supported the contract honey extracting side of the business for years, passing on practical infrastructure and knowledge to help new generations succeed. It’s one of many ways the Cloakes quietly nurtured the growth of beekeeping in South Canterbury.
When I think about all this, I come back to the Cloake Board and the creamed honey. My family could have held onto those discoveries, made money from patents. But they didn’t. They believed in sharing, in supporting the industry. That little honey tin on our hallway shelf help up more than a container for the sweet stuff, it held up a tin that connects me to my family and our memories and stories.
One of the most lasting contributions my grandfather Harry made to the beekeeping world was his invention of the Cloake Board. A simple but powerful tool used to raise queen bees more efficiently. Harry wasn’t just a hard worker; he was a quiet thinker, always observing what worked in the hive and how it could be improved. The Cloake Board is now used by beekeepers around the world, from small backyard operations to commercial queen breeders. Essentially, the Cloake Board helps create the perfect conditions inside a hive for bees to raise strong, healthy queens. It allows a beekeeper to split one hive temporarily into two sections, a queenless top box and a queenright bottom box, simulating a natural swarm event without having to permanently separate the colony. This method tricks the bees into producing new queens in a very controlled and efficient way. What’s remarkable is how this invention spread. Harry shared his methods with others freely. One of the people he shared his knowledge with was Sue Cobey, a world-renowned honey bee breeder who took his ideas back to the United States. Through her articles and workshops, the Cloake Board became widely known in North America and beyond.
I love that such a clever yet humble piece of equipment, born from years of hands-on work at Fairview, is now part of the global beekeeping toolkit. It reflects Harry’s philosophy—do what’s best for the bees and share what works. He could have patented the Cloake Board and made money from it, but instead, he gifted it to the world, like he did with the creamed clover honey process. That says everything about the kind of man he was.
The tin inspired a painting that now sits in my dads office. Every time someone says they remember Cloake’s Honey or shares a memory about our family, I feel proud. Proud of where I come from. And determined to keep sharing information about our bees and the importance they have to our very own survival.
For the good of the hive. And for the good of us all.
Learn more: You can download bee-themed colouring sheets and fun facts at wuhootimaru.co.nz, or come say hi at one of my talks. I’ll probably mention bees, Caroline Bay, and that American who thought he invented creamed honey...
Reflecting on Tangible Things
Looking back on this little honey tin with fresh eyes, I realise how powerful tangible things can be. This one small object helped me uncover stories I thought I already knew, but hadn’t fully appreciated. By examining it closely, I connected to my family’s values of generosity, hard work, and innovation. It also led me to learn more about environmental history, agricultural development, and even international trade. It made me ask questions about who gets remembered, how knowledge is shared, and what legacies we leave behind. I’m grateful for the reminder that sometimes the sweetest insights are hidden in plain sight—right there on a dusty shelf. It also makes me keep coming back to the philosophy of my grandfather and family... do what’s right for the bees, not just the business.
What About You?
Do you know where the honey you eat comes from, and who helped produce it?
Have you ever thought about how bees (both native and introduced) shape the way we live, grow food, and connect with the land?
What would it mean for your community if pollinators disappeared?
What legacy would you want to pass on, for the good of the hive?
How can we better support the small, often invisible workers, like bees, or even people, who help sustain our everyday lives?
https://www.betterbee.com/instructions-and-resources/how-to-use-a-cloake-board
https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/rural-people/beekeeping-keeps-family-busy
Margaret and Mervyn Cloake (Rose's aunty and uncle) who had Cloake's Honey on Fairivew. Mervyn, Marilyn, Russell and Geoff's family home growing up.
Fairview bees exported (04 Sep 1979). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 13/07/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/4452
My Aunty, Margaret Cloake on the Cover of the National Beekeepers Association of New Zealand in the check shirt at a tasting demonstration.
Marthy and Geoff Cloake.
Native Bee Polinators From South Canterbury Museum - Roselyn Fauth
WuHoo Timaru fun fact colouring in sheet on native and introduced bees with clover and manuka. You can download and colour it in here: wuhootimaru.co.nz/colouring-sheets/106-bees
Medinella Cornelia Fauth and Annabelle Meredith Fauth look at the grave of their grandfathers grandparents Bertie and Sarah Cloake. Medi's middle name is used through 700 years of my mothers families names, and Meredith is Annabelle's fathers monthers name.
My grandfather Harry Cloake finished Timaru Boys High School after his first year to work on the famliy farm. My aunty Marilyn told me Harry wasn't very happy about this. "He had just completed a year at high school and was a very bright boy, and love learning. He was absolutely gutted. But had to accept it as that was life many children had no education in high school."
At their home in Springbrook Harry Cloake his sister Myra (Mrs Rouse) Grandad Cloake known as Bertie and Granny Sarah Cloake.
Roselyn Cloake Roots 26
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