The Royal Australian Mint has released a new coin, and there's a special buzz about it.
Marking 200 years since the insect's introduction to Australia, the $2 collector's coin features two honey bees, commemorating "both the remarkable creatures and conscientious beekeepers".
"We've got a role at the Mint to help tell the stories of Australia through coins. So we're always on the lookout for significant events, anniversaries and organisations that we can commemorate through coins," Royal Australian Mint chief executive Leigh Gordon said.
"It really is a very attractive sight."
How the coin came about
Mr Gordon said the honey bee coin had been in the works "for about 14 months".
"We've got a product development team here at the Mint that's putting their thinking caps on all the time. But we also get suggestions from the public," he said.
In this coin's case, the Mint worked with the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council on both the concept and the execution.
"We [wanted to] capture the essence of what they thought was important in the coin," Mr Gordon said.
"And then we go through the process of actually designing something that looks beautiful, that we can manufacture here, that would attract people's attention and is of interest."
The honey bee coin is what is known as an "uncirculated coin" — so it's not one you will find in your spare change drawer.
Rather, it is created as a collector's item that you have to purchase from the Mint — and Mr Gordon said one in four Australians considered themselves coin collectors.
"Hopefully it'll strike a chord, particularly with those that have an interest in the honey industry — and it's a significant industry in Australia."
So, why the honey bee?
The Mint described the honey bee as small, yet mighty, "producing delicious honey and contributing to the country’s agricultural success by pollinating crops".
And Australia's honey industry is indeed significant.
"There are about 20,000 beekeepers, somewhere in the order of 640,000 hives, and they make about 30,000 tonnes of honey each year," Mr Gordon said.
Trevor Weatherhead, chair of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, said the humble honey bee is responsible for pollinating about two-thirds of Australia's crops.
"We all know we have the good 100 per cent Australian honey that's out there, people can enjoy that," he said.
"But our biggest value is in the horticulture and agricultural industries, where it's been estimated that about $14.2 billion worth of crops that are grown in Australia rely on honey bees for pollination.
Mr Weatherhead said the commercial bee hive population was "fairly steady", and the number of registered hives in Australia was increasing thanks to recreational beekeepers, who have hives in their backyard.
"During the pandemic, there seems to have been a reasonable increase in the number of people keeping hives as a hobby. They sort of suddenly discovered that there's something that they can do [for bees] at home and there's been a big increase that way," he said.
"They probably don't realise it but they're pollinating a lot of the backyard veggie gardens, whether it's something like zucchinis or if they're growing cucumbers or watermelons, as well as getting a bit of honey."
Storytelling through coins
The Australian Mint regularly releases coins to commemorate or honour different events and people.
In 2020, they released a "donation dollar" — a legal tender designed to be given to people in need.
Then, in 2021, a coin honouring Indigenous military service featuring artwork from Kalkadoon artist Chern'ee Sutton was released.
"Some recent really successful coins that we've had have been around the history of steam engines in Australia," Mr Gordon added.
"We had a great coin last year that recognised the 50th anniversary of the Tamworth country music festival, and we obviously have honoured our first responders and our frontline workers through recent coins."
Mr Gordon said a key component of each coin produced was the storytelling aspect.
"It is currency as a way of helping tell the stories of Australia," he said.
"It makes the people that we have working here — the passionate designers, the marketing people in manufacturing — it really gives them I guess a bit of a buzz in return, to do something that's appreciated by the Australian public."
Mr Weatherhead said the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council hoped the coin would raise awareness of the importance of bees.
"We've been amazed at the response," he said.
"Those avid coin collectors, well, they've got something else to add to their collection now that's got a very good story behind it.
