The top level of a multi-storey concrete car park in the middle of a city might seem an unlikely place to create a native bee sanctuary.
But not if you are Jacob Williams and Conor Teevan.
They saw the concrete slab in Wollongong's CBD as the perfect site for an oasis of native plants that would attract small native bees and help them thrive.
A section of car spaces is now fenced off and houses three raised garden beds with fledgling native plants and two native beehives.
"We're showcasing what you can do with any space," Bee Team Wollongong member Mr Williams said.
"The urban environment shouldn't restrict native vegetation, it should be integrated with it.
"If we can put it on a car park, you can put in in your front or backyard or on the public streets."
The stingless native bees will forage on vegetation in plant beds around the city's streets and gardens, as well as plants growing in the bee sanctuary.
Giving back to the community
Mr Williams and Mr Teevan established the bee sanctuary after receiving a $5,000 grant from an alcohol company.
It is a not-for-profit passion project that they see as a contribution to the city.
Mr Teevan works as a bar tender and has developed a love for native Australian flavours and the bees that help pollinate the plants that produce them.
"It will be a wonderful place to come and relax, learn a bit or just take your lunch," he said.
"The mall will help us with some advertising so people can find us, and it's definitely a welcoming space for people to relax in and enjoy.
"We get a sense of doing something great for the community, but we've got other jobs that pay our rent."
Paying their 'debt to the land'
Mr Williams said as an Indigenous man, creating the urban bee sanctuary was his way of teaching people to care for country.
"A place like this is perfect for people to come up to, walk around and see what a native garden can do and what native bees are capable of," he said.
"It's all about education and adding to the biodiversity of the region.
"People can learn about native plants and we can educate people about the importance of natives.
"Everyone has to pay their debt to the land that we live on."
Making a bee-friendly home in the CBD
The top storey of an open-air concrete car park in summer can be a hot place, but Mr Teevan said native bees were resourceful creatures that could cope with various weather conditions.
Along with a small roof on their hive, the native plants in the garden beds would provide welcome shade for the bees, he said.
"The heat is definitely a challenge, but we're finding ways to help the bees out and give them some time to dip in the pool with a little bit of water," he said.
"They'll grab a bead of sweat off your brow which is like a bee energy drink."
The area will have tables, chairs and shade installed, as well as more boxes to grow native plants.
