Walaja Bush Honey - Honey Wholesale

Walaja Bush Honey - Yawuru Country

The traditional custodians of the land
where walaja honey comes from are
the Yawuru people who have occupied
and managed the lands and seas in
and around Broome since the
Bugarrigarra (the time before time).

walaja - indigenous (yawuru) word for honey

Walaja Bush Honey is collected in the beautiful and pristine Kimberley region of Western Australia which is blessed with fertile land that boasts several native trees that flower at different times of the year in the warm tropical climate.

The traditional custodians of this land are the Yawuru people who have occupied and managed the lands and seas in and around Broome since the Bugarrigarra (the time before time).

The hives are cared for by the Appleby family who have proud Yawuru heritage and ensure the honey is 100% organic, natural, raw, unprocessed, unheated and contains no additives.

Walaja’s hives are primarily located on Roebuck Plains Station which occupies an area 750,000 acres.

This station is a pastoral lease that is surrounds the historic pearling towns of Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It located on a unique combination of rich marine floodplain with wetlands situated adjacent to Roebuck Bay and sandy pindan country.

Pindan is a name given to the red-soil country of the south-western Kimberley region of Western Australia. The term comes from a local language and applies both to the soil and to the vegetation community associated with it.

The station is owned and managed by the Yawuru Aboriginal Group.

The Indigenous Land Corporation acquired Roebuck Plains Station in 1999, and in 2006 the Federal Court determined the station was the exclusive possession of the Yawuru under native title. In 2014 the land was handed back to the Yawuru people.

Today the station is managed and run as a pastoral enterprise and balances Yawuru cultural values in the overlapping protected areas. Development of new enterprises and technology is undertaken collaboratively with Yawuru and the station management to ensure sustainable land use and positive outcomes for the enterprise.

This pristine and fertile parcel of land boasts several native trees that are endemic only to this area of warm tropical climate. These trees flower at different times of the year and provide food to the bees. The area is free from industry and chemicals, with the beehives living in perfect harmony with free range cattle and the sweet-faced wallabies that seek shade and water from the tropical climate.

The main sources of nectar for the bees are the Melaleuca which flowers for half of the year. In the Kimberley May is the dry season, known as Wirralburu, and nectar flow from the Wickham’s Grevillea and Melaleuca is intense and abundant meaning the bees thrive, collecting nothing else.

When the dry season nectar flow dwindles, and winter arrives (Barrgana) many of the bees are moved onto a watermelon farm south of Broome to keep them healthy and pollinate the crops. When the wet season begins (man-gala) the bees are moves back to Roebuck Plains Station to feast on the Bloodwood flower which is abundant in the warmer months from October to March.

The nectar and pollen collected from the flowers effects the type and taste of the honey produced by Walaja.
Four different honey’s are bottled that are in line with the flowering seasons and distinct unique flavours that Kimberley produces.

Melaleuca Honey

Melaleuca alsophila, commonly known as the saltwater paperbark, is one of the most important food sources for the bees in the Kimberley. Is a plant in the myrtle family and is endemic to the north of Western Australia – located on the sandy and saline floodplains and coastal flats that are seasonally inundated during the wet season (man-gala). The white cream flowers appears from April to September with the peak nectar flow being in dry season (wirralburu).

Indigenous people in the Kimberley region know the plant to be a favourite resting place for pigeons and they used its trunk to build shelters. The bark can be used as a mosquito repellant and an infusion of its leaves is used to relieve the symptoms of a cold. Native, stingless bees often make their hives in the trunk and branches.

Traditional owners have been using bush honey in food and medicine for generations. This honey has been scientifically analysed and shown to have a total activity of up to TA25+. This is considered a “very high” level which means that the honey in its raw state is anti-bacterial and anti-microbial resulting in medicinal and pharmaceutical benefits exceeding improvements in general wellbeing and digestive health. In order to maintain the properties of these honeys we recommend not heating above 35 degrees celsius.

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Native Grevillea

Grevillea wickhamii (Wickham’s grevillea, Arajukaljukua, Ijaka or Lukkulburra) is a tree up to 4 metres in height that sometimes grows as a shrub. It is endemic to the shrubland, rocky soil and stone outcrops in the desert regions of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

It has grey-green leaves which have a holly-like shape with serrated and prickly margins. It produced beautiful red, orange and yellow flowers from April to October. At Roebuck Plains Station nectar from the native grevillea flows at its highest level from the start of the dry season (wirraluru) in May to July. The intense and abundant supply of nectar means the bees thrive and produce a sweet and rich honey which is thick and creamy.

Bloodwood Honey

Bloodwood, or Tropical Eucalypt, is an evergreen tree growing up to 18 metres tall that grows in abundance in the Kimberley. Its flowers are creamy white to yellow and the fruit is an urn-shaped capsule. Nectar flows during the build-up to the Wet season, the season know as Laja, from November, and the trees continue to flower through the wet season until March.

Several parts of this plant are used by Aboriginal Australians in traditional medicine, as food and as a source of wood. Kino resin, obtained from the trunk, is very astringent. Diluted, it can be taken internally as an effective treatment for dysentery, working because it is not absorbed at all from the stomach and only very slowly from the intestine, and is thus able to directly treat the lower part of the intestine. They apply the sticky sap gum directly to sores or cuts and it works as an antiseptic. If the sap is in a dried form, it can be crushed into powder and boiled in water to use as an antiseptic wash to treat cuts and skin problems.

The bloodwood tree produces nectar that results in a honey which is dark and rich with a subtle caramel aftertaste. This honey is very popular with local Yawuru people.

Watermelon Honey

When the dry season nectar flow dwindles, the bees are moved to a watermelon farm located south of Broome to pollinate the watermelon crops. The bees remain here from June to November.

The bees collect pollen and nectar from the small golden yellow flowers and in the process of flying from flower to flower, they leave some pollen on the female part of the flower. This pollinates the flower and helps the plant to produce seeds which boosts the watermelon growers’ annual yield. In Australia, on average, 2 bees are required for every kilogram of watermelon produced.

The result for you is Walaja being able to collect a honey with a light, floral and sweet taste.

Yawuru people have occupied and managed the lands and seas in and around Rubibi (the town of Broome) since the Bugarrigarra (the time before time).

In Yawuru cosmology, the primordial time and its world (bugarrigarra) is still present in its creative force, governing social relations, informing the way one interacts with the maritime and continental landscape within their traditional territory, and securing the well-being (liyan) of the community (ngarrungunil).

This unbroken role as custodian evidenced by Yawuru traditional laws and customs relating to rai, the Yawuru language, the skin section system, kinship, malinyanu laws and customs, traditional stories, bush names, hunting, bush foods, looking after Country, speaking for Country, increase sites and permission requirements. Today the Yawuru people continue to influence the development of Broome and continue to safeguard Yawuru culture, way of life and conserve the environment.

The Yawuru people are the native title holders of approximately 530,000 hectares of traditional Yawuru country.

Nagula (saltwater) is significant to Yawuru people. They are saltwater people. Their territory, much of it of open saltmarsh, encompasses the area from Bangarangara to the yalimban (south) to Wirrjinmirr (Willie Creek) to the guniyan (north), and banu (east) covering the eastern shores of Roebuck Bay, Roebuck Plains and Thangoo pastoral leases extending inland close to Mandikarakapo (Dampier Downs). Their neighbouring tribes were the Jukan to the north, and, running clockwise, the Warrwa northeast, the Nyigina on the eastern hinterland, and on their southern frontier the Karajarri, The border with the latter is marked by an ecological transition from the coastal saltmarsh plains to the dense, sandy pindan scrubland occupied by the Karajarri.

The Yawuru recognize six seasons in the year: Man-gala, Marrul, Wirralburu Barrgana, Wirlburu and Laja. The drycold season (Barrgana) coincides with a change of fishing from the open sea to the native salmon in creeks; after a brief transitional phase (Wirlburu), the Laja period, encompassing September to November, kicks in, called “married turtle time” where abundance caches of eggs can be harvested from the beaches, and reef fishing feasible. The humid Marrul period follows, when one fishes for whiting, trevally, queenfish and mullet.

yawuru language

Ngaji gurrjin Welcome

Bugarrigarra Creation time

Ngaji mingan? How are you?

Ngaji gurrjin? How are you all?

Galiya Goodbye

Gala Mabu Thank You

Walaja - Raw Bush HONEY - 500G

TA+ Melaleuca Raw Indigenous Yawuru Bush Honey – Walaja

Rated 5.00 out of 5

(1)

~~$19.99-$49.99~~ $11.99-$49.99 (-40.00%)

If you would like more information, please reach out to

walaja@honey-online.com.au

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