The bees were bred on the top floor of the Pender hardware store as far back as the 1800s and would come and go through an open window. If that seems incredible, consider this: it was common at the time to post live queen bees around the country in a timber box, about the size of a cigarette carton.

A range of the tools that Pender Brothers used to use and sell will be on display this weekend at Brough House as part of Heritage Week celebrations.

Items on loan from the Sydney Powerhouse Museum – for the first time since 1931 – include a set of bellows and a hot knife, for harvesting the honey.

About 100 items were given to the Sydney Technological Museum (now Powerhouse) when WS Pender, the driving force of the hardware store’s bee-tool manufacturing arm, died in 1931.

Grossmann and Brough house co-ordinator Alan Todd said it was a boon for anyone interested in heritage items.

“Visitors will be able to relate with these items and the photos of the old Pender Bros building,” he said.

Powerhouse Museum conservation assistant Rebecca Ellis delivered the items yesterday and they will be kept under lock and key for the duration of their stay.

“We can’t always put items on display outside of our museum,” she said.

“So it’s fabulous to be able to showcase some of these items where they came from.”

The items are part of a 19th century industry and innovation display on Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 2pm on Church Street, Maitland, which coincides with the History of Maitland Beekeeping book launch on Saturday.