These photographs depict processes in honey preparation at the factory of Pender Brothers, Maitland, in the 1960s.
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Penders is a famous name in the Hunter’s bee-keeping industry. Penders was established in Maitland in 1892 as a timber mill, diversifying over time to become one of the most important bee-keeping supply businesses in the Southern Hemisphere.
The family-owned business was sold to its employees in the 1970s and shifted to Rutherford, changing hands again in 1989.
A fire destroyed the factory in 1998, and the business again changed hands in 2002, moving to Cardiff where it still trades as Pender Beekeeping Supplies.
These photos, taken by the late Alan Bennett and supplied by Pete Smith, are among many in the book, The Way We Worked, by Greg and Sylvia Ray. The publishers are keen to hear from anybody who can identify people in the photographs or provide more information about the business.
The Way We Worked, the Rays’ seventh book since Newcastle the Missing Years in 2010, is available from theherald.com.au online bookstore and from the Maitland Mercury office at 6/555 High Street, as well as from McDonald’s Bookshop in Maitland Mall, Campbell’s Store at Morpeth and from newsagencies at Maitland West End, East Maitland, Green Hills and Beresfield.