Beekeeping on public land

Commercial beekeeping (also known as apiculture) on public land is a licensed activity, controlled by the Department of Sustainability and Environment under a range of Acts including the Land Act 1958, the National Parks Act 1975 and the Forests Act 1958.

'Lost Bee Sites' Review

Between 2009 and 2011, the Victorian Government and beekeepers have worked together to review and assess public land bee sites identified by the industry as ‘lost’. The review culminated in 92 bee sites being returned to the beekeeping industry via a ballot conducted on 1 December 2011. The ballot was overseen by Russell Goodman of the Department of Primary Industries.  

There were 202 entries.Thirty-eight beekeepers were successful in gaining one site each, 27 beekeepers successfully gained two sites each and 137 beekeepers were unsuccessful.

DSE has recently sent letters of offer to successful beekeepers and notified, also by letter, those beekeepers that were unsuccessful in the ballot.

Lost sites that are not taken up by beekeepers will be treated as vacant sites available on a first come, first served basis in the normal manner.

The lost bee sites

The lost bee sites are described in the site summary table below and shown on the statewide map and more detailed navigation maps, also below.

Brief information on each of the 92 available sites is available here: 

Lost bee sites review - site information [MS Excel Document - 3.2 MB]

The statewide map shows where each site is in the State:

State Map [PDF File - 4.9 MB]
State Map [Image - 5.6 MB]

Detailed maps show the locations of each site:

Further information

Further information and assistance is available from the nine regional DSE offices where bee administration officers are located and also at the DSE Box Hill office. Contact details for these offices are provided below:

DSE Regional Offices

Please note: Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe web site.