ELWYNE Papworth heads a honey-making dynasty, SARAH WARNE reports

Like bees to honey, the Papworth family's love of beekeeping has stuck with them through three generations.

Queen bee of the family Elwyne Papworth, from Echuca, was the first female president of any state apiarist (beekeeping) society in Australia.

"My father started making honey when he was just 12 years old," Elwyne says.

"He used to take the hives out of old stringy bark trees."

Sticking with the industry, Elwyne married second-generation commercial beekeeper, Frank, and is mother to beekeeping son, Myles.

Taking on her second term as president of the Victorian Apiarists' Society, Elwyne and her two-man team displayed their Hunidue Apiaries honey at this year's Royal Melbourne Show.

"We won Best Commercial Stand in the grand pavilion for the second year in a row," Elwyne says.

The family sells honey in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and lower Queensland.

Elwyne's father, Arthur Pratt, was an orphan and grew up in a stringy bark hut with his aunt and uncle.

"Dad would take the honey home and it would be fed to the family," Elwyne says.

"But during the war beeswax was used to preserve bullets and demand for beekeepers grew."

Elwyne's father was a qualified carpenter and to make a living he began making his own beehives and split them to multiply his production.

His only child, Elwyne, buzzed into the family business and says she always loved making honey with her dad.

"I was an art teacher for four years but I gave that up for the love of honey," Elwyne says.

"It's been amazing. I get to travel to the most wonderful places, and see parts of Australia that most people only dream about."

Elwyne and her worker bees run 1500 hives on two properties, one at Strathallan, and a second at Hillston, NSW.

Elwyne met her beekeeper husband Frank at an industry convention and says that it was his idea to get married.

"He just said that we should," Elwyne jokes.

Their son Myles, 35, says he was born into the family enterprise.

"I love meeting so many great people," Myles says.

"And I know that I'm investing in my future because it will all be mine one day."

Myles says that his mum is "very cluey" about all things bees and he wishes he had a relationship like the one his parents share together.

"They're great," Myles says.