Published monthly, The Australasian Beekeeper is sold by subscription, both in Australia and overseas.

The ABK was the creation of William Samuel Pender, and was first published in July 1899. WS Pender was Co-Director and part-owner of Pender Bros., Maitland, Timber Merchants and manufacturers of beekeeping equipment from 1892.

Much of what The Australasian Beekeeper has been (and still is) about can be summarised in the first few sentences of the first issue in July, 1899:

With this our first issue, we introduce to beekeepers a new journal entirely devoted to bees and the interests of the honey producer. We will endeavour to make the Journal as practical as possible, and with the assistance of beekeepers, will make it a valuable help to all keeping bees. We do not wish it to be our paper, but the beekeepers’ paper, where we hope to see a mutual exchange of thought among beekeepers of Australasia and all get assistance from it. If there is anything you wish to know we will be pleased to receive your questions and will lay them before experts, and give you the best information and advice that is to be obtained.

As a Mission Statement written 118 years ago, those words hold true today.