100 Years of Beekeeping: The Fewster Family Story

The Fewster family has been connected to Australian honey for more than a century. It began in 1916 when John Fewster started with 12 hives in Muchea, Western Australia. Five generations later, Matt Fewster oversees Forest Fresh Honey as a packer and supplier — combining a century of inherited knowledge with a science-first standard that includes 5-lab independent testing for every batch.

Key Points

• John Fewster began beekeeping in Muchea WA in 1916 with just 12 hives
• Five generations of the Fewster family have shaped how Australian bioactive honey is sourced and supplied
• Matt Fewster, 5th generation, is co-founder of Forest Fresh Honey as packer and supplier
• Mike Fewster's geosciences background introduced the rigorous, evidence-based quality framework still used today
• Heritage and science together create the trust that underpins every jar

Some brands are built on marketing. Forest Fresh Honey was built on something slower and more stubborn: five generations of a family that never stopped paying attention.

The story starts a long way from the city, at a time before refrigeration, before supermarkets, before anyone had heard of TA ratings or independent laboratory validation. It starts with a man and twelve beehives in the bush north of Perth.

1916: Twelve Hives in Muchea

John Fewster set up his first apiary in Muchea, Western Australia, in 1916. He chose well, though perhaps not entirely by design. Muchea sits in the Swan Valley corridor, close to the Darling Scarp and within reach of the native bushland that would eventually be understood as one of the world's most significant biodiversity hotspots.

In 1916, commercial beekeeping in WA was still young. The colony was barely 30 years old. The jarrah forests were largely unmapped beyond their timber value, and the concept of "bioactive honey" was decades away from any scientific framework. John Fewster kept bees the way his contemporaries did — with patience, observation, and a feel for the seasons that only comes from working land over many years.

Those twelve hives were the beginning of something that would take a century to understand in full.

Through the Generations: What Was Passed Down

Each generation of the Fewster family added something to what they inherited. The early generations built apiary knowledge — how to work Jarrah country, when the trees flower (every 2–4 years, a cycle that demands patience no modern supply chain was built for), how hive health responds to WA's hot, dry summers.

Crucially, successive generations also built relationships — with the land, with the independent beekeepers who work the forests, and eventually with the laboratories and export partners that turned a family operation into Australia's largest collective of independent commercial beekeepers and packers.

The trust built over those generations is not a marketing claim. It is the accumulated result of decade after decade of someone in the Fewster family knowing which hives to trust, which seasons to hold back, and which batches to reject.

Mike Fewster: When Geoscience Met Beekeeping

One of the defining moments in Forest Fresh Honey's evolution came when Mike Fewster's background in geosciences was brought to bear on the honey operation.

Geosciences is fundamentally about evidence — understanding complex natural systems through rigorous measurement, pattern recognition, and a deep respect for what the data actually says rather than what you'd like it to say. A geoscientist doesn't guess about soil composition; they test it. They don't assume a mineral vein runs where they'd like it to; they map it.

Applied to honey, that mindset produced something the industry hadn't seen before: an insistence on independent, multi-point verification for every batch. Not because the honey might be bad — the Fewster family had been producing exceptional Jarrah honey for generations. But because exceptional honey deserves exceptional proof.

Mike's contribution was structural. The 5-laboratory testing framework, the independent COA programme, the Jarrah Factor™ composite standard — these are the products of a scientific mind applied to a craft that had always been excellent but had not always been systematically verified.

That combination — generational craft knowledge plus scientific rigour — is what the brand rests on.

Matt Fewster: The 5th Generation

Matt Fewster's role is as co-founder, packer, and supplier. It's important to be specific about that: the fifth generation of this family doesn't keep bees. Matt's work is at the sourcing, quality assurance, packing, and distribution end of the chain — working with Australia's largest collective of independent commercial beekeepers to bring raw Jarrah honey into a supply chain that meets a standard none of those individual beekeepers could maintain alone.

This is actually the correct structure for a honey operation of this scale. The beekeepers in the forest have the generational knowledge of their craft. Forest Fresh Honey provides the quality infrastructure — the testing, the certifications, the export relationships, the consumer-facing brand — that lets their work reach customers in 17+ countries without ever compromising on what's in the jar.

Matt's personal stake in the business isn't abstract. It's the same stake John Fewster had in 1916: a responsibility to the land, to the people who work it, and to the customers who trust the label.

Why Heritage + Science Builds Trust

There's a type of trust that can only come from time. When a family has been doing something for five generations, across a century that included wars, economic crashes, and wholesale changes in how food is produced and sold, and the product is still excellent — that's not luck. It's accumulated competence.

But heritage without science is just tradition. And tradition without scrutiny can drift. The science-first approach that Mike Fewster introduced, and that Matt continues, is what keeps the heritage honest. Every year, every batch, every jar — independently tested, independently verified, openly documented.

The result is a brand that can honestly say: we don't ask you to trust us because we're old. We ask you to trust us because we show our working.

Read: How We Test Our Honey — the full 5-lab testing process →

🍯 Five generations of Fewster knowledge, independently verified — explore the full Forest Fresh range. Shop All Products →

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who is the founder of Forest Fresh Honey? A: The family beekeeping heritage began with John Fewster, who started with 12 hives in Muchea, WA, in 1916. Forest Fresh Honey as a brand was co-founded by Matt Fewster, the 5th generation of the family, in his role as packer and supplier of bioactive Jarrah honey.

Q: Is Matt Fewster a beekeeper? A: Matt's role is as packer and supplier — he works with Australia's largest collective of independent commercial beekeepers to source, test, and distribute Jarrah honey to a consistent premium standard. The beekeeping is done by specialist independent beekeepers; Matt's operation provides the quality infrastructure around it.

Q: How many generations has the Fewster family been in the honey industry? A: Five generations, spanning from John Fewster's first hives in 1916 to Matt Fewster's current role at Forest Fresh Honey — over 100 years of continuous connection to Western Australian honey.

Q: What did Mike Fewster's geosciences background contribute to the brand? A: Mike applied the evidence-based rigour of geoscience to the honey operation — establishing independent multi-laboratory testing, structured quality documentation, and the composite Jarrah Factor™ standard. The science-first framework that defines Forest Fresh Honey grew from that mindset.

Q: Where is Forest Fresh Honey based? A: Forest Fresh Honey is based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. The honey itself comes from Jarrah forests in South-West WA — one of the world's 36 designated biodiversity hotspots.

Q: Does Forest Fresh Honey export? A: Yes. Forest Fresh Honey exports to 17+ countries through honey-x.au, its B2B export arm. Jarrah honey from Forest Fresh reaches customers across Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East.

Q: Why do Jarrah honeys sometimes have genuine low-stock situations? A: Jarrah trees flower only every 2–4 years, and production is constrained by both natural yield and the testing standard — batches that don't pass all five independent tests don't ship, regardless of demand. Genuine scarcity is a feature of the product, not a sales tactic.

The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. Please consult your healthcare professional before using honey as part of a health or medical regimen. Forest Fresh Honey products are food products, not medicines. Not suitable for children under 12 months. These statements are based on traditional use and emerging scientific research.

Written by Matt Fewster, 5th generation of the Fewster family and co-founder of Forest Fresh Honey.

Sources: - Irish, J., Blair, S., & Carter, D.A. (2011). Antibacterial activity of honey derived from Australian flora. PLOS ONE. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0018229 - Hossain, M.L. & Locher, C. (2023). WA honey antibacterial and antioxidant activity vs Manuka. Applied Sciences, 13(13), 7440. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/13/7440 - Manning, R. (2011). Antibacterial activity of WA honeys. WA DPIRD. https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/pubns/39/