Celebrating 60 Years!
Capilano Honey started as small family business with brother’s and apiarist J.C. (Tim) Smith MBE and his brother H.A. (Bert) Smith, who began the business by packing and selling their Capilano brand of honey to grocery stores around Brisbane (QLD) Australia in 1953. The humble business grew into a co-operative of Australian beekeepers, to a publicly-listed company that exports into over 33 countries world-wide, as well as being Australia’ s number one honey.
In 2013, Capilano Honey celebrates our 60th Anniversary with a product which still remains as 100% Australian owned and grown as it was 60 years ago! Our honey showcases some of the amazing native floral varieties Capilano sources from our network of approximately 500 Australian beekeepers, promoting a real ‘Hive to Home’ experience.
Capilano Honey is the market leader of honey in Australia, packing premium quality honey , with 60 years of Australian generations that have grown up with our trusted brand and quality honey.
The name ‘Capilano’ has a nostalgic connection. It means ‘rushing water’ in the language of the native American Indian tribe, the Squamish, who occupied the Capilano district near Vancouver in Canada. It was here that Tim Smith met his wife, Jill, while stationed in Canada as a RAAF flying instructor in World War II and proposed to her on the Capilano Bridge.
In 1956 the business was known as Capilano Apiaries Pty Limited. Interstate expansion and development of export followed as the company prospered, leading to the establishment of a packing plant and distribution centre at St. Marys, near Sydney, in 1968 followed by another in Maryborough, Victoria in 1974.
In 1970 the company became an unlisted public company and in 1974 changed its name to the Honey Corporation of Australia Limited. In 1995 it adopted the name Capilano Honey Limited in recognition of the wide appreciation of the Capilano trademark and brand throughout Australia and overseas.
In February 2004, Capilano Honey Limited (CHL) listed on the Bendigo Stock Exchange (BSX) to facilitate share trading, then making the final transition to a public listed company on the ASX in 2012.
Capilano Honey is now one of the largest honey packers in the world with a capacity to process and pack over 45,000 tonnes of honey per year.