In my travels through the archives I found this great pair of articles about steely nerved bee whisperers from 1949 and immediately thought of that lovely blogger Miss Apis Mellifera.
The Argus 26 Feb 1949 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22706204
Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, and Grenfell Street, Adelaide, are both one of the main streets in their respective cities, and the thought of a swarm of bees in either of those locations today is very unlikely.
Even less likely is that there would be a cool-headed member of the crowd ready to wander up to a bee swarm and send the queen on her way. Slightly panicked passers-by armed with iphones though, now that sounds far more likely!
I expect that the ute owner was very pleased that there was someone who knew how to deal with a hitchhiking swarm of bees, otherwise it could have been a very interesting trip home for him, and the bike rider, well, I expect he would have just walked home if the queen in that particular swarm remained elusive!
Clearly the swarm on the bike seat was a calm one. I expect that normally having two men sorting through the bees looking for the queen like that would result in screaming and running. They look more like they are sorting through a pile of change rather than a swarm of bees!
This post is also a quiet thank you to Miss Apis Mellifera for her lovely words and her Bumblebee award. She made my day 
Barrier Miner 12 Jan 1949 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48582502
Excellent choices Metan. I bet it couldn’t happen these days.
No, I suspect that since we are in the iphone era that if it occurred today it would be on youtube before anyone thought to save the queen.
Yes, it would be on YOUTUBE with a musical soundtrack in no time at all. Long before anyone thought about the queen.
My question is, what would be the sound track? Flight of the bumble bee? Or…
Ooooh, good question! Hmmm…. I will have to think about that one.
This clip is probably the soundtrack of what would happen to me in the vicinity of a swarm. Ugh, ouch, thud….
Gonzo playing Flight of the Bumblebee. Well, attempting to anyway. Rolf on piano, Animal on club. A short and painful clip
Aw, I love this post – just brilliant. The photos of old swarm catchers show how gentle swarms can be – usually because they are full, full, full of honey and want to be put in a cardboard box to be taken to a new home. That said, I wouldn’t catch a swarm without a bee suit!
Fantastic post, I think I will circulate to my bee association! 
I’m glad you like it, circulate away!
As soon as I saw the first pictures I thought of you and your (usually) calm bees. I think the one I love the most is the man in Elizabeth Street holding the queen up in the air. I can imagine the excitement (and relief) from the crowd as she took off.
I am still amazed that the bike bees allowed themselves to be sorted so calmly though
PS Thank you for Gonzo and Flight of the Bumblebee, haven’t seen this for years!
Always happy to amuse a fellow Muppet lover