Kathy, I reckon you are talking about tea tree oil.. I looked it up and it comes from one species, Melaleuca alternifolia. On the map it looks like it grows a bit further south than the pom. Actually, our "white tea tree", a tall weeping paperbark that grows on rivers, is our main winter honey flow. Some years it fills the hives, some not much, but flowers every year. Our "black tea tree" flowers every year too; some beeks say not such a good honey source. But it's in late spring which is hot and dry usually and a good filler till other things come out. There are other tea trees here also, one with a greenish flower, and one near the hives that gets masses of white flowers. Bees are always covering all varieties. Our bees can get cranky at any time so I've never known I should be blaming tea trees.
Call yerself an aussie, Geoff?!! Gibbers are rocks...
Lone