A sculpture on the Gold Coast has been created depicting an Aboriginal Dreaming God, Jabreen, but with an unique twist: inside his head a buzzing noise can be heard.

This is because the statue doubles as a hive for native bees.

The large wood carving is a partnership between the Gold Coast's Kombumerri people and Griffith University, that has been erected at the Gold Coast campus' Kombumerri garden.

Kombumerri man Kupae Max Dillon said the concept came from the Gold Coast's creation story.

"Our Dreaming story of Jabreen is our first Dreaming story," he said.

"We see Jabreen first appearing as a giant and stepping out of the Milky Way and when he came down he saw the land was without form … so he threw his magical waddy out and created the rivers, mountains and hills.

"Jabreen became very hungry and went hunting, looking for tucker and he came across some wild bees, so he feasted on this native honey."

The Dreaming story of Jabreen the warrior

The story continues that Jabreen's body became sticky from the honey, so he swam out to the ocean to wash himself, became tired and then fell asleep.

His body eventually formed a mountain at Burleigh Heads also known as Jellurgal.

"Jellurgal place of honey and place of bees," Mr Dillon said

"So for us it is a representation of our first dreaming story — of our creator.

"And it's important for people to see this."

The hive is installed in the head of Jabreen, and the bees access it by flying in and out of his mouth.

"As they come and go you can smell the honey on Jabreen's breath," Mr Dillon said.

Statue of Jabreen Aboriginal Dreaming God Jabreen which doubles as a beehive. ( Solua Middleton )

Reconnecting with the bees

Mr Dillion said there is a plan for the bees beyond the statue.

"The plan is for these bees is to have a presence in announcing our culture and [that] our dreaming story is alive and it is ongoing," he said.

"So these bees are evidence that we have a connection to the land, to our dreaming, to the spirit world, to the ancestors, to medicine and to lore.

"These bees won't just be here for us to look at, but they will also be something that we can do practically, which is to serve our Elders with medicine and give them medicine, which is the lore."

Sarah Hamilton from Bee Yourself worked with the Kombumerri people to help bring this project together.

"Max discussed a vision of telling this Dreamtime story about Jabreen the warrior and how he gorged on native bee honey," she said.

"From that point I was just here to guide them on native bee business, and it's been a sharing of information ever since."

Sculpting the statue

Ms Hamilton introduced Mr Dillon to sculptor Shane Christensen.

"First of all I listened to the story of Jabreen and descriptions and what he may have looked like in the eyes of Kombumerri Elders," Mr Christensen said.

"So I felt a big presence when I started carving, this big energy."

The hive sculpture was made of a specific type of timber that required specific tools to sculpt.

"It is 365 kilos of tallow wood," Mr Christensen said.

"Initially I had to use chainsaws to shape it, it's about 80 per cent chainsaw and then refining with arbortec tools and sanding.

"This is a momentous occasion in my life it's a huge honour to be able to collaborate with the Kombumerri people."

'A highly evolved bee'

The bees used in the Jabreen hive were chosen for a specific reason.

"These bees they are everywhere, these bees in particular, are a social bee," Mr Dillon said.

"They live in hives, and it's a highly evolved bee, they evolved from wasps about 110 million years ago."

Ms Hamilton said it was a specific breed that was chosen, native to the local region.

"On the Gold Coast there are commonly three species found, and the bees flying in and out through Jabreen's mouth is the tetragonula hockingsi," Ms Hamilton said.

"These are teeny tiny little bees, they are all black in colour and about 4-5 mm long and they are completely stingless.

"They make an amazing medicinal honey that our Indigenous people have been using for a long time now.

"You probably don't notice that there are a lot of wild hives around however there did used to be many, many more."

Ms Hamilton said that through things like land clearing and spraying there are less hives occurring naturally in the wild.