by Gordon Plowman

Four quality guest houses once accommodated the many visitors and holiday makers who came to Montville to breathe the mountain air and immerse themselves in the wondrous beauty of the Blackall Range. Dart’s Mayfield guest house on the Flaxton side just before the town was one of these.

The facilities at Mayfield are best described in an advertisement in the Nambour Chronicle in 1931. As the ad says, the guest house has electric light and hot water, luxuries most North Coast residents could only dream of at the time.

An article in the Nambour Chronicle in 1936 describes some of the many activities and entertainments available for the guests:

“The days were spent in golfing, tennis, bowls and picnics to various waterfalls and beauty spots on the Blackall Range. The evenings were spent in dancing, music, cards and games.”

Almost mandatory during a stay was a walk cross-country to Pulpit Rock. The spectacular views from this natural feature look over Bon Accord (now Kondalilla) Falls, over the Piccabeen Grove and across the forest canopy to the Mary Valley in the blue distance.

A stay at Mayfield held one other special surprise – Monte Dart’s gladioli farm. Reported to have grown 300 varieties of these showy blooms, the sight of row upon row of his stately flowers created a memory never to be forgotten.

His blooms filled vases and jardinières in foyers and halls at Mayfield, in Brisbane theatres and at numerous wedding venues. Dart’s blooms once decked the halls of Parliament House for the visit of the Duke of Gloucester.

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Parties and musical evenings which once filled Mayfield with music and laughter are long past. But the old-fashioned camaraderie and the enjoyment of simple pleasures, now but a memory, serve as an inspiration for us even today.