Visitors to Beechmont Markets will be familiar with the car park adjacent to the Old Beechmont School and Headmasters Cafe, at the Beechmont Roundabout. They could be forgiven for not realising that, for many years, this was the site of Bon Vue Guest House, built in 1924 by Albert Edgar and George Daniel Rankin, for the widow of their brother, Ernest George (Ernie) following the declaration of Lamington National Park in July 1915. Florrie Rankin (nee Florence Batten) bought the Guest House from the brothers for 1004 pounds on 10th September 1924.
By 1929, access roads had improved to the point where motorists made weekend visits, and a small shop connected to the Guest House had begun to cater for their needs, along with those of paying guests and locals. Bon Vue was equipped with a large commercial kitchen, and lights were provided by a home lighting plant. Guests could play tennis, badminton or billiards onsite, while Pat Fitzgerald guided trips to the waterfalls in Back Creek Gorge and along the bridle trail which he and Ken Scott had completed to Mt Hobwee, where they constructed a lookout.
Around 1933 the Guest House reverted to the Rankin brothers and was leased to Alf Garrett, who delivered groceries and fruit around the mountain in a utility truck. Over Easter of 1935, seventy girls and their mistress from St Hilda’s School at Southport camped in the grounds of Beechmont State School, no doubt keeping Mrs Garrett busy in the shop. Tourist guides advised that, ‘Each day, trips are arranged for guests of Bon Vue… to places of interest (basket picnic – guiding free) or they can indulge in riding on quite good horses for a fee of 5/- per day. Visitors should include in their wardrobe warm clothing, slacks, sandshoes and riding outfits.’
By the late 1930s, the daily tariff at Bon Vue was two pounds, ten shillings. Alf kept a number of horses in the ‘long paddock’ for the use of his guests. One night, a local lad decided to go to a dance in Canungra, so he caught a horse and rode it to the dance. Before returning it, he painted white stripes on the horse which, being black, would have looked rather funny. When Alf Garrett went to Brisbane to drive taxis during WW2, the guest house and shop were vacant for a short while until Charlie Schmidt, a Binna Burra bus driver, rented Bon Vue as a private residence. It was later sold to Bert Stone, another Binna Burra bus driver, who closed in the verandah and continued to run the guest house with his family until 1955. His in-laws, Florence and Harry Staines, ran the shop, selling groceries, Peter’s Ice Cream, Bushlands Creamed Honey and mixed lollies such as Freckles and Musk Sticks.
The oldest of six children, Daphne Rieck (nee Stone) recalls helping in the shop throughout her high school years and later, while nursing. Petrol was sold from a bowser beside the shop, with a limit of 6 gallons per customer. The family ceased operating the guest house in 1955, when the last of the children was born, but Daphne’s parents continued living in the house until they moved away from the mountain in 1967. Cyril and Judy Frost bought Bon Vue, replacing the shop with The Fig Tree Cabin, a tea-house where local Art was also sold. The site was later taken over by the Education Department, and Bon Vue demolished to expand the school playground. The whole site is now owned by Scenic Rim Regional Council and leased to the community through the Beech Mountain Association, whose committee is made up entirely of volunteers.
The post Bon Vue Guest House, Beechmont, 1924 – 1955 and Beyond appeared first on The Canungra Times.