Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

Mr and Mrs Ernest Alwyn Domsch came to the Bald Knob district of the Blackall Range in 1928 to grow small crops. He was an English engineer and she was a city girl from Brisbane.
The young couple grew crops for less than two years. In 1930 a cyclone came down the coast and 18 inches of rain fell in one night. The rain caused a landslip and the banana crop above their land slipped down the hill and ruined their farm for small crops.
The Pagoda Guest House had been built by Tom Ward on the Maleny-Landsborough Road just up the hill above the Mt Mellum turn off. Winifred Domsch saw an opportunity and leased it for three years. She had to overcome a plague of fleas to make it rentable and the first paying guest arrived in 1931.
She operated the Pagoda Guest House for about 3 years. Some time after World War 2 the Pagoda burnt down, yet one more historical building lost.