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A brief history of COBB & Co’

In Broken Hill
Cobb and Co established a coaching service between Wilcannia and Milparinka in 1882 with Robertson and Wagner as agents. Mr Wagner met with a nasty accident coming back from Bourke when his legs were caught up in the wheel and he died February 25, 1885.
In 1892 a branch of the Cobb and Co coaching service began in Broken Hill with a depot at John Murphy’s Wilcannia Club Hotel on the corner of Oxide and Crystal Street . This service ran twice a week to Tarrawingee, Eurowie, Cobham, Milparinka and Tibooburra with another service for Round Hill, Mt Gipps and Wilcannia once a week. Coaches went to Sturt’s Meadows, Langawirra, Mootwingee (Mutawintgee), Gnalta and Tarella

Freeman Cobb was originally sent to Australia by an American group to establish a freight line in Melbourne however this turned out to be a fruitless venture but Cobb could see a big future in coaching in the new country.
The Company
COBB & Co were the first American coaching company to set up in Australia . Freeman Cobb arrived from America in 1853 and shortly thereafter Cobb joined forces with three other businessmen John Murray Peck, James Swanston and John B Lamber to form what was to become a legend as the greatest coaching enterprise in the land. The company ran for the next 70 years until its last run in 1923.

 While the name Cobb was written into our history it was in fact James Rutherford that steered the company for the last fifty years and take it to the heights it attained. Cobb & Lamber quit the business after only three years supposedly making a fortune and returned to the USA where Lamber retired, Cobb however some years later went on to set up another coaching business in South Africa.

Instead of using conventional European type coaches that had metal springs and were heavy and rough to ride in, Cobb revolutionised the industry by  importing  harness and the lighter Concord coaches with thoroughbrace suspension from America . These coaches cost $800 each and  initially he used American drivers (Yankee whips) to guide his steeds through the outback. Cobb was not the first to put Concord coaches into action it was in fact an acquaintance Mr. T Hodges that was the first to put one of these coaches into service. later on Cobb manufactured their own coaches modified for Australian conditions in Bathurst , Brisbane and in Charleville where the Australian designed coach was built.

Cobb conceived the concord coach with its thoroughbrace suspension was considered the most suitable type of vehicle to suit the conditions .

COBB & Co commend operations with a run between Sandridge (Port Melbourne) and Melbourne CBD in 1853

•  The thoroughbrace type suspension of the Concord coaches originated from Hungary in the fifteenth century and became the primary type of suspension used throughout the coaching era.

• COBB & Co ran teams of 4, 5, 6 or 8 horses and in their hay day harnessing up to 6000 horses and covering some 30,000 miles per day.

• By 1880 the firms Mail coaches were running over 98 separate routes totalling 2352 miles. By 1883 the total length of the lines operated by the company in Queensland and New South Wales was over 6,000 miles.

• In daylight the coaches on the run from Melbourne to Bendigo averaged ten miles per hour

•  The main road between Echuca and Wilcannia was officially named the Cobb highway

• The name of COBB & Co went on to become established in New Zealand by Charles Carlos Cole, the business had no ties with the Australian company and began operating from Dunedin on the south island.

• The furnishing of the coaches was Spartan, with thinly padded wood benches covered with leather.

• The seat under the driver was called the “Box” purportedly where the saying “sitting in the box seat” originated.

• Lighting for night trips were originally candle powered then progressed to acetylene.

• The coaches had a folding hood over the box seat for inclement conditions.

• The cost of horses varied one group being purchased for $1.00 per head up to an average of $50, a moderate number were purchased at much higher prices.

• A good driver’s skill was instinctive rather than acquired.

• Hold-ups were few with only 36 incidents being reported. No drivers were ever killed but drivers were occasionally shot.

•  The last run of a COBB & Co coach was in August 1924. Fred (Tommy) Thompson took up the ribbons at Surat and drove the final 40 miles to Yeulba closing that chapter of our history.

A Well-known Court Case
January 20, 1902 - Alex Wilson was a coach driver and was leaving Wilcannia heading towards Broken Hill with a mailbag of opals valued at 3000 pounds. The mailbag was strapped to the side of the coach with Constable Riley fully armed in the box seat.

The coach arrived at Topar early the following morning when they discovered the opals were missing. On the road between Dolo Tank and Box Camp the dust was so bad and being dark the thieves came out of the scrub and walked beside the coach cutting the mailbag. Apart from a few opals found near Little Topar Tank and the ones sold at White Cliffs valued at 200 pounds the remainder of the 3000 pound consignment was never recovered.

Another coach robbery took place between Tibooburra and White Cliffs when Albert Castles was the driver prior to 1900. Even my grandfather was held up just out of White Cliffs around the same time maybe one this very coach.

Further Reading

A Pictorial History of COBB & Co by K A Austin

When COBB & Co Was King by Will Lawson

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Bookings & Reservations Phone: 08 8087 4820 - 0421 259 429
email: contact@meanders.biz

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