Contributed by Ron Gillinder
STARTING with two Concord thoroughbrace coaches he brought from America, Freeman Cobb commenced coach passenger services in Victoria in January 1854 at the peak of the Ballarat gold rush era. Thoroughbrace suspension comprised 13 foot long leather straps, six to eight thicknesses of bullock hide on which the body of the coach was hung. Some passengers complained of motion sickness.
Although his business venture was profitable and efficient Cobb sold his Australian coaching interests in 1856 and returned to America.
Several changes of ownership ensued until 1861 when a syndicate led by another American, James Rutherford, took over the coaching business. Rutherford took the Cobb & Co. coach line to Bathurst, New South Wales where he established a coach building factory. Bathurst-built coaches were painted dark red with gold leaf lettering.
As well as paying passengers, Cobb & Co. relied on having mail contracts as a significant portion of their revenue. The advancing New South Wales rail network was the greatest threat to Cobb & Co. business viability.
Rutherford decided to extend his operations into Queensland. In 1865, Hiram Barnes, a senior Cobb & Co. driver, brought 16 coaches from Bathurst to Brisbane. The first Cobb & Co. run in Queensland was from Brisbane to Ipswich and the first service from Brisbane to Gympie in November 1868.
The company’s coach building factory was moved from Brisbane to Charleville in 1886, where built coaches were painted white with red lettering. Charleville was selected for coach building because of better climatic conditions for the seasoning of timber.
The coach service which helped most to establish the reputation of Cobb & Co. in Queensland occurred on November 12, 1868 when Hiram Barnes opened the service to the Gympie goldfields. He drove his horse team over a difficult track, arriving in Gympie on the evening of the second day out of Brisbane. Cheering crowds carried Barnes shoulder high to the Northumberland Hotel for a festive welcome.