Centenary of the Last Cobb & Co. Coach

Overview

On 14 August 1924, after 70 years of transporting passengers, goods and mail across the nation, the legendary Cobb & Co. ran its last horse-drawn coach, on service 177, from Surat to Yuleba, Queensland.

Cobb & Co. began in Victoria, in response to the gold rush of the 1850s. The many thousands who flocked to the diggings needed reliable and rapid transport to service the communities in the goldfields. Four enterprising young Americans, including Freeman Cobb, began the company with coaches imported from USA.  The first coach ran from Melbourne to the Castlemaine goldfields on 30 January 1854 in half the time of its competitors. Change stations, many of which survive today, were established every 16 to 32 kilometres to refresh horses. At its peak in the 1870s, the successful company had expanded operations into New South Wales and Queensland, establishing one of the most extensive coaching networks in the world. Coaches were also run to Adelaide and in Western Australia.

Cobb & Co. was the lifeline to the bush, carrying passengers, mail and household goods, travelling nearly 45,000 kilometres a week over 11,200 kilometres, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to southern Victoria. But the company was unable to survive the rapid expansion of radio and telephone communications, the development of rail and air networks, and the mass uptake of the motor car.  By the 1920s, Cobb & Co. could no longer make a profit and was forced to close operations. Despite the demise of Cobb & Co., the romance and excitement of the horse-drawn coach era lives on in popular imagination.