The Sun 23 July 1939, page 4
Cobb & Co on the Goldfields
These goldfields were one of the last strongholds of the famous firm of Cobb & Co whose coaches were one of the principal means of communication all over Australia. The story of this pictorial phase of Goldfield’s life is here reviewed.
It is not given to many young men in their early twenties to pay a flying visit to a new country and to leave behind them, after their departure, names that become traditions in the community of which they have, for a brief time, been members. Yet that is what happened in the case of Freeman Cobb. He was not yet 23yrs when he arrived in Melbourne from the United States about the middle of 1853 and barely three years had elapsed before he boarded ship to return to his native land. In the meantime, he had established the business of Cobb and Co, whose name has become a of symbol of the coaching days. Why this should have happened does not appear at first sight easy to understand.
Freeman Cobb did not introduce stagecoaches to Australia!
Coaches were running in New South Wales before he was born, or at least when he was but an infant. He did run the first coaches to the Victorian Goldfields, lines had begun to Ballarat and Castlemaine before he arrived. How, then did he secure such pre-eminence in the coaching world? In the first place he and his partners introduced elements of punctuality and speed which had hitherto been lacking; secondly, they used American concord coaches with bodies hung on leather straps, giving the acme of possible comfort in this form of travel and lastly, they adopted a pleasingly alliterative title which was sonorous and easy to remember.
The Hannans Coach – Image SLWA
There were three other young Americans in the business besides Cobb – John Murray Peck, John B Lamber, and James Swanton. Of these, only the first named remained in Victoria. He died as recently as 1903 in Pascoe VIC. Cobb and Co.’s first line to the Victorian Goldfields commenced running on January 30th 1854. In a little over two years from this date the business had been sold to Thomas Davies, and Cobb departed for home. Before the end of 1857 there were two more changes of proprietorship, but the name of “Cobb & Co” was too good an asset to be allowed to lapse, and presently it was being used by a “loose confederation of proprietors” who carried it far and wide over Victoria and into the adjoining States.
On the WA Goldfields the name of Cobb & Co was brought first by a Southern Cross pioneer, I. J. K. Cohn, who used to run the service to Coolgardie. Some of his teams included blood horses, one of them being ‘Alphington’, who was bought for 600 guineas and who had to be destroyed after he broke his leg in harness. Cohn sold out to Marwick and Wilkinson on August 8, 1894, the day before the Wealth of Nations find was reported by Dunn.
Soon afterwards the business was sold again to Syd and Charley Kidman and Jimmy Nicholas. These names will always be best known in connection with the Goldfields services. Syd Kidman in later years become known as the ‘Cattle King’ having vast pastoral interests all over Australia. His brother spent more time on the fields in connection with the business and his name was always to be seen among those of owners at goldfields race meetings.
Jimmy Nicholas was most closely identified with the business, having been driver for Cobb & Co over in Western New South Wales and bringing his experience there to good use in establishing services here. He died only a few years ago on his station at Mt. Ida, west of Menzies, and his sons are now on a station north of Meekatharra.
Cobb and Co Coach on route to Coolgardie 1896 – The presence of a police office indicates they were carrying gold. – Photo SLWA
Still on deck and enjoying life in Kalgoorlie is one of Cobb and Co.’s former crack drivers, Alf Bryant, who is a mine of information about the old harness days. Alf was one of the drivers who kept the services going through fair weather, droughts and floods out towards the Darling in New South Wales, his headquarters being Wilcannia. He came over here when Nicholas linked up with the Kidman’s to take over the service from Southern Cross to Coolgardie in 1894.
HORSES FOR HALF A CROWN – Alf recalls that to supply horses for the new service, Kidman went up to Owen Springs in the McDonnell Ranges where at the time there was a bad drought and bought 2000 horses at half a crown each. The horses had never been mustered since they were first branded, but most of them were drafted down to Adelaide and shipped to this State, where their brand WG was seen all over the goldfields. Breaking horses for Cobb and Co.’s service was a simple matter. The wild horse was simply put in the traces and hitched up to a log. When he had pulled that round the paddock and learnt the meaning of the strain on a bit, this took only a day or so — he was ready for use. Once he was harnessed, the harder he bolted the better the drivers liked it, provided they had a good leader. Most of the horses used were comparatively light and fast.
Cobb & Co Booking office Menzies WA 1903 – Photo SLWA
RACEHORSES IN HARNESS – On occasion valuable blood horses were put to work in the coaches. Horses were not coddled so much as they are now, and coach work was considered a good way of hardening a young horse for racing. On the occasion of the first Coolgardie Cup in 1896, Jimmy Nicholas drove a coach out to the course with a full team of blood horses, one of them being a horse for which 2000 guineas had been paid in New Zealand as a yearling. Horses which were well known on the racecourse, and which worked in harness were ‘Braylejgh’ and ‘Bruce Low’, whose names a number of old hands will no doubt remember.
THE DRIVERS WAYS – The route between Southern Cross and Coolgardie. of course, was the first to be abandoned, then that to Kalgoorlie. The first route to Menzies was that from Coolgardie, up through Kunanalling, Carbine, Siberia, and Goongarrie. When the railway again reached to Menzies the service to Malcolm and beyond continued, until at last the iron horse drove the horses of flesh and blood to their last strongholds beyond Leonora and Laverton. The service through Doyle’s Well, Lawlers.\, Mt. Sir Samuel, Kathleen Valley and Lake Way were the principal connecting links of those centres with civilisation until well on into the present century.
Cobb & Co.’s coaches were still running there in 1912. There were other subsidiary services. One was from Kookynie through Yerilla, Yarri. Edjudina and Pinjin to Kurnalpi. Another was to Norseman. The latter service lasted until 1907 when the railway put it out of business as well. The journey which this issue of “The Sun” has made in less than four hours then took two days, a stop overnight being, made at Widgiemooltha.
Cobb & Co Coach – Photo SL Victoria
Another subsidiary service, the furthest inland touched by Cobb and Co was that from Laverton east to Burtville and out well into the spinifex to the Red, White and Blue mine. The amount of organisation required to maintain these services was considerable. Changing stations had to be maintained every 15 or 20 miles along the routes and at these fodder and water for the horses had to be available. Some stations were established on natural water supplies, but in other cases, tanks had to be excavated. There was little or no natural fodder available on the fields and all forage for the many horses required had to be carted. This was generally managed by throwing a few bags of chaff on top of the coaches when the passenger list was light—
the coaches carried sometimes 20 or more passengers
but this had to be supplemented by waggon teams. The faint remains — usually a heap of broken bottles—of the changing stations are still to be seen on many of our outback roads, though the present roads are often not now identical to the old ones, which had to follow the water supplies.
Cobb and Co. were routed out of their last strongholds in the far outback by the motor car, against which flesh and blood could not compete. The name survived on a few livery stables for a year or two, but the last one went in Victoria about 1922. The famous firm which was for so long an intimate part of the daily life of Australia is now only part of her history .
Moya Sharp
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Great read, thank you Moya