Follow the Gold Rushes
When gold was discovered in Victoria in the 1850s thousands of hopeful miners rushed to the diggings and settlements sprang up overnight. Four young Americans, including Freeman Cobb, saw the need for reliable transport and started the company with coaches imported from America. From 30 January 1854, Cobb & Co carried passengers, parcels, money for the banks and shipments of gold. The coaches were pulled by teams of four to six horses and driven by experienced American or Canadian drivers. The coaches were designed for the roughest tracks and they usually got through unscathed, although the passengers often became motion sick as the coaches lurched and rocked through creeks, forests and over steep mountains tracks.
Cobb & Co coaches were the fastest vehicles on the roads covering about 80 kilometres a day. Tired horses were swapped for fresh ones at change stations along the way to keep coaches going at a good trot. Stiff and dusty passengers had a chance to stretch their legs while grooms changed the horses. Some change stations sold refreshments, with meals of stew and damper common, and some even served prickly pear jam and stewed galah. Many change stations became rough ‘shanty’ pubs.
The original partners sold out in 1865 for a huge profit, but other proprietors spread the network. The company began building their own coaches in the 1860s. Workshops were established at Castlemaine and Geelong in Victoria, Hay, Bourke and Bathurst in New South Wales, and Brisbane and Charleville in Queensland. The Bathurst workshop was the largest coach factory in the southern hemisphere.