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Cobb and Co
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cobb and Co is the name of a transportation company in Australia. It was prominent in the late 1800s when it operated stagecoaches to many areas in the outback and at one point in several other countries, as well. It was established in 1853 by four Americans, including Freeman Cobb, but only rose to prominence when bought by James Rutherford and several partners in 1858. Rutherford's partners included Alexander William Robertson, John Wagner, Walter Russell Hall, William Franklin Whitney and Walter Bradley. Rutherford re-organised and extended the Victorian services and secured a monopoly on the mail contracts.
In 1861 Rutherford proposed extending the business into New South Wales, but his partners opposed the plan. They reversed the decision following news of the Lambing Flat (Young) gold rush. Rutherford moved ten coaches from the Castlemaine Depot in Victoria to Bathurst in 1862, and re-established his headquarters there. He transported passengers from the railway station at Penrith, all the way to the new goldfields.
Its operations were eventually superseded by the development of the automobile and, in some areas, by railways. Their last horse-drawn coach service ran in 1924.
The company name has been resurrected in recent years and operates a long-distance bus service, with depots in Melbourne, Darwin and central Australia, and is currently owned by Dyson's Bus Services.
The name stands for "Cobb & company," although the full stop after "Co" is often omitted.
Cobb & Co did not set up in New Zealand as a company but their name was used by many private coach operators on the North Island and South Island.
In 1861, the discovery of gold in Gabriel's Gully, Otago, prompted a gold rush and saw many Australian gold-diggers heading for the port of Dunedin. Among these was the Cobb & Co. coach proprietor Charles Cole, who had been running a service from Smythe's Creek to Ballaratt, Victoria. He chartered the steamship S.S. India at Geelong and on October 4, 1861 landed in Dunedin with one 'Concord' coach, five wagons, a buggy and some fifty-four horses.
A vast improvement in comfort, the new American 'Concord' coaches were built by J. Abbott of Concord, New Hampshire. Each had a centre door with a glass window which could be raised or lowered; the openings either side had curtains of American leather which rolled up and down to keep out the weather. The interior was upholstered in crimson plush, while the outside was painted red, with gold ornamentation. A box seat and roof seat allowed the coach to carry five extra outside passengers, with six to nine seated around the inside.
One week after landing, his first "Cobb & Co Telegraph Line of Coaches" left the Provincial Hotel, Dunedin for the Police Commissioner's Camp at Gabriel's Gully. Changing stations for the horses had already been arranged at the Reliance Hotel, Otokia at Tokomairiro, Round Hill and Waitahuna.
In February, 1862, the Hoyts came to New Zealand, landing their coach and horses at Bluff. They moved to Dunedin when they found there was no direct route to reach the gold diggings from there and linked up in partnership with C.Cole, trading as Cole, Hoyt & Co., proprietors of Cobb & Co. Telegraph Line of Coaches.
The passenger coach service began to operate on a regular basis from Dunedin to Waikouaiti. Passengers who travelled on this line for Oamaru and beyond, were transferred to a light two horse wagon for the final part of their journey, where they were met by private contractors to take them to the Ferry Service at Waitaki.
By April 1862, Hoyt decided to put a four horse coach team on the run, with a service of three times a week at a fare of £3 each way. The route lay through Palmerston and over the Horse Range where stops were made at the Hampden Hotel and the Otepopo Inn, before the leg to the Northern Hotel, Oamaru or on to the Waitaki River Ferry Service.
By 1863 a reasonable roadway had been cut through from Timaru to Christchurch. A Cobb & Co coachline in Timaru soon opened up with a passenger service on this route running to the north. Within a short time the coachline advertised additional services south to the River Ferry at Waitaki so linking the route with the Dunedin/Oamaru coach-teams from the lower South Island. [1]Pioneers in New Zealand.]
- Cobb & Co Museum, Toowoomba