Cobb & Co. MonumentPrint Page

The monument commemorates the last stagecoach run of Cobb and Company (Cobb & Co.)  in Australia.  The last run of the horse drawn coach was from Surat to Yuleba in August 1924.

Cobb & Co. was the name used by many successful sometimes quite independent Australian coaching businesses. The first was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name Cobb & Co. grew to great prominence in the late 19th century, when it was carried by many stagecoaches carrying passengers and mail to various Australian goldfields, and later to many regional and remote areas of the Australian outback. The same name was used in New Zealand and Freeman Cobb used it in South Africa.

Although the Queensland branch of the company made an effort to transition to automobiles in the early twentieth century, high overhead costs and the growth of alternative transport options for mail, including rail and air, saw the final demise of Cobb & Co. The last Australian Cobb & Co. stagecoach ran in Queensland in August 1924.

LAST COBB AND CO. COACH. The following is an extract from the report of Cobb and Co., Limited, for the year ended the 30th of June last:—— "We feel that mention should be made of the fact that the last of the coaches has been taken off the road——the last run being made from Surat to Yeulba on August 7, 1924, and that in future motors will be utilised only to run any mail services we may secure. The old thorobrace coach has been an institution in Australia for a hundred years, but has graduallybeen superseded by train and motors."
Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld.), 4 October 1924.

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