Many times I’ve heard or read a discussion about whether Cobb & Co coaches traveled to Rosewood and stopped at the Rising Sun Hotel, so I went looking for an answer.
The answer I found is no, Cobb & Co did not come to Rosewood.
The first railway line between Ipswich and Bigge’s Camp (Grandchester) was opened on 31 July 1865, by Governor Sir George Ferguson Bowen. The train service between Ipswich and Bigge’s Camp was running before the firm of Cobb & Co began its services in Queensland.
Cobb & Co operated in Queensland from 1866 until 1924. Three of their Southern routes were: from Brisbane to Ipswich, from Bigge’s Camp to Toowomba and from Toowomba to Dalby.
From the 1st January, 1866 Cobb & Co coaches carried mail and passengers from Brisbane to Ipswich. Mail was then transferred to a train and passengers from the coaches also boarded the train for their journey Grandchester. A Cobb & Co coach was waiting there to take them on to Toowoomba.
The newspapers announced towards the end of 1865: We learn that the well-known firm of Cobb and co. have succeeded in being the accepted tenderers for the line of mails between Brisbane and Toowoomba. Their contract will commence on the 1st of January next. (1)
Two coaches and ten horses, the property of Messrs. Cobb and Co., arrived in town last evening at about seven o’clock. The coaches, which are capable of containing ten passengers each, are intended to be run between Dalby and Toowoomba, and they will start for the latter place to-day. Both coaches and horses appear to be of an excellent class and well suited for the work. Mr. H. Barnes, a gentleman who had the control of one of the New South Wales routes, and who appears to have given general satisfaction to the public and his employers, has been appointed to the management of the Queensland branches. The coaches intended to be run between Ipswich and Brisbane will arrive shortly, and will be turned out in first-class style. The contract time for this route is three hours, but it is intended to perform the journey in less time if possible. (2)
Two of Cobb and Co.’s coaches arrived by the Diamantina, from Sydney. They are large and well-finished vehicles, capable of carrying thirty passengers, are a great improvement on the style of coaches hitherto in use in the colony. (3)
These “Yankee” coaches, as they were called, cost about £600 each, a fantastically high price in those days, but it was immediately demonstrated that they were worth every penny of it. Where the heavy coaches of the day bumped and jolted their way slowly over the rutted roads, giving the passengers a terrific shaking, the lighter coaches with their improved suspension, travelled much faster and more comfortably for the passengers. True, sometimes they rolled somewhat like a ship at sea, but for the passengers they opened up a new era of travel.
So, the passengers from Brisbane to Ipswich rode in these Yankee coaches before they boarded a train to Grandchester and they did so again if they wanted to travel further on from Granchester to Toowoomba.
As the construction of the railway line pushed further on, the line to Gatton opened on 1st June 1866, and Helidon opened on 1st August 1866. When it reached Toowoomba, opening on 1st May 1867, it marked the end of the coach services on the Ipswich to Toowoomba route.
Cobb & Co coaches stopping running between Ipswich and Brisbane in 1875. By 1911 coaches were being replaced by motor vehicles. The last horse-drawn coach ran between Yuelba and Surat ran on 14th August 1924.
Other coaches however, certainly did pass through, or pass by Rosewood.
From the 1850’s there were well established coaching routes between Brisbane and Ipswich and further on to Toowoomba and Drayton (then the principal town/capital of the Darling Downs).
Mail and passengers were carried by two wheeled drays or four wheeled spring carts which, although not in the same league as the new Cobb & Co coaches, were still referred to as “coaches”. Enterprising individuals ran passenger services and parcel services in opposition to the mail coaches. In 1858 Joseph Booth ran a mail cart twice a week between Drayton to Ipswich. Joseph Cook from Gatton took over in December 1860. In 1864, there is mention of a mail coach from Ipswich having an accident between the Seven Mile Creek and Rosewood. The passengers were returned to Ipswich and the mail was forwarded on horseback. In the 1920’s Mr. James Uprichard ran a mail coach between Rosewood and Rosevale. Other examples, I’m sure, can be found.
The Cobb & Co Heritage Park in Rosewood, which houses a wonderful replica of a Cobb & Co coach, is a great asset to our town. Even though Rosewood was not a staging post on the Cobb & Co route, it is one of three locations which were designated by the Ipswich City Council as “Staging Posts” i.e. a place to stop, refresh and explore as part of the Cobb & Co Tourist Drive. The other locations are Forrest Hill and Gatton. The coach’s installation on 24th September 2011 was part of the Ipswich City Council’s plans to revitalise the Cobb & Co Tourist Drive between Ipswich and Toowoomba.
August 2024 will mark 100 years since Cobb & Co last ran in Queensland.
© Jane Schy, 2024
References:
(1) Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser (Toowoomba), Saturday 21 October 1865, page 3
(2) Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, Saturday 25 November 1865, page 3
(3) Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, Saturday 30 December 1865, page 3
Cobb & Co Coaching in Queensland – Deborah Tranter – Published by Queensland Museum
Trove – National Library Australia
Photo at top: The replica Cobb & Co Coach in William Street on the day of its installation at Cobb & Co Heritage Park.