For 70 years from the 1850s to the 1920s, Cobb & Co. coaches were a principle means of transport in the colonies of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Settlers moving inland, new immigrants hopeful of success on the gold fields, shearers, agents, squatters, children and their parents—everyone used Cobb & Co. stage coaches to move, as efficiently as was possible, around the colonies.
In 1853 two Americans, Freeman Cobb and George Mowton, were sent to Melbourne to set up an international freight service for their employer Adams Express, an American freight company that had greatly profited from the Californian gold rush.
However, they soon found that demand was not for international freight; it was for transport within the colony—specifically to the gold fields. Melbourne at the time was little more than a frontier town, growing rapidly and without direction. Disorder and lack of infrastructure characterised the town. Roads were so bad that Mowton soon returned to California, convinced that the difficulties of doing business in such a place outweighed any opportunity.
Cobb stayed. Despite the obstacles presented by the environment and the poor roads, he saw the possibilities—thousands of people were streaming into Melbourne daily, all wanting to go north to the gold fields. Together with John Peck, James Swanton (who had been sent to Melbourne by Adams' competitor Wells Fargo) and John Lamber, they started their own business focused on passenger coach services. They called themselves 'the boys' (their average age was just 22) and ran their new venture in a hands-on way.
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Even larger numbers of people, many of whom lived in remote country towns, stations or settlements, relied on Cobb & Co.'s mail delivery services. Coaches brought essential supplies, news from home and a sense of connection to others in what was perceived as a distant and inhospitable land. Cobb & Co. routes were seen as a lifeline to isolated communities and a means of taming the vastness of Australia.