The old stagecoach has been pushed off the roads by the motor, but the ghosts of the romantic past will ever linger. Explore the beginnings of the 'American Telegraph Line of Coaches' that became Cobb and Co. John Murray Peck, Freeman Cobb, James Swanton, and John Lamber, as partners, originated Cobb and Co. on the Bendigo road on January 1, 1854—the famous coaching firm whose name and fame afterwards spread all over the five Australian mainland states.
Venture on a journey through the era of coaching, the delivery of Her Majesty's mail, and the advent of the 'iron horse' as you traverse The Great Northern Road, the route from Sydney to Brisbane. Delight in the company of the skilled and brave 'whip' (driver) as you make an extended stop in and around Tenterfield, where coaches were often 'bailed up' and robbed by bushrangers.
The bushranger most associated with Tenterfield in the late sixties and 1870 was Fred Ward, known as Thunderbolt. He was an old 'Cockatoo' bird and one of the few prisoners who escaped from that gruesome island. The escape was effected on September 11, 1863, and Ward had for a companion in his flight a fellow convict named Britten.
Included are tales of adventure, gold rushes, bushrangers, brave pioneers, drought, death, and flood. Cobb and Co. represent "a romance almost as old as Queensland itself, the romance of the famous coaching days of Australia—brave men and horses that made the bush ring with the rattle, trot, trot, clicketty clack of iron-shod wheel and hoof."
Venture on a journey through the era of coaching, the delivery of Her Majesty's mail, and the advent of the 'iron horse' as you traverse The Great Northern Road, the route from Sydney to Brisbane. Delight in the company of the skilled and brave 'whip' (driver) as you make an extended stop in and around Tenterfield, where coaches were often 'bailed up' and robbed by bushrangers.
The bushranger most associated with Tenterfield in the late sixties and 1870 was Fred Ward, known as Thunderbolt. He was an old 'Cockatoo' bird and one of the few prisoners who escaped from that gruesome island. The escape was effected on September 11, 1863, and Ward had for a companion in his flight a fellow convict named Britten.
Included are tales of adventure, gold rushes, bushrangers, brave pioneers, drought, death, and flood. Cobb and Co. represent "a romance almost as old as Queensland itself, the romance of the famous coaching days of Australia—brave men and horses that made the bush ring with the rattle, trot, trot, clicketty clack of iron-shod wheel and hoof."
Thank you for your interest in letting Australian history 'speak for itself.' By purchasing this book, you contribute directly to my ongoing efforts to uncover and preserve the rich tapestry of our nation's past, ensuring that future generations can learn from and appreciate the stories that have shaped our country.