Today we drive around in luxurious cars, fly around the world in plush aircraft seats and in general we are looked after better than any of the time periods that have come before us. What was it like to ride in an old stagecoach belonged to the historic COBB and CO. and what’s more, could we endure the hardships that come along with the job of transporting passengers from one location to another?

The history of Cobb and Co. coach lines started in Australia by Freeman Cobb and was later taken over by a firm headed by James Rutherford who expanded the company throughout Australia. The coaches were imported from America, and experienced drivers from America were employed as drivers. The changing stations were 25 to 40 kilometers apart where tired coach horses were replaced with fresh ones. The coaches averaged 10 to 12 kilometers per hour over even the longest stages.

The coach itself was very bouncy and the favorite seat was with the driver up on top of the coach. This seat was always fought for because not only was it comfortable but you always had a chance to talk to the driver even if it was out in the open. In pouring rain the leather curtains were pulled on the windows to stop the rain and dust coming inside the coach.

It was a very rough ride and drinkers were known to jab themselves in the eyes while having a drink while other passengers were being gassed to death as the rear horse let one go while careering around a sudden corner.

There was the problem of bush rangers or outlaws that would stop the coach, drag out the passengers who were battered and bruised and relieve them of their wallets and possessions. Women always rode inside the coach where they bounced all over the mail bags and not only did they become unsightly and dirty, they at times were raped and plundered and what’s more they were not entitled to a refund or anything like what we have today.

There was also the problem of the weather. Not only did the driver have to drive the coach from one town to another but if they came across a swollen river they could not cross, it was the driver’s job to piggy back the passengers across the river so they could continue their journey on the coach waiting for them on the other side. Snow, frost and bitter cold were experienced by travelers and when at last they galloped into an inn for the night, they were welcomed to a large fire and a hearty meal and a bed for the night.

At daybreak the coach with fresh horses then carried on no matter what the weather, blinding sand and dust giving away to beating thrashing rain that tumbled and poured down the gulley’s and rivers to quench dry red thirsty earth that had lain in wait for years for this day to come.

A lot of the drivers were of great character and would look after the passengers. They would have unscheduled tea stops where the passengers were treated to hot Billy tea and lashings of damper with a smothering of jam. They also use to quote poetry out in the bush under a setting sun or sing lonely bush songs that were all part of the deal.

With the arrival of the railways, a lot of coach lines were cut and only the lines out to far horizons were kept on to give the traveler a way to get to these remote areas.

I have driven transport all my life but I could not see myself driving coaches as a job. Maybe a mule train or something like that so you could get under the wagon and take cover when the weather set in. I guess they were a different breed then.

While investigating this hub, I examined the top photo opposite finding out that the horse and coach were at the back of the Commercial Hotel at Orange.

I went out there to try and find the exact location and found that the building had been demolished three weeks earlier.

It was a similar set of circumstances with the black and white photo below. The photo was taken in 1879 of the Bank of New South Wales in Scone NSW and the coloured photo was the same place in 2008

Today , around one hundred and fifty years later , after flying across the country we notice that we are jet lagged and our eyes are so tired that you could fall asleep while talking. We dawdle over to the baggage area to find our suit cases have flown to somewhere else on the planet making it impossible to find accommodation. If you were lucky enough to arrive with your baggage, you book into a cheap motel near every airport and lay on the luxurious beds made out of hard setting concrete and fall asleep without dinner. You wake up early in the morning, go out into the corridor to find another zombie walking past complaining that the beds are hard. You go down for breakfast and find that the cost of breakfast is more than the price of the whole flight and it not damper and jam but sealed crackers and spread.

The drivers or pilots as they are called now are still the nice people of the olden days but mention that you want to sit up near the driver and it gets you locked up before you can say "forget it".

All in all , we have progressed in time and getting us to our destinations now a lot quicker but what will it be like in another one hundred and fifty years, will we still be flying or will we be riding in luxurious coaches pulled along by horses once again. brownlickie