Travel between towns and districts was slow and difficult when Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859.

Cobb & Co Coach and Buggy Builders, Charleville, 1900. This factory was opened in 1888. Collection of the Queensland Museum, Cobb+Co.

Collection of the Queensland Museum, Cobb+Co

Cobb & Co routes, Queensland 1885

QLD
Australia
1 January 1885
2 August 2010
2 August 2010

Location

QLD
Australia
Brisbane
1:3421440

Coach routes indicated by a double line. The transport routes in Queensland were already established in 1885. North-south transport along the coast was by steamship. Railway lines headed west from Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville. Cobb & Co took over where the rails stopped, linking western towns like Cunnamulla, Charleville, Tambo and Winton.  A “trip out” to a town like Winton became more uncomfortable the closer the traveller came to the destination; from the relative comfort of a bunk on a steamer, to the relative comfort of a railway carriage, to the cramped, rolling discomfort of dusty coach travel. Railway construction was already heading to Charleville (1888) and Longreach (1892) which would become major centres for Cobb & Co. The company moved its coach factory from Brisbane to Charleville in 1888.  Map of Queensland, Compiled & Lithographed from Official Maps, Brisbane, 1885. Collection of the National Library of Australia.

Cobb & Co's 'Royal Mail' Coach, Richmond, north Queensland, A.E. (Ted)  Richards, driver, 1906. Collection of Queensland Museum, Cobb+Co.

 Collection of Queensland Museum, Cobb+Co

There is often no road and the coach is taken at random through the forest… But the great miracle is the sudden pinches, looking as if they were almost perpendicular, do

Floor plan and drawing of a popular style of Queenslander house found throughout Queensland. The house, set on stumps, made its transportation possible.

Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland image hch00019

This estate map advertised 191 allotments in the Townsville suburb of Hermit Park in 1884. Many houses from the gold fields town of Charters Towers were moved to Hermit Park after 1917.

Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland image 758683

The laboratory is moved to a new location at the Pioneer Sugar Mill, Brandon, 70 kilometres south-east of Townsville, 1965. Sugar train engines in the foreground. Slide by Beth Snewin, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland.

Copyright Beth Snewin and Centre for the Government of Queensland

Queensland's wooden buildings are transportable. One truck moves the old laboratory at the Pioneer Sugar Mill in Brandon, 70 kilometres south-east of Townsville, 1965. Slide by Beth Snewin, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland.

Copyright Beth Snewin and Centre for the Government of Queensland

The architecture throughout Queensland enables many buildings to be relocated. Two trucks take away the Commonwealth Savings Bank in Barcaldine, 1961. Slide by Gladys Hartland, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland.

Copyright Gladys Hartland and Centre for the Government of Queensland

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