2024 $1 Uncirculated Coin -Centenary of Cobb & Co's Last Coach Passenger Service

The last ever Cobb & Co coach service ended its final journey 100 years ago this year, leaving the name Cobb & Co firmly entrenched in Australian folklore. Founded in Victoria in 1853 at the height of the gold rushes, this horse-drawn coach service spread across Eastern Australia, contributing much to opening up the inland to travelers and new settlers.

At the height of the 1850s Victorian gold rush, four newly arrived Americans, Freeman Cobb and three colleagues, saw the opportunity to launch a transport business, using horse-drawn carriages like those in the American west. From that first journey in 1853, Cobb & Co coach routes crisscrossed Eastern Australia, establishing a reputation for speed and reliability.

Although railways progressively connected major towns, Cobb & Co instead linked more distant communities. Horses needed to be changed every 15-25 kilometres at a network of waystations, often inns, directly contributing to the opening of rural Australia.Cobb & Co’s final journey came on 14 August 1924, ending the era of horse-drawn transport in Australia. The reason – the advent of reliable motor vehicles.

That last ever journey, 65 kilometres from Surat to Yuleba in southern Queensland, is commemorated with the Royal Australian Mint’s stunning new $1 collector coin.

Features:
• Coin’s reverse design depicts a stylised scene of a Cobb & Co Coach and passengers as they are about to reach a station, designed by A. Ball

• Coin’s obverse features the obverse of His Majesty King Charles III designed by Dan Thorne

• Limited mintage of 37,500

• Australian legal tender

• Encapsulated coin in presentation card

• Australian legal tender