You can find out more about Cobb & Co and places along the Heritage Trail in the book, Cobb & Co Heritage Trail Bathurst to Bourke by Diane de St Hilaire Simmonds.

A fascinating collection of stories and images, the book is full of folk yarns, historical detail and personal accounts that illustrate Cobb & Co’s widespread influence throughout the region.

Australian history throughout colonial and Victorian times is full of colour. It takes in an era of goldrushes, bushrangers and pastoral expansion, as well as the growth of the pioneering spirit and its place in Australian legend. Cobb & Co became famous during the late 1800s for its horse and coach transport network across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, providing gold escorts, mail services, passenger and freight lines to the towns and settlements scattered over the land.

The Bathurst to Bourke Cobb & Co Heritage Trail largely follows old coaching routes established by Cobb & Co during the 19th Century. As you travel these roads today, you can imagine yourself back in the past – hear the cracking of whips, tramping of hoofs and the churning of wheels along dusty tracks; smell the sweat of the horses and the scent of eucalyptus leaves stirred up by the passage of the coach. Although times have changed and you can voyage along these roads in relative comfort nowadays, it doesn’t take much to conjure up the excitement and romance of journeying in another era.

The Bathurst to Bourke Heritage Trail recalls the exciting times of Cobb & Co back in the 19th Century, before the telephone or the internet, when the Royal Mail Coach was the main link that settlers had with distant towns. Innovative and adaptable, the company was at the forefront of inland expansion and played a vital role in developing transport as well as social and communications networks across eastern Australia.