Cobb & Co was an Australian transport company using stagecoach

Cobb and Co is the name of an Australian transportation company. It was prominent in the late 1800s when it operated stagecoaches to many areas in the outback and at one point in several other countries, as well. It was established in 1853 by four Americans (Freeman Cobb, John Murray Peck, James Scanlon and James A. Lamber), but only rose to prominence when bought by James Rutherford and several partners in 1858.

Rutherford's partners included Alexander William Robertson, John Wagner, Walter Russell Hall, William Franklin Whitney and Walter Bradley. Rutherford re-organised and extended the Victorian services and secured a monopoly on the mail contracts.

Cobb and Co's operations were eventually superseded by the development of the automobile and, in some areas, by railways. Their last horse-drawn coach service ran in 1924. The company name has been resurrected in recent years by various operators and horse drawn coaches still operate at various locations throughout Australia. The name stands for "Cobb & company," although the full stop after "Co" is often omitted.

Source: Wikipedia

Below is a list of Cobb & Co references along the Murray River.

Rutherglen

Poachers Paradise formerly The Rutherglen Hotel (1860) Main Street was built as the ‘Golden Ball’. At that time it housed the booking office of the Bevan Coach Line (Cobb & Co) which serviced the Wahgunyah to Melbourne run.

Wahgunyah

Savage Store (1861) Foorde Street. Originally built as the Wahgunyah Hotel, the building was once used as a Cobb & Co (Bevan Coach Line) booking office for a service that ran to Melbourne.

Echuca Moama

Ride around the historic Echuca port area on an original Cobb & Co Coach, a wagonette or carriage with Cobb & Co Horse Drawn Carriages. Rides depart from Murray Esplanade, outside the Carriage Museum. Scenic tours of 1hr duration depart 5, 6, 7 and 8pm. Bookings are essential.

Mathoura

Mathoura relies on the forest and the waterways of the Murray and Edward rivers for much of its industry and recreation. Mathoura was settled in the 1840s and became a staging and resting point for Cobb & Co Coaches. Since the early days the nearby river red gum forests were harvested to supply the paddle steamer trade and later the railways for the supply of sleepers.

Swan Hill

Pioneer Settlement, Horseshoe Bend. Here the visitor can step back in history and relive the experiences of the early settlers in this authentically re-created nineteenth-century town. Visit the old General Store, the bakery, with its oven-fresh goodies, the saddlery store, the blacksmith’s forge, Mallee Motors with its vintage cars, the old post office, bank, apothecary, pottery, Cobb & Co office and railway.

Coorong

Salt Creek was once the location for the ‘Traveller’s Rest’, an inn built in the 1850s, and a coach stop for Cobb & Co. The inn had a violent history. A coach driver named Malachi Martin drove the Kingston-run during the 1850s and fell in love with Nellie Robinson, the inn keeper’s wife. Sometime in 1856 Will Robinson was murdered, supposedly by Malachi Martin, but not proved. Two years later Malachi and Nellie married and ran the inn together. But all did not go well, and Malachi had a disagreement with the kitchen hand, an Irish girl named Jan McMenamin. The disgruntled girl threatened that she would tell the hangman all that she knew about Will Robinson’s death. Sadly that was the last threat she made, as her body was later found stuffed down a wombat hole near Salt Creek. Malachi Martin was tried and convicted for her murder and was hung on Christmas Eve 1862.

Strathalbyn

London House (1867) High Street. The brick building was originally constructed as a general store. There were once Cobb & Co coach stables at the rear.