Friends had recommended to us a ride on a Cobb & Co Coach - and we had found out that the last run of the season was on Friday - hence our haste to get here. We had booked on the last coach of the season - and considered ourselves extremely fortunate to gain a seat. The coaches are run by Kinnon and Co, a family run business that diversified into tourism after a drought in around 2006 nearly sent them to the wall. Richard Kinnon has expanded the business into so much more than a Coach Ride. Part history lesson, part adrenaline ride, we signed up for the full deal.
The Cobb and Co coaching empire at its peak had a network of runs across the eastern part of Australia, from Normanton in the gulf to Victoria. With some 60 000 horses travelling some 45 000km per week, it was an incredible network, that was started by a young man (he was 19) who came to the Goldfields to make his fortune and realised that digging for gold was a pretty hit and miss way to achieve it. He did recognise however that there was a desperate need for transportation. His business model is now called franchising, and it made young Mr Cobb extremely rich, however he lost all his money gambling on river boats in the United States - and the business slowly folded in the early 20th century due in no small part to another enterprise that started just down the road - as we shall come to later.
The boys check out our fine steeds for the morning's ride.
And we're off, on the old coach road.
Whilst the coaches look like the real deal, they are not, with a modern steel chassis and steel wheels supporting us. What hasn't changed is the smell, dust and feel of the ride. Seatbelts? Illegal on any horse drawn vehicle in the world. It sure felt as real as we wanted for our 45 minute ride. It was plenty long enough to get an idea that travel in yesteryear was anything but comfortable or glamorous.
The horses proceeded at a brisk trot - and in this manner the coaches would cover up to 50 miles, before a change of horses allowed the coach to continue another 50 miles in the course of a day. In this country they even ran the coaches at night to escape the heat as obstacles were relatively few. The only time the driver was allowed to gallop the horses was to escape a storm, and then only in half mile or 800 metre bursts. Sure enough we had a 'storm' brewing on our ride - and we took off for town - only it was 40 degrees and there was a howling headwind. The horses did exceptionally well in these conditions - and pulled up back at the yard looking as fit as ever.
A short video of our ride
I loved every minute of the ride - and for me this coach ride had been a real joy. Having once been taken by a very tolerant and quiet Shetland Pony in harness for a trot 'up and back', I appreciate there is a real skill in having one horse in harness. A team of four is another thing altogether and the display of horsemanship by this working team left me more than a little in awe of not just the Kinnon boys, but also the thousands of people who worked these fine animals in the past. To say I was thrilled with this ride would have been an understatement.
After getting back and giving the team a good pat, we were entertained by a short play based on another local character of the area, Mr Harry Redford, also known as Captain Starlight. Famous for pulling off one of the most daring cattle thefts in history, he walked over 1400 head of cattle through this area after stealing them from Bowen Downs Station, and sold them in South Australia. This journey through the centre of the country was undertaken only 9 years after Burke and Wills died on their attempt to cross the continent - and was imortalised in Rolf Bolderwood's classic book 'Robbery Under Arms'. When the long arm of the law finally caught up with Mr Redford, a jury found him 'Not Guilty - as long as he returns the cattle'. The magistrate was most flabbergasted by this verdict and asked the jury to reconsider. The jury reconsidered, and found him 'Not Guilty - and he can keep the cattle'!
And so we found ourselves that evening on the Thomson River (best water in Australia as there is no 'p' in it) and cruising on the "Thomson Belle" paddle steamer as the sun sank below the horizon. The setting was timeless as we passed ancient Coolibah and Melaleuca trees and pelicans herding fish.
We were entertained into the evening with bush poetry and a traditional stockman's dinner. We all thoroughly enjoyed the dry Australian sense of humour that permeated the whole experience. In chatting with Richard Kinnon, he still has cattle - currently on the road droving south as there is no feed or water on his property. He had just received news that his permit to walk them as far south as Goondowindi had been revoked and he still hadn't worked out what he was going to do with them. It was a salient reminder how dry and tough it still is out here in the bush. This was the last ride and show of the season, and now his focus was turning back to his cattle.
It had been a long day, and the Little Helpers were exhausted, but it had been a real highlight of the trip so far, and had far exceeded our expectations. Put it on your bucket list. Now.
The next day we elected for a complete rest day. It was still ferociously hot, so we made use of the Longreach Library for the morning, followed by an afternoon splashing in the pool at the Caravan Park. The park had over 500 sites, but there must have been only 30 or so vans parked in it - and only 2 camper trailers... the tourist season here is fast wrapping up as the warmer weather forces everyone back to the coast - or back south!
After our rest day we made our way to the QANTAS Founders Museum. QANTAS, the National Airline was conceived in Cloncurry, born in Winton and nurtured in Longreach into a global airline. We had a fascinating look into the history of the airline, conceived by two mates, McGuinniss and Fysh, Backed by a man in capital and contacts, McMaster and supported by an incredible engineer Baird. It was a story of these men that I was fascinated with, and how they established QANTAS.
The displays in the museum were excellent, however the little people found a flight simulator much more their style. Soon they were flying over WWI France with far more skill and dexterity than I could muster. They even managed to land the damn thing successfully on more than one occasion - avoiding trees and houses. I guess there is a reason I learnt to drive ships instead of aircraft!
It was the story of the men who founded QANTAS I found most intriguing. No small part of their early successes came about because their major backer had no qualms in bailing up the then Prime Minister of Australia to put in place policies to encourage growth of aviation in Australia (and perhaps a bit of luck in QANTAS then winning some of the government mail contracts).
The QANTAS museum showcased how fast the aviation industry has grown and how rapidly the technology has evolved. From the beginnings of the company in the 1920s, with tiny, unreliable aircraft, accidents were common. QANTAS somehow managed to scrape through and continued to grow, and a mere 50 years later was flying around the world in 747 Jumbo Jets.
With the possible exception of computing, it is hard to think of any other industry that has seen so much change in such a short space of time. The advent of cheap airline seats has truly shrunk the world and made so much travel affordable in a way that Cobb and Co and railway engineers of the time couldn't have imagined.
You can go on a tour of a couple of the big jet aircraft, the 707 described as the luxury yacht of the air, and the 747 which made air travel affordable, but we elected that our afternoon would be best spent in the pool. If you're a real aviation buff, it would be interesting, but I found the story behind the men more interesting than the aircraft.
The next day we made our way to the Stockman's Hall of Fame. After pausing by the statue of the Ringer out the front, we made our way inside and immersed ourselves in the Hall of Fame.
With the Ringer ourside the Stockmans Hall of Fame
Inside we found a series of displays from the 'discovery' of Australia by Europeans, how the early explorers charted the continent and then how the country was settled. Stock in the form of sheep and cattle were droved huge distances to new grazing lands and we learnt the story behind many of the people who contributed to the pastoralisation of Australia.
Inside the Stockmans Hall of Fame
The boys particularly liked the interactive displays and short films that were throughout the various galleries. For them, it really brought the stories to life. Many of the stories brought back memories of books I had read in my youth - it was all in all a very worthwhile visit.
We took two boys home who declared they were going to be Stockman when they grow up. It made me chuckle as they were going to be Pilots the day before, and Paleontologists not long before that. It did make me realise that these two fellows have had such an amazing time on our journey, and have been exposed to so many different parts of this country and ways people make a living.
Our last day in Longreach was spent catching up on a bit of maintenance - both of man and machine. 'Salon Matilda' offered haircuts to the boys (all three of us) at a price too good to refuse.
I spent the morning investigating a niggly fault with Matilda. Whilst in Townsville we had the wheel bearings professionally repacked - but ever since I wasn't convinced Matilda's electric brakes were functioning correctly. It was only when up close to the wheels it seemed the magnet on the right wheel wasn't coming on when the brake pedal was applied. I really didn't want to pull the assembly all apart as it was blowing a gale and dust was pervading everything, but a careful inspection revealed the magnet had been put on back-to-front. I was pleased the fault had been easy to identify - and after reassembling it all the brakes worked. Thank goodness it was a simple fix.
All back together and working correctly... phew
And so our time in Longreach drew to a close. We had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in this outback town. That said, it is a town that is struggling with around 40 farms in the district facing foreclosure. The drought offers no easy solutions for many of the families trying to etch out an existance on the land. Said Hanrahan - if it doesn't rain soon, we'll all be rooned!
We hope the region gets some desperately needed rain soon. Whilst everyone ackowledges droughts are a natural part of the Australian landscape, this dry spell is the worst in the past 100 years.
For us, we are heading east. Looking at the map, enticing names such as Saphire, Rubyvale and Emerald hold the promise of some of the best gem fossicking in Australia. It might be just what the Little Geologists need - a bit more hard labour unearthing who knows what riches!
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