In 1863 – two years after Cobb & Co began its coach service in the goldfields of Otago – a Cobb & Co coach rumbled into Christchurch for the first time – from Timaru.
With surveyor [Sir] Arthur Dudley Dobson finding a suitable passage from the Canterbury Plains to the West Coast the following year – known today as Arthur’s Pass – Cobb & Co made its first journey to the West Coast goldfields (from Christchurch) in 1866, carrying only one passenger – William Sefton Moorhouse, Canterbury’s then current Superintendent.
Cobb and Co. was born in Melbourne, Australia with the arrival of an American-based coach service ‘Wells and Fargo’ by ex-employee John Peck in 1854. His meeting up with other Americans who knew the coach business, (one being Freeman Cobb) led to Cobb and Co. being established. This service arrived in New Zealand with Charles Cole, who had worked for Cobb & Co. before his arrival in New Zealand in 1861.
Christchurch’s Cobb and Co. booking office was sited at the Triangle Corner on Cashel and High Street. Now known as the Triangle Centre, Cashel Mall.
For a more in depth look at Cobb & Co, please check out the following link: http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/cobb-co/
For a more in depth look at Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson, please check out the following link: http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/sir-arthur-dudley-dobson-1841-1934/
