The Royal Australian Mint has released a commemorative $1 coin to honour the Cobb & Co coaches that kept Australia connected during its pioneering years.
The coin immortalises the final Cobb & Co coach run from Surat to Yuleba in Queensland, 100 years ago on August 14, 1924.
Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh, was at a former Cobb & Co resting stop - The Carrington Inn in Bungendore - to launch the coin on Wednesday.
During the 19th century, Bungendore was an important stop for stagecoaches travelling between Sydney and the goldfields in the southern regions of NSW and Victoria.
At the time, people also travelled from Bungendore to the Molonglo Plains, which was evolving into what today is known as Canberra.
"Premier transport company Cobb & Co became a true pioneer of Australian travel in a time when passage through the country was notoriously uncomfortable," Mr Leigh said.
"The famous coach service left its mark from Victoria to tropical north Queensland. Its network of routes crisscrossed the eastern states of Australia, from North Queensland to Melbourne and across to Adelaide. It also ran coaches in Western Australia.
"But with industrialisation, large mail carrying companies became obsolete and the update of radio and telephone communications connected towns hundreds of miles apart. The coaching days were over.
"This coin is the Mint's classic story telling at its best."
The Carrington Inn owner Richard Graham, has extensively researched Cobb & Co and its impact on travel in hard-to-reach areas as Australia was opening up to travel.
"The Lord Carrington Inn (the original name) would have been a bright spot at the time for a coaching station," he said.
"Being new, offering seven bedrooms with fireplaces, an indoor kitchen and social room, a water pump well just outside the bedrooms, and of course a blacksmith next door, for Cobb & Co the Carrington would have been perfect for its patrons."
The 2024 $1 uncirculated coin - Cobb & Co - Centenary of the Last Coach Service in Australia is $17.50 and is available for purchase through the following channels:
- Mint Contact Centre on 1300 652 020 from 8.30am Thursday, August 1.
- From participating authorised distributors
- Registration for the EQL ballot closes at 8.30am on Thursday, August 1. The draw will take place immediately following the ballot and successful entrants notified by email. To register for the ballot, visit the Mint at www.ramint.gov.au.
