Backward Glance – Changing times

In 1867 gold was discovered in Gympie.

It transformed Queensland’s history, fortunes and landscape, and saved Queensland from the worst effects of the 1866 economic depression.

English prospector James Nash was fossicking when he struck gold.

He made the history books – the town was originally called Nashville after him, but later renamed Gympie.

It is known as ‘the town that saved Queensland’.

News travelled quickly, which sparked a gold rush as eager miners turned the Gympie region from an isolated township into a thriving community.

People were employed in a range of professions, such as storekeepers, bakers, saddlers and a very important trade at the time, blacksmiths.

Within a matter of months there were over 25,000 people on the Gympie gold fields.

Prior to the road being built from Brisbane, people arrived any way they could.

They walked, pushing their worldly goods in wheelbarrows or carrying sacks on their backs, some by packhorse. Horses were a very important mode of transportation.

If they could afford it, there was a steamer to Maryborough from Brisbane and a rough track to Gympie.

Cobb and Co had taken an interest in a route from Gympie to Maryborough.

It was a one day journey in good weather along rough tracks through the bush.

Johnny Myles, the local Gympie manager of Cobb and Co, advertised a service from Gympie to Maryborough, taking about 12 hours with several stops and changing horses at staging posts.

He also succeeded in getting the mail run for that region.

The Cobb and Co coaches had been designed along American lines and with unsealed dirt tracks, potholes and ruts, typical of Australian terrain, they were successful.

Their success was because Cobb and Co regularly changed strong horses, approximately every 30 kilometres.

This ensured a top speed of about 25 kilometres per hour on decent stretches of track.

The coach design and operation of the service ensured a faster delivery of both passengers, goods and mail in an era before telegraphic technology.

Some fortune seekers followed the route known as Postmans Track, which was a dangerous packhorse route used for early mail service.

This track from Brisbane to Gympie had been inspected in 1867 by Cobb and Co’s Brisbane road manager Mr. Whatmore, who had condemned it.

Cobb and Co shareholder, British born Hiram Barnes, made a further inspection of the track that had been described by Whatmore as impossible.

Starting in the afternoon, Hiram Barnes pulled up at Tom Petrie’s place on the Pine River, where he was welcomed and stayed the night.

The next day, after a thorough inspection of creeks and swampy patches along the route, he reached the Grigor’s at Bankfoot House in the Glass House Mountains.

There was plenty of rough country ahead, which started after the boggy grounds near Mooloolah, but Barnes described it as not too difficult.

The worst part was crossing the Maroochy River where James Low had set up a business with stables close by.

The crossing of the Bottle and Glass Mountain towards Belli Creek required strong horses, as the region was a mountainous area requiring the strength of six horses.

Due to the difficult terrain, a rest stop was needed close by.

Continuing north to the Eumundi-Kenilworth region, then onto Tuchekoi, they needed a horse change and meal stop near Coles Creek.

Upon Hiram Barnes’ return to Brisbane, the manager of Cobb and Co advised that as soon as a suitable road was completed, his firm would run regular coach services between Brisbane and Gympie.

On Sunday October 14 this year you have the opportunity to step back in time to the 1860s.

There will be plenty on offer for those interested in the history of this region.

Woombye is celebrating with a Heritage Festival, as the town was significant in the early days of Cobb and Co, from 1868 when Hiram Barnes passed through in his quest to forge a suitable route to Gympie.

Woombye was the halfway point between Brisbane and the Gympie gold fields and was originally called Middle Camp, then later Cobb’s Camp.

Celebrations will take place at Woombye CWA Park from at 11am, Sunday October 14.

The Woombye Heritage Festival will give those attending a taste of the early days with a Cobb and Co Coach to ride in, old time games to enjoy, tea, damper and plenty more.

Middle Camp was significant because it was the only accommodation built by Cobb and Co for passengers along the route between Brisbane and Gympie.

Middle Camp Inn and its surrounding buildings soon became known as Cobb's Camp Hotel.

In 1881, Frederick Schubert took charge of the Cobb’s Camp Hotel and purchased 160 acres of land, which included all Cobb & Co's land and buildings.

In the 1880s, the courthouse was built near the police station.

The existing name Cobb's Camp was considered unsuitable by the government as there were already many places with that name, so the name was changed to Woombye.

Celebrations will also take place on October 14 from 10am at Bankfoot House, on Old Gympie Road.

This year marks the 150 year anniversary of the founding of Bankfoot House by pioneers William and Mary Grigor.

Established as the lunch stop and staging post for the Cobb & Co coaches on route from Brisbane to the Gympie goldfields, it also served as the post office, accommodation house and supply store for the Glass House region.

There will be a free shuttle bus operating from 9.30am – 3.30pm to bring you to the celebrations at Bankfoot House. The bus leaves from Glass House Mountains Railway Station.

Enjoy the day, take the kids and step back to a time when Hiram Barnes decided to give it a go and declared that the road from Brisbane to Gympie was possible.

Thanks to Sunshine Coast Council’s Heritage Library Officers for the words and Picture Sunshine Coast for the images.

Image details

Hero image: Cobb & Co coach in Woombye during the re-enactment run in Queensland's Centenary year 1959

Image 1:BankfootHouse and outbuildings, ca 1957

Image 2: Staff in front of Thomas McClintock's blacksmith shop, Blackall Street, Woombye, ca 1902

Image 3: Methodist Church, Woombye, ca 1898

Image 4: Cobb and Co Coach No 100 travelling along the old coach route on Old Gympie Road near Glass House Mountains re-enacting the early days of coach travel through the district for the Queensland Centenary of Separation from the State of New South Wales celebrations, ca 1959

Image 5:Cobb & Co coach at Woombye as part of the Queensland Centenary year celebrations in 1959

Image 6: Moving the Mellum Club Hotel to be closer to the railway trade from Old Gympie Road to Cribb Street, Landsborough, ca 1914