Festival in Maranoa to celebrate 100 years since last Cobb & Co coach ride

The Maranoa region is preparing to celebrating 100 years since the final Cobb & Co coach service rolled through the dusty outback trails of Australia. Get a sneak peek into the celebrations in store here.

The Maranoa region is preparing to celebrate 100 years since the last Cobb & Co coach service in Australia with a 10-day festival.

The Yuleba Development Group and the Surat & District Development Association have joined together to form the festival committee, and are working hard to pull off this festival with lots in store for locals and tourists.

The Cobb & Co festival will take place between August 16 and August 25.

The Cobb & Co company was a coach service which carried passengers, goods, and mail between towns in regional places and was an integral part of early colonial life in regional Australia.

The final Cobb & Co service ran from Surat to Yuleba in August 1924, with the planned festival to take place in August 2024, to celebrate 100 years since this final service.

Cobb & Co had not been operating in other parts of Australia for a long time, but the isolated nature of the region meant that trains, cars and early planes could not reach the area.

Festival president, Paul Masson said it was “pretty amazing that the coach was running at that time,” considering that Qantas completed their first scheduled passenger and mail flight in November 1922.

Mr Masson said that the aim of the festival was to give people a chance to reflect on the history of the region and give the community a sense of pride.

The Cobb & Co festival encourages attendees to dress up in period attire.

“It’s our history, and we want to put the Maranoa on the map,” he said.

He said he hoped that the festival would attract tourists from across Australia to take part.

While the program has not yet been finalised, Mr Masson said the festival would kick off with a long table dinner in Yuleba on August 16, and will end with a horse and buggy convoy travelling from Surat to Yuleba over the course of a weekend.

The festival includes a pilgrimage from Surat to Yuleba, which was the final Cobb & Co service coach route in Australia.

A brand new horse-drawn coach is currently being built on the Sunshine Coast, which will be able to seat 80 people. It will be drawn by three teams of five horse, which will be rotated every 10km.

While it might not be the most efficient way to travel the distance, Mr Masson said that this new coach would be used in years to come to give future festival goers a glimpse into the past.

This part of the Maranoa’s history has been celebrated before, but Mr Masson said that he hoped this 100-year milestone helps kick off festival celebrations on a larger scale for many years to come, generating more tourism for the area well into the future.

The Cobb & Co festival has commissioned a song by Josh Arnold, a well known country singer in the region.

Still nine months out, the festival already has a lot prepared. The festival committee has commissioned a song called Cobb & Co Country by country musician Josh Arnold, and commemorative postcards and calendars from Laura Rutherford, who is a descendant of Cobb & Co governing director, James Rutherford. Mr Masson said they also hoped that a special coin would be minted in commemoration of the historically significant occasion.

Mr Masson said he his very excited for the festival, and is hoping that attendees will wear period clothes and immerse themselves in the history of the region.

The festival will be a great occasion for the Maranoa community to come together, and showcase their history and culture while generating tourism in the area.