Cobb & Co mail and passenger coach

Horsedrawn vehicle, Cobb & Co mail and passenger coach, timber / metal / leather, made by Cobb & Co Coach and Buggy Factory, Charleville, Queensland, Australia, 1890.
A Cobb & Co mail and passenger coach. The body of the coach is wooden with no glass in the doors or windows. One half of the coach has been restored and repainted in the New South Wales Cobb & Co livery of red and straw. The other side has been left in its original condition, and the remnants of red and yellow paint can be seen on this side. Inside the wooden body of the coach are solid wooden bench seats facing each other. Each bench seat could accommodate three people and would once have been upholstered in thinly padded buff leather. Also missing are the black duck window blinds which were usually rolled up and secured by two leather straps. At the front of the coach is the driver's box seat. A metal scaffold to hold a folding canvas hood can be seen over the box seat. On either side of the driver's box seat is a strong lever brake. Behind the box seat, on top of the carriage roof, is a low iron railing for luggage. A metal ladder can be hooked over the railing to aid access to the rooftop. There is a compartment (the fore boot) under the driver's box seat with a hinged wooden door at the front. There is also another compartment (the hind boot) comprising a hinged wooden platform that extends from the body of the coach and is suspended by leather straps and chains. Luggage carried here was protected by a canvas cover (now missing) and the triangular leather gussets on either side of the platform. On either side, the body of the coach is fitted with brackets to hold candle lamps. There is also an acetylene lamp in the centre front of the coach above the box seat. The body of the coach is fixed to a wood and metal chassis that has been painted yellow. Two large wagon wheels can be seen attached to the axle at the back of the chassis and two smaller wheels are attached to the axle at the front of the chassis. The wheels have also been painted yellow. A long wooden shaft bolts onto the front of the chassis, and there are also a double swingle and two single swingles. The swingles, which allowed horses to be hitched to the coach when in use, are wooden with metal attachments.