The Queensland towns of Surat and Yuleba celebrate a centenary since Cobb & Co’s last run and the teams keeping the tradition alive.
Story + Photos Kate Newsome
It looks like a dress rehearsal for a community play. A uniformed police sergeant sits by a paramedic. Locals who have volunteered to be photographers, caterers or pilot vehicle drivers scribble in notepads and try on fluoro vests. After months of preparation, they’ve wrapped up their final logistics meeting. It’s all systems go for the upcoming behemoth of a production: a festival celebrating 100 years since the last horse-drawn coach run by Cobb & Co in Australia.
A videographer hangs back in the Surat Council Boardroom. He’s waiting for the verdict on whether drone photography will be allowed (to avoid spooking the horses). Arms gesturing over a satellite map on the wall, he describes the route he’ll fly over “the city”. Committee secretary Jennifer Schwennesen can’t help but grin at the suggestion that Surat (population 400) is anything but “a 3-horse town”.
During the Cobb & Co Festival held in August, Surat’s population seems positively cosmopolitan at quadruple its size. Across southern Queensland’s Maranoa region, there’s a detailed program of long-table dinners, markets, concerts and community events that culminates in the weekend’s re-enactment ride of the Cobb & Co Way, from Surat to the “2-horse town” of Yuleba.
This story excerpt is from Issue #157
Outback Magazine: October/November 2024
