Who was Cecil Edward Search?

The original firm of Cobb and Co. was established by a group of Americans who called themselves “the boys” - Freeman Cobb, John Muray Peck, James Swanton, and John B. Lamber. They wasted no time setting up business when they arrived in Melbourne, in 1853. Thousands of Americans immigrated to Australia during the 1850s, which was then producing one third of the world’s gold.  

For Cobb, Peck, Swanton, and Lamber, there was a fortune to be made by establishing a carrying business, capitalising on the rush by providing the much-needed service of ferrying goods and people between the fields and Melbourne. Familiar with this operation from the gold rushes in California, Cobb brought two concord wagons with him when he immigrated.  

In 1854, a legend was born when the first Cobb and Co coach departed from Collins Street in Melbourne, for the mining frontier at Forest Creek, near Bendigo. The company rapidly built a well-regarded reputation, that would soon cement it as the greatest single coaching enterprise in Australia’s history.  

While there were other versions of coaches and horse drawn transport in play, Cobb and Co worked in a progressive and innovative spirit, employing high quality equipment and revolutionary methods not yet seen in Australia. Their coaches were crucial instruments in expanding the colonial settlement, raking in mass profits for their service to pioneers. 

It wasn’t long before the “the boys”, now boasting hefty fortunes, retired and returned to America. The company was officially sold in 1856, and the following five years were marked by rapid change and expansion, with numerous new routes emerging and changing industry conditions.  

The business model changed too, shifting to a model of loosely connected firms run by individual proprietors using the name Cobb and Co. This proliferation firmly established the businesses ‘brand’ within the industry, so much so that ‘going by Cobb’ became synonymous with travelling by coach.  

This all changed in 1861, when the young American James Rutherford, came into ownership of the firm through an entrepreneurial syndicate. Rutherford’s appointment as General Manager was immediate and under his direction, Cobb and Co reduced their operating expenses and expanded their services, all while maintaining a reputation for quality, efficiency, and reliability.  

Eventually, services expanded, and new ones were formed to reach even further west and north, connecting some of Queensland’s most remote outposts. The Queensland drivers were well regarded for their skill and expertise, as well as personable pluck and larrikinism, all of which were credited following bail-ups from bushrangers or in dealing with unfortunate weather. 

In 1871, the discovery of gold in Charters Towers led to rapid expansion and development across regional north-Queensland. As with earlier rushes in Gympie, prospectors, miners, and entrepreneurs flocked to Charters Towers in hope of finding gold, and transport networks followed. 

By 1893 the Charleville factory replaced Bathurst as Cobb and Co.’s headquarters, and operations were more centralised to Queensland. At one point in time, half a dozen coach routes centred at Charleville, with arrival and departure times throughout the day keeping everyone busy.  

In Coaching in Australia : a history of the coaching firm of Cobb & Co. with guide to the present coaching routes in Queensland, William Lees declared

“there were no harder worked men than Cobb and Co.’s drivers in the outside districts of Queensland, as they often have to drive with half-broken horses over half-made tracks, cutting in and out of the bush with nerve and wrists of iron”. 

For these remote outposts, the arrival of a coach would at times have been the only contact made with the outside world all week. It was a highly anticipated event, with residents rushing to meet the coach upon hearing the driver play his bugle, signalling he had arrived. 

In some ways, the location and frequency of transport routes guided colonial development, making remote settlement not only possible, but desirable and enjoyable. The Cobb and Co. routes extended beyond railway developments, relying on systems of regular horse changing stations around 20kms along each route.  

By the turn of the century, Cobb and Co. operated 39 routes in Queensland, traversing over 31,000km with the help of some 9,000 horses each week. The company bred their own horses on some of the pastoral properties they acquired across Queensland.  

During the early 1900s, the expansion of the railway system and emergence of motor vehicles diminished the need for coach travel across Queensland. James Rutherford passed away in 1911, and by this point Cobb and Co. were investing in motor vehicles. 

Following the end of the First World War, motor vehicles and aircraft were increasingly responsible for passenger transport services across the country and permanent Air Mail services were established. By the middle of 1924, the run from Yuleba to Surat, on the Brisbane-Charleville line, was the only Cobb and Co. service still in operation. 

On 14 August 1924, Cobb and Co.’s last service ran on this line, travelling the 75km to Yuleba from Surat. Search was not only present for this run, but helped prepare the coach for departure, which signalled the end of Australia’s Coaching Age. 

As a medium, watercolour dominated the early art historical landscape in Australia, borne out of a desire to record botanical, zoological, topographical, and social subjects related to European exploration and settlement. Often, these documentary works were imbued with a sense of civic pride and the colony’s burgeoning prosperity. 

Requiring only a few materials, watercolour painting lent itself well to amateurs or travelling practitioners, such as military officers, explorers, and self-trained artists.  Most successful watercolourists are also skilled draughtsman, with both mediums respected for their ability to record fine detail and realistic subjects.

Amateur artists such as Search would have been heavily reliant on imported quality art paper, at times reduced to using scraps or as an example in our collection shows, the back side of paintings already completed.  

During the late 19th century, artists faced difficulties sourcing adequate green paints, forced to mix their own from blue and yellow pigments or to rely on fugitive greens, that were prone to fade, darken, or change hue when exposed to sunlight.  It’s likely Search experienced this issue, with some of his depictions of greenery appearing dull and muted, comparatively to the other rich hues within the landscape.

These excerpts of urban landscapes painted by Search in the 1880’s, provide naive depictions of burgeoning rural life in north-western Queensland. Search’s paintings provide a uniquely first-hand perspective of a period where these landscapes underwent significant growth and change, largely due to the expansion of transport networks such as Cobb and Co.   

The immediacy and portability afforded by the medium, lent itself to Search’s itinerant lifestyle, allowing him to document ordinary scenes of 19th century life, which now provide a historic record. Search was described by his contemporaries as ‘an artist of some note’ and his daughter Dorothy, would go on to sell some of his works at various fairs and fetes over the years. He was part of a growing cohort of amateur artists in Australia at the turn of the century, which eventually led to the establishment of The Australian Watercolour Institute in 1923, and various other smaller societies and schools. 

Search’s artistic interests featured consistently throughout his life, aside from producing watercolour works and sketches, he was an active member of the Charleville School of Arts and noted as visiting exhibitions in Brisbane by the Arts and Crafts Society.  

Cecil Edward Search traded dreary skies for dusty plains, finding independence, a family, and an artistic outlet through his lifelong association with Cobb and Co.  

His watercolour landscapes frame more than burgeoning urban development, illustrating his extraordinary story living and working within communities across rural Queensland.  

They are currently on display as part of our free Extraordinary Stories exhibition on Level 4 at State Library of Queensland.