Cobb & Co. lives on
The Cobb & Co. name was kept alive by the Company's last secretary Gordon Studdart who continued to operate the Cobb & Co. store in Surat until the 1950s. He gave the Cobb & Co. name to Toowoomba businessman Mr W.R.F (Bill) Bolton. Bill Bolton operated a successful bus and trucking company called Cobb & Co. Transport until his death in 1973.
Bill Bolton collected old Cobb & Co. coaches and other horse drawn vehicles for his private museum as well as a vast array of archival material including interviews of old Cobb & Co. employees. Many of the coaches, carriages and wagons were restored by Ferguson's coachworks in Russell Street Toowoomba prior to the opening of Mr Bolton's private museum in 1965.
After a fire ravaged the museum in 1981, the collection was donated to the Queensland Museum by Banks Pty. Ltd. in June 1982.
The Queensland Museum opened its Cobb & Co. museum Branch in 1987 on the site of the old Toowoomba Showgrounds. The Museum now houses the National Carriage Collection of more than 50 horse drawn vehicles, including 28 from the original Bolton Collection. The Museum continues as a research and information centre on horse drawn vehicles and the heritage trades associated with the era of the horse.
As part of the Queensland Heritage Trails Network, the cobb+co Museum expanded in 2001 to incorporate galleries dealing with the Toowoomba region's history and wildlife, aboriginal culture, and temporary exhibitions. Stage Three is now on the drawing boards. This will include a new vehicle gallery and community workshop to complement the blacksmith and saddler shops. Also included are expanded multicultural and indigenous galleries and outdoor activity spaces, a library and community resource centre, additional offices, a new parenting room and disabled toilets.
