ANDREW LEIGH:
Thank you all of you to coming out on this beautiful Bungendore day. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we are meeting today.
Back in 1853, Freeman Cobb, an American migrant to Australia took inspiration from the stagecoaches that had been criss‑crossing his home country to set up Cobb and Co. He did so with 3 mates and created a stagecoach network that spanned the East Coast. That carried people, packages, sometimes gold, through Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales.
Cobb and Co coaches would travel around 50 miles a day. But the same set of horses wouldn’t do the whole run. Typically they’d change horses every 10 miles or so. At a place just like the Carrington Inn. Chatting to proprietor Richard Graham, who appropriately enough is American‑born, he was telling me that the Carrington Inn was set up with 7 rooms for guests to stay. That showed that they were inspired even then, to be not just the place where the horses could be changed, but also a place where the stagecoach riders could stay the night. Cobb and Co was an extraordinary Australian institution, and it did its final ride on the 14th of August 1924.
So, we’re celebrating this year the centenary of an extraordinary Australian institution, an institution that helped to bring Australians together. That helped to explore new parts of the country. That braved storms and bushrangers, and the vicissitudes of the Australian bush. It’s an extraordinary journey that those Cobb and Co coaches took. A journey that I know my friend and colleague Kristy McBain feels that she’s sometimes pursuing as she drives hither and thither across the important electorate of Eden‑Monaro.
We’re incredibly lucky to have the Australian Mint as an Australian institution, not only producing the coins that we use to buy things, but also telling Australian stories through the process. The Mint has produced so many remarkable Australian coins and I acknowledge the leadership of Leigh Gordon, and how he has looked for new historical stories to include on coins.
This Cobb and Co coin will be a $1 circulating coin available at an affordable price for Australian coin collectors. It gives people a chance to own a little bit of Australian history. A little bit of Australian history that passed through this building, the Carrington Inn.
I want to thank the Mint for all that you’ve done, to Richard Graham and the team for hosting us here at the Carrington Inn today. And I’d encourage all Australians to look out for the Cobb and Co $1 coin, a chance to have a little bit of Australian history right your own pocket.