Adec Preview Generated PDF File - The Sydney eScholarship ...

Sources located during my research indicate the two initial routes to Mount
Browne were from Wilcannia via Cobham Lake and from Bourke via
Wanaaring. Map 5 shows the route from Wilcannia.
Cobb & Co, and 'Messrs. Hammat and Kidman' competed with Morrison
Brothers in the operation of coaches to the diggings from Wilcannia. Both
Cobb and Co and Morrison Brothers despatched 'pioneer coaches' from
Wilcannia on Saturday March 5, 1881. (The Wilcannia Times, 10 March
1881:2 and The Sydney Morning Herald 12 March 1881:6» The first to
depart was Morrison Brothers 'at half-past five o'clock', with Cobb & Co
leaving an hour later.
The two hundred mile route traversed country which was virtual desert.
Water was available only at a few locations along it, and several long
sandy stretches had to be traversed. The Sydney Morning Herald (10
February 1881:5) said that 'stages of from forty to fifty miles without water
have been encountered in the course of the journey'. The road was
described in the most dire terms in most newspaper accounts, and on
March 28, 1881 the Sydney Morning Herald published a telegram from
Wilcannia handed to them by the Under-Secretary for Mines. This telegram
stated:
'There is not any water on the road from Cobham Lake to Mount
Brown. Two men nearly perished on that road but were fortunately
picked up. In another week there will be no water between Cobham
Lake and Milperinka (sic), a distance of thirty-four miles along a very
heavy sandy road. Foot travellers will certainly perish unless they
carry water.'
As mentioned earlier a correspondent was also despatched to Mount
Browne about this time by the Melbourne Age. He travelled by Morrison
Brothers coach, having been warned that against four days by Morrisons,
Cobb and Co's last trip had taken eight or nine days to complete the
journey with the passengers walking most of the way. The Age's
correspondent described the road and standards of accommodation along
the way in colourful terms. The hotels were referred to as the most
wretched apologies for houses of accommodation, with guests' wants
being attended-to 'with an incessant growling'. (The Age, 27 April 1881).
Another route, that from Bourke to Mount Browne via Wanaaring, was also
used from the beginning of the rush, but as far as has been ascertained,
only by individuals and by the coaches of Morrison Brothers. Morrison
Brothers commenced operations from Bourke on March 2, 1881, charging
ten pounds for a one-way ticket. (Sydney Morning Herald, March 1,
1881:3) According to the Wilcannia Times this coach actually left Bourke
on March 3, arrived at Wanaaring on Saturday March 5, and left there the
next morning. Mr. Malcolm Morrison was the driver, and the coach had
with it a number of spare horses. The Times' correspondent at Wanaaring
reported that the distance involved was two hundred and seventy miles,
and that 'The greatest difficulty will be after they pass Sir Samuel Wilson's