Photograph

Title

Cobb & Co coach loaded with people (probably from China) and luggage

Description

Photograph believed to be taken of coach in Newstead, near Castlemaine on its way to Fiddlers Creek (later Percydale), near Avoca. Note Chinese style hats on back of coach.

Date

c. 1865 - c. 1871

Place

Australia - Victoria - Newstead

Interpretive description

Four close to original versions of this photograph are extant. The State Library of Victoria holds a glass negative of a print made c1900-1920 and gelatin silver copy of a print loaned in 1931. The Creswick Historical Society holds two postcard prints that were made by E.J. Semmens from an original loaned to him possibly by E. Dowie in 1946. Two private collectors in Newstead also hold early postcard print copies of this photograph.

Most printed copies of the photograph have been made from one of the State Library of Victoria copies of the photograph. All copies, but those held at the Creswick Historical Society also have large 'scratches' or 'cracks' running from the top left hand corner to the bottom right hand corner and severe cropping. Captions used tend to loosely follow information available at the State Library of Victoria, however in some cases the photograph appears to have been appropriated for other illustrative purposes.

The overlapping nature of quite specific details about the contents of the photographic image suggests it is of a group of miners, probably Chinese, taken in Newstead on their way to the gold rushes at Percydale or possibly Maryborough c1865-1871. James Flett suggests the photograph, based on an unidentified letter, was taken in Newstead, near Yapeen which he claims contained the largest Chinese community in Victoria. Castlemaine is the nearest large town. One of the State Library of Victoria copies states that the photograph was taken in Castlemaine. Photographs of the Newstead Hotel (which was a stopping point of the Cobb & Co coach line) strongly suggest the building to the left of the coach is the Newstead Hotel. Information on the back of one of the copies of the coach held in the Newstead collection describes as being taken of Chinese in Newstead on the way to Percydale (previously Fiddler's Creek), which is just west of Avoca, c1871. The front of both Newstead copies describe it as being the Maryborough to Castlemaine (or Castlemaine to Maryborough) Royal Mail coach. Annotations made by E.J. Semmens on the back of his copies state the photograph is of Chinese on their way to Fiddlers Creek (Percydale) in 1865. Maryborough is noted in brackets. A trip from Newstead to Percydale would pass through Maryborough. The Cobb and Co route c1863 started in Castlemaine with the arrival of the train from Melbourne and then went to Newstead, Carisbrook, Maryborough, Back Creek, Avoca, Moonambel, Landsborough, Barkly, Red Bank, Evelyn, Ararat, Maldon, Eddington, Dunolly, Tarnagulla and Burnt Creek.

The c1865-1871 time frame based on this written information falls within the expected date of the photograph based on the design of the Cobb & Co coach. According to Geoff Powell of the Cobb & Co Museum in Toowoomba this round bottom style of coach was first imported to Australia in 1854 and was in operation in the 1850s and 1860s. They were eventually replaced by square bottom coaches. At that time coaches generally had a ten to twelve year average life. Based on this we would expect the original photograph to have been taken some time from the mid-1850s to the early 1870s.

External Url

http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=MAIN&reset_config=true&docId=SLV_VOYAGER1723242

Versions

Title
Chinese leaving for the diggings. Cobb's Coach Castlemaine

Description
Note that provenance files held by the library describe this version as 'Coach and party of Chinamen on their way to the diggings [1852]'

Date
1852 - 1888

Type
catalogue record + digital image

Form
photograph: gelatin silver. 'Scratches' from top left to bottom right of image.

Control
H2407, H15720

Source
General photographic collection; State Library of Victoria - Picture Collection. Details

Online catalogue states taken from an original taken c1988 [sic 1888?] and loaned for copying in 1931. Provenance files state copy made of an original loaned by Lt. Col. Field, Castlemaine, 20 July 1931. H15720 a photoprint of H2407.

Rights
Reproduction rights owned by the State Library of Victoria.
Title
Stage coach laden with luggage and many Chinese people en rout to the gold fields

Type
catalogue record + digital image

Form
negative : glass. 'Scratches' from top left to bottom right of image.

Control
H35244

Source
General photographic collection; State Library of Victoria - Picture Collection. Details

Donated by Mrs T. November 1972, given to her husband by J.K. Moir. Copy of an older photograph, c1900-1920

Rights
Reproduction rights owned by the State Library of Victoria.
Title
Load of Chinese going to Fiddler's Creek, beyond Avoca, about 1865 Cobb & Co coach [Maryborough]

Description
Uncropped version of this photograph showing part of a shop on the left and two figures standing on the right. There are no scratches across this print in any place.

Date
c. 1865

Type
Print

Form
Two b/w copy prints. Handwritten in pencil by E.J. Semmens: 'Load of Chinese going to Fiddler's Creek, beyond Avoca, aboiut 1865 Cobb & Co coach'. Date copy made '29/5/1946'. Original held by [?]: 'E.Dowie [?]'. There are no 'Scratches' on image.

Control
PDC 3303, 'Chinese' folder

Source
'Chinese' file; Creswick Historical Museum. Details

Originally owned by E. Dowie [?], copy then made by E.J. Semmens on 29 May 1946.
Title
Cobb & Co Royal Mail Coach, Maryborough & Castlemaine 1871

Date
1871

Type
Print

Form
Scan of b/w photo-postcard, unknown creation date. Handwritten in ink on front: 'Cobb & Co Royal Mail Coach. Maryborough & Castlemaine 1871'. Handwritten on the back: 'This Photo was taken at Newstead a load of Chinamen on there way to Percydale Rushs Taken Fifty four years ago. Dick'. Scratches visable across image.

Control
VNHS 2005

Source
General collection; Newstead & District Historical Society. Details

Original postcard held in private collection, Newstead
Title
Cobb & Co Royal Mail Coach, Castlemaine & Maryborough, 1871

Date
1871

Type
Print

Form
Scanned copy of b/w photo-postcard, unknown creation date. Handwritten in ink on front: 'Cobb & Co Royal Mail Coach. Castlemaine & Maryborough, 1871'. No text on the back except postcard details. Scratches visable across image.

Control
VNHS 2005

Source
General collection; Newstead & District Historical Society. Details

Copy taken from original postcard held in private collection, Newstead
Title
Cobb's coach Castlemaine. Chinese leaving for the diggings c1855

Type
Print (front)

Form
One b/w contact print from glass negative and one 4 x 5 inch negative. 'Scratches' from top left to bottom right of image.

Control
P00597, N45-011

Source
Chinese Museum copies of selected holdings at State Library of Victoria; Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History). Details

Negative copied from one of the copies held at the State Library of Victoria in 1980s.
Title
[Cobb and Co coach with Chinese labourers, 1883]

Description
photograph (1), Cobb and Co coach with Chinese labourers, 1883.

Date
1883

Type
catalogue record

Source
Golden Threads, photograph (1), Cobb and Co coach with Chinese labourers, 1883, People and Collections database, Golden Threads project, http://hosting.collectionsaustralia.net/goldenthreads/collections/recordCObject.asp?ID=345. Details
Title
A Cobb and Co coach loaded with Chinese labourers sets out from Deniliquin in March 1883

Date
March 1883

Type
Print

Form
b/w copy print.

Source
General collection; Peppin Heritage Centre. Details

Copy taken from original print held by State Library of Victoria, H35244. Used in exhibition.
Title
Cobb's coach leaving Castlemaine for the Ballarat goldfields c1853

Date
c. 1853

Type
Published photograph

Form
'Scratches' from top left to bottom right of image. Fuller caption: 'This is the earliest documented photograph of the Ballarat Mining era. These Chinese joined miners from all nations who came by coach, cart, bullock wagon or on foot seeking their fortune on Yuille's sheep station, now the City of Ballarat'.

Control
p.8

Source
Reid, John & Chisholm, John, Ballarat Golden City: A Pictorial History, Joval Publications, Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, 1989. Details

Print taken from one of the State Library of Victoria prints
Title
Chinese miners on board a Cobb & Co. Coach

Type
Published photograph

Form
Full caption: 'This coach is piled high with both bodies and goods as a large group of miners depart from Ballarat, headed for Castlemaine. Interestingly, all the Chinese are wearing European hats, while their bamboo 'coolie' hats are tied securely at the back of the coach. Maybe the wind-draft casued by the speed gained by this six-horse-powered coach would endanger the security of the large circular hats, and the Chinese had exchanged style for safety. This photograph has also been considered to show the strike-breaking miners on route to Clunes. If so, it would have been a wise move to have hidden the trademark bamboo hats from European gaze.'

Control
p.183

Source
Hocking, Geoff, To the Diggings!, Thomas C. Lothian, Melbourne, 2000. Details

Book states that copied from original print held Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum Collection
Title
Chinese immigrants off to the Goldfields

Type
Published photograph

Form
No 'scratches across image'. Full caption: 'During the 1850's there were over 40,000 of them in Victorian mining centres. Note the coolie hats piled at the back of the coach.'

Control
between pp.224-225

Source
Cato, Jack, The Story of the Camera in Australia, Institute of Australian Photography, 1977. Details

No information about source of photograph provided
Title
Chinese off to the Victorian goldfields

Type
Published photograph

Form
No scratches across image.

Source
Rolls, Eric, Sojourners: The Epic Story of China's Centuries-old Relationship with Australia; Flowers and the Wide Sea, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, 1992. Details

Source of published print is: Cato, Jack, 'The Story of the Camera in Australia', 1955, between pp.244-245.
Title
A coach carries a group of Chinese to the goldfields

Type
Published photograph

Source
''Colonies rife with hysteria about Chinese'', Sunday Telegraph, 30 May 1993, p. 52. Details

No information provided about original source
Title
Chinese immigrants off to the goldfields. As second class citizens they usually travelled on top of the coaches. Note the coolie hats strung up on the back of the coach

Type
Published photograph

Form
Doesn't appear to be any 'scratches' on this image.

Control
p.80

Source
Hornadge, Bill, The Yellow Peril: A Squint at Some Australian Attitudes towards Orientals, 2nd edn, Review Publications, Dubbo, 1976. Details

No information about original source provided
Type
Published photograph

Form
There do not appear to be any 'scratches' across this image. Full caption: 'This picture of a Chinese coach, or a coach loaded with Chinese, has been placed at different spots by each and every reproducer of the photograph. My choice is Newstead, on the authority of a letter, which gives the name of the driver, etc. Yappeen, the largest Chinese town in Victoria, was not far away from Newstead.'

Control
p.89

Source
Flett, James, A Pictorial History of the Victorian Goldfields, Rigby Ltd, Adelaide, 1977. Details

No information about original source provided
Title
This photograph taken in the early 1850s shows a party of Chinese emigrants setting out for the goldfields in a Cobb and Co. coach.

Date
c. 1850 - c. 1855

Type
Published photograph

Form
'Scratches' from top left to bottom right of image. Full caption: 'This photograph taken in the early 1850s shows a party of Chinese emigrants setting out for the goldfields in a Cobb and Co. coach. Their mining gear and coolie hats have been piled on the back of the coach. Antoine Fauchery in his unparalleled account of Melbourne and the goldfields at the height of the gold rush said that 'the great Chinese emigration of Victoria in 1855 was such that the Government thought that it was an invasion. In less than three weeks the foreign horde amounted to 25,000 or 30,000 on the shores of Melbourne - with only two females, one seven years old and the other twelve.' On the goldfields the Chinese were forced to dig on spots outside the zone occupied or abandoned by Europeans; they were often abused and ill-treated by the diggers.'

Control
p.26

Source
Sierp, Allan, Colonial Life in Victoria: Fifty Years of Photography 1855-1905, Rigby Ltd, Adelaide, 1972. Details

No information about source provided
Title
Chinese miners board a Cobb & Co. Coach, leaving Ballaarat for the Castlemaine diggings

Type
Published photograph

Form
'Scratches' from top left to bottom right of image. Can still make out some of the building name on left hand side. Full caption: 'Chinese miners board a Cobb & Co. Coach, leaving Ballaarat for the Castlemaine diggings. Although all on board are wearing European-styled hats their traditional coolie hats can be clearly seen strapped to the back of the coach.'

Control
p.132

Source
Hocking, Geoff, Castlemaine From Camp to City: A Pictorial History of Forest Creek & the Mount Alexander Goldfields, 1835-1900, Five Mile Press Pty Ltd, Knoxfield, Victoria, 1994. Details

Copied from original print held by the State Library of Victoria
Title
Coach taking Chinese to the Goldfields, about 1855

Date
c. 1855

Type
Published photograph

Form
Poor reproduction. 'Scratches' from top left to bottom right of image.

Control
p.75

Source
Austin, K.A., A Pictorial History of Cobb & Co: The Coaching Age in Australia, 1854-1924, Rigby Ltd, Adelaide, 1977. Details

No information about original source provided.