Citation
Coachbuilding and related crafts in Tasmania. Peter Macfie. Papers and Proceedings, Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Vol 43, No. 2, June 1996, pp 77-88
Also presented at the Tasmanian Local History Conference, Bellerive, 1995.
Outline
A history of coachbuilding in Tasmania, along with related crafts. Includes a survey of coach builders across urban and rural Tasmania. The paper was edited for THRA, so the excerpt does not match the PDF. The index does match the THRA copy.
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Coachbuilding index only (2018-06-29).pdf
Excerpt of document prior to THRA editing
Changes in technology are unkind to the outdated, the superseded. Equipment and people of the old technology are discarded with headlong narcissism of the new. The change from horse power to motor power was arguably the greatest change in technology in history. Before WW1, the combustion engine was intruding into the ancient world and trade skills with a history thousands of years old. By 1930, all coach or carriage builders were no longer operating. Those surviving had adapted to motor body building. Within 25 years trades and skills accepted an unchallenged for four to five thousand years were redundant.
The popularity of the ubiquitous ‘T’ Model Ford was as great in Tasmania as elsewhere. The final coup -de- grace came after WW11 when the tractor replaced the work horse; the gentle ‘draughts’ faced extinction at the slaughterhouse at worst, at best, a quiet retirement. Horse-drawn vehicles of town and country suffered the same destruction, fired among blackberries, resting, rotting quietly under gum and pine tree. Rarely kept under cover. The final ignominy came via American TV’s Bonanza. Wheels were pulled off vehicles to adorn drive- ways of innumerable ‘Ponderosas’, while the bodies of the vehicles -that’s what they were called- rotted on the ground. Those few that survive are rare antiques, especially those with original paint work. The old trades and skills are followed by a few fanatics; mostly self-taught, if at all.
Today, few examples of the coachbuilders craft have survived the ridicule of progress.
A glimpse of those days comes from the following description.
“…. The coaches proper, old four in hand ‘Royal Mail’ style, with a big coat of arms emblazoned on the sides left night and morning from the coach offices in Collins Street, and in the evening a crowd used to gather at the Ship Hotel corner…. wagering on the arrival of the opposition coaches from Launceston….”
The Races, Regattas and all had a more varied aspect. It was good to see the meet of the ‘four-in hands’, private coaches, usually about 10 or 12 leave Lord’s Corner for Elwick. Wilson’s, the two Lords (John and James), Pages, Grubbs, and others, some of whom used to drive right through the North to the races, and brilliant equipages they were. The pubic conveyances were all different from today.
They were then two wheeled cars with fore and aft seats and one horse. Another kind like waggonettes called’ jingles’ also ‘curricles.
Coach builders of the horse drawn era were also known as carriage makers and coach makers. In smaller centres, wheelwrights like Richmond’s Jimmy Anderson made smaller vehicles and repaired all sizes. The largest of the coach building firms were based in Hobart or Launceston. In these firms, four trades were practised to complete the finished vehicle. “The four great trade of coach making; wood- working, blacksmithing, painting and trimming.”[1] The woodworker was both a wheelwright and builder of the timber body. Allan Abbott told Denis Hodgkinson that he worked for coach makers Payne and Son, Launceston, in Paterson Street (now Repco’s), established in 1864. They had 40 men working for them in all the trades.[2]
In rural towns, the equivalent business was based around the wheelwright, who had to be very versatile, able to manufacture vehicles for town and farm use. Most wheelwrights worked with a blacksmith, and such firms also produced ploughs and other farm implements. In smaller towns the wheelwright also had other roles. Jimmy Anderson at Richmond, John Mylan at Burnie, A. N. Wright at Wynyard, and Parsons at Ulverstone all acted as local undertakers. In slack periods, Anderson was also house builder and cabinet maker. Before World War 1, Tas Jones was apprenticed for six years as a coach painter for Bird and Hopkins, Burnie. In slow periods, the young apprentice painted one of six houses owned by Mr Bird.[3]
In town and village, the coach builder/ wheelwright were prominent members of the community. Alexander Fraser’ who operated in Hobart in the before 1850, and Walter Lee, co -owner of Lee Brothers Longford, largest farm vehicle manufacturer around 1900, were both active members of the Methodist church. Fraser moved to Victoria and became a St Kilda councillor and member of the Legislative Council. Walter Lee moved into Tasmanian politics, holding his seat from 1908 to 1946. During that time he was premier and knighted. By the late 1920s the firm folded with the coming of the motor vehicle.
The first vehicles were imported carts, drawn by bullocks or men. G. P. Harris was shocked to see a disgraced former horse trooper ‘who now works in drawing the timber carriage.’[4] Parramore family paid £30 for a cart and the woodwork of a plough.[5] A convoy of 6 carts drawn by 32 bullocks returned to Ross from Hobart Town in 1823.[6] In 1823 a carrier’s wagon was imported on the Skelton for service between Hobart and Launceston.[7] This is one of the first references to four wheeled horse drawn vehicles in the colony. Imported vehicles continued to compete with local manufacturers, especially in the prestigious end of the market. Capt. Cooling imported 5 ‘elegant’ chaises of different designs suitable for the colony[8]. In November 1823, Thomas Scott of Liverpool Street, Hobart, advertised a ‘saddlery and Harness Warehouse’ in Liverpool Street where he had ‘commenced trimming and covering gigs in the best London style’.[9]
In 1832 Charles Bush of the Bush Inn New Norfolk operated one of two London coaches imported by Captain M. C. Friend. Naming his coach Fair Play, Bush competed with Mills Tally Ho, who added the Eclipse in 1832.[10] Despite the growth of local firms, imported vehicles were still sought after. In 1840 James Strong imported 2 spring vans to carry goods and passengers.[11]
In 1824 Matthew McMahon of Bagdad, advertised that he;
“… begs leave to inform the inhabitants of Hobart Town, Launceston and the settlers in the interior of the colony, that he has built a capital four wheel WAGGON which will be drawn by eight bullocks to start of Friday the 30th instant for the sole purpose of conveying goods throughout the colony.[12]”
Although working bullocks were £50 a pair, and the island was ‘infested with bushrangers’ in a petition for a land grant, McMahon claimed his aim was accomplished. He had carted wool and goods for Thomas Archer of Woolmers and received Archer’s endorsement for his zealousness in pursuing and guarding three captured bushrangers in the stock hut where he lived. A similar letter of support came from George Clark, Roderick Connor William Pike and John Bisdee who had ‘employed Matthew McMahon’s waggons and carts time after time to convey our goods to ’our Estates’ in the “Interior.’[13]
…..
End of Excerpt
To read more, download the appropriate PDF from above.
References from the excerpt
[1] Hodder, p16
[2] LHR
[3] pers comm, 1995
[4] Hamilton- Arnold, p60
[5] Shelton, p22
[6] ibid, p29
[7] HTG 4/1/23
[8] HTG 24/2/27, p5
[9] HTG 15/11/23 p4
[10] Steiglitz, p72
[11] Col Times, 5/5/40, p8
[12] HTG 23/4/1824. Bagdad April 1824.
[13] OD 22/12/1837, p1221
Indexed subjects
Abbott, Alfred
Abbott, Allan
Adamson, William
Anderson, Jimmy
apprentices
apprenticeships
Archer, Thomas
Arnol, William
assigned servants
Atkinson, John
Backwell, Sam
Bagdad
Barrett, Peter
Belbin. Mr ?
Bird & Hopkins
Bird, Mr.?
Bisdee, John
blacksmith technology
blacksmiths
Bonanza (tv show)
Bothwell
Bothwell-Melton Mowbray run
Brown, W.A.
bullock carts
bullocks
Burdon, James
Burdon, William
Burgess, Henry
Burgess, Mary
Burnie
Burrows, E.
bushrangers
Butler, Gamiel
Byard’s Bakery
Bye, Benjamin
C & P Naylor
Carriage & Agricultural Implement Manufactory
chaise carts
Chiplin, Howard
Chisholm, John
churches
Catholic church
Methodist church
St Francis Xavier
Star of the Sea, Burnie
Wesleyan church
Clarence Plains
Clark, George
coach painters
coach spring makers
coach trimmers
coachbuilders
Colebrook
Commonwealth Carriage Works
convicts
Cooling, Capt. ?
Cox, John Edward
Cox, May Ann (Mrs John
Cramp Bros
Cramp, R.J.
Cramp, W.T.
Cripps, Henry
Crisp’s timber yard
Crocker, ?
Crocker, Henry
Crocker, Joshua
Cummings, Raymond & co
Curran, Owen
Darey, Henry
Dargaville, Mr ?
Davies, J.G. (mayor)
Davis, Thomas
Dawson, C.
Denton, James
Devonport
Devonport West
Don
draught horses
E.A. Fawkner Ltd
Easther, George Thomas
Easther, W.
emancipists
Eureka jump seat buggies
farm implements
Fawkner, E.A.
Feutrill, Samuel
Flight & Evans
Flight, Peter
Flood, D.
Ford assembly
Fraser, Alexander
Frost, B
Frost, B.
General Smith of Sheffield
George Thomas Easther’s Coach Factory
George’s Bay
Gormanston mines
Gould, T.
Gould, W.B.
Gould, William Beulow
Grubb family
Gunton, William
Hagley
Halls, Mary Ann
Harris, G.P.
harrows
Henry Crocker & Son
Hobart
Hobart to Launceston run
Hobart Town
Hodgkinson, Denis
house painting
Howard, ?
Howard, Davis
inns
Ship Hotel
James Burdon & Son
James, W.R.
Jericho
Jones, Tas
Latrobe
Launceston
Lee Bros.
Lee Robert
Lee, James E.
Lee, Sir Walter
Lee, Walter E.
Lehman, Jacob
Leven Carriage Works
light single buggies
Little Swanport
Locket, John
Longford
Longford Steam Dray, Waggon & Plough Works
Lord, David
Lord, James
Lord, John
MacLean, George
Marshall, A.
Mason & Feutrill
Mason, William Mummery
Matthews & Johnson
Matthews, Charles
Matthews, James
McGuire, Charles E.
McKenzie, John
McMahon, Matthew
McPherson’s Coach Establishment
McPhersons of Hobart
Mead, Herbert
Melton Mowbray
Millar Bros, Melbourne
Mitchelmore, Peter
model coach
Moir, Joseph
Mylan, John
National Exhibition
Naylor P.
Naylor, C.
Neilson, N.P.
Neilson, Peter
Nettlefolds, Hobart
Nevin, ?
Nichols brothers
Nichols family
Nichols, E.C.A.
Norfolk Islanders
O’Connor, Roderic
Page family
Paine & Wadham
Paine, George
Palmer, ?
Palmer, Henry
panel beaters
Parker, J.
Parramore family
Parson& Gilmour
Parson’s Carriage Works
Parsons & Gilmour
Parsons at Ulverstone
Parsons, R.K.
Parsons, R.L.
Paul, Thomas
Payne & Son, Launceston
Phoenix Carriage Works
Pike, William
ploughs
Point Puer boys
properties
Connorville
Durham House
Ellinthorpe
Entally
Hutton Park
Killymoon
Narryna
Quorn Hall
Woolmers
Richmond
Root, Joseph
Ross
Royal Show
Said Pasha
Sarven steel axle
Sassafras
Schwann, William
Scott, Thomas
Shadbolt, George
Shadbolt, L.G.
Shadbolt, Linden
Sheffield
ships
Curler
Duckfield
Montmorency
Skelton
Westminster
Simcoe, W.
Smith, ?
Snelling, William
springs
St Helens
Stewart, Robert
Sturt, George
Swansea
Tasmanian Carriage Works
Tasmanian Government Railway
technological change
Terry, S.
Titmus, L.
Trail, ?
Tuckwell & Fraser
Tuckwell, ?
Tuckwell, Mr ?
Turner, Rev. Nathaniel
Ulverstone
undertakers
upholsterers
vehicles
basket phaetons
broughams
buggies
bullock waggons
business wagons
butcher delivery carts
carriages
carts
chaise carts
chaises
coaches
American style
Cobb & Co style
four in hand
light post style
mail coach
Royal Mail style
stage coach
The Tasman
curricles
delivery carts
drays
floats
gigs
hansom cabs
hay waggons
jingles
landaus
landoulets
lorries
motor ambulance
motor vehicles
pagnals
parcel carts
phaetons
railway carriages
spring drays
waggonettes
waggons
water carts
Von Stieglitz, Frederick Lewis
Vout, Chisholm & co.
Vout, John
Waddington, ?
Wadham, Thomas
wagering on coach arrivals
waggon wheels
Wakeham, ?
Webb & Corbett
Webb, John
Westbury
wheelwrights
Wiggins, W.
Williams, James
Wilson, William
World War II
Wright & Waddington
Wright, ?
Wright, A.N.
Wyatt, John
Wynyard
Yeoman, David