Cobb & Co was set up in Melbourne, Victoria in 1853 by a small group of immigrant Americans – Freeman Cobb, John Murray Peck, John B Lamber and James Swanton – and originally was called the American Telegraph Line of Coaches. The company’s first passenger coach left Melbourne for Forest Creek (Now Castlemaine) and Bendigo on the 30th of January 1854; the list of routes was expanded shortly thereafter to link the newer goldfields and settlements with the Victorian capital. Soon, mail contracts were awarded to the business and the Cobb & Co operated a gold escort, passenger and mail service based on reliable and efficient schedules. Three years later the company was sold for 16,000 pounds to Thom Davies who later sold the company to a consortium headed by James Rutherford, William Franklin Whitney and Alexander William Roberston for 23,000 pounds. A year later the company headquarters were moved from Victoria to Bathurst New South Wales.