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'ALONG THE TRACKS OF COBB AND CO.' ...
"Liston—a country mountain village with crisp, frosty mornings and a past
well remembered …
From memories of Cobb and Co. in the district, horse and buggies, bush tracks, Shank’s pony, local dances, sports days, picnics, Tug-of-War Teams, Amosfield Bands, wild blackberry & mushroom picking, fresh vegetables, homemade preserves, jams & ginger beer, kerosene fridges, buckets made from kerosene tins, drinking from condensed milk cans, castor oil, outhouses, ‘Joe Blakes’, rabbit trapping, panning the creeks, working the dredges and the memory of our fallen soldiers … to generators for electricity and finally access to higher education (1968) and power at the flick of a switch (1977). Liston and the surrounding area has a rich and very personal history for many of the families who have been a part of the locality for generations.
Liston—with its echoes of cracking whips and cricket games from the good old days—is situated in New South Wales, on the eastern fall of the Great Dividing Range. Surrounding
places include Amosfield, Boonoo Boonoo, Maryland, Rivertree, Sugarloaf,
Wilson's Downfall and Wylie Creek. The area was on the Cobb and Co. route from
Tenterfield to
Warwick, and beyond. The Great Northern Road that joined
Sydney to
Brisbane in the 1800s, travelled through
Tenterfield, Boonoo Boonoo,
Wilson’s Downfall, Liston and Maryland.
Nowadays, Liston is in the
Tenterfield Shire local government area and relies on cattle farming and tourism.
Stanthorpe, across the New South Wales/Queensland border, is the closest town for other employment and
services. In the
Tenterfield Shire, areas “identified as having nature conservation values include ten National Parks (Koreelah, Mt. Clunie, Tooloom, Mt. Nothofagus, Maryland,
Bald Rock, Boonoo , Basket Swamp, Timbarra and Washpool), 16 State Forests (Koreelah, Beaury, Yabbra, Bookookoorara,
Wilson’s Downfall, Boonoo, Gilgurry, Girard, Malara, Ewingar, Billirimba, Speribo, Forestland, Capoompeta,
Donnybrook and Torrington), seven Nature
Reserves (Captain’s Creek, Demon, Tracing the Natural Evolution of Australia (AHT) Environment-Naturally Evolved (SHT) 9 Bolivia
Hill,
Bluff River, Mt. MacKenzie, Doonybrook and Torrington), seven Nature
Reserves (Captain’s Creek, Demon, Tracing the Natural Evolution of Australia (AHT) Environment-Naturally Evolved (SHT) 9 Bolivia
Hill,
Bluff River, Mt. MacKenzie, Doonybrook and Gibralter) and two State Conservation Areas (Torrington and Curry’s Gap).” (A Thematic History of
Tenterfield Shire, 2004, pp.8-9)
Cobb and Co. Coach & Collectables Museum—In the heart of Liston, the Cobb and Co. Coach & Collectables Museum can be found. You are able to view the broad spectrum of change in the village and the surrounding areas, from the recrafted Cobb and Co. coach by
John C. Burton, Junior, to the old Herding Yard Creek/Amosfield/Liston school bell, circa 1875.
2017 The beginnings of the museum—Local Liston resident,
John C. Burton, was taken aback when the Seven Mile Lane that runs past his residence near Liston Creek, New South Wales, was renamed Herding Yard Creek Road. This jolted him, in 2017, into wanting to acknowledge the history of the village, and to share with the community and visitors some
heritage of the Liston area, in which he has lived all his life. This desire led
John, in his late 80s, to build a replica Cobb and Co. stage coach, a nod to the coach service from a bygone era.
John’s journey continued with the restoration of a dray, culminating in the establishment of a bush museum in 2020, to remember the good old days.
At 91 years of age,
John with his supporters, designed and constructed a building that houses the coach, dray, old harnesses and other collectables.
John donated many of his old
tools and items of interest to the museum, aptly named Cobb and Co. Coach & Collectables." (Excerpt from 'Along the tracks of Cobb and Co. - The Great Northern Road', p.111)