THE GIFTS OF FRANK COBBOLD
Arthur W. Upfield
ETT IMPRINT
Exile Bay
THE GIFTS OF FRANK COBBOLD
This edition published by ETT IMPRINT 2015
Copyright © William Upfield 2008, 2015
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photocopying or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
ISBN: 978-1-25416-21-3 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-25416-22-0 (paper)
Cover design and artwork, The Design Shop
First published 2008 by Number 11 Publishing for the Cobbold Family History Trust
CONTENTS
Chapter
Introduction
1 1853 to 1867 - Early Years
2 1867 to 1868 - Apprenticed to the Sea
3 1868 to 1869 - ‘Swallowing the Anchor’
4 1870 to 1871 - The Coral Island
5 1871 - Stormy Days and Wild Men
6 1871 - Fijian Adventures
7 1872 to 1873 - The Fiji War
8 1873 to 1874 - Cobbold Takes up Surveying
9 1874 to 1877 - Pioneers of the West
10 1878 - Misfortunes and Triumphs
11 1878 to 1881 - Monkira
12 1882 to 1886 - Miranda Downs and The Oaks
13 1886 to 1890 - O’Brien, Cobbold & Co
14 1890 to 1895 - Stormy Waters
15 1897 - ‘A Cantankerous Old Man’
16 1898 to 1901 - Cobbold & Co
17 1901 to 1905 - Changing Scenes
18 1905 to 1911 - Inverleigh
19 1906 to 1926 - ‘… and now Sheep!’
20 Horses
21 1911 to 1935 Home Ports
22 Farewell
Epilogue
The Gift of Independence
Location map of the cattle and sheep stations owned/managed by Frank Cobbold
List of illustrations, maps and photographs
Sources of illustrations and photographs
INTRODUCTION
Although the Cobbold Family History Trust was not settled until the Spring of 2004 I had been collecting books and papers about the family for some years, but the reality was that I knew very little. Amongst those papers was a manuscript pedigree in the distinctive hand of Clement Cobbold (1882-1961) whose excellent work expanded that already carried out by his uncle Felix Thornley Cobbold (1841-1909).
Tucked away at the bottom of a page I noticed a footnote,
NB Francis Edward Cobbold of Melbourne died 1935 leaving no children. He left the residue of his fortune to the Royal United Kingdom Beneficent Association for Suffolk domiciled gentlefolk of reduced means.
By chance, whilst sorting some papers I came across a Christmas card sent previously by my very dear godmother. She had purchased the card in support of Rukba so now I knew their address. Thinking that it sounded interesting and that I might thereby be able to confirm what I had noticed, but with very little anticipation of what might be revealed, I wrote to Rukba in October 2005 to ask for information. The reply amazed and encouraged me in about equal proportions. I continued my researches and within six months the Trust had acquired an original portrait of F E Cobbold and a typescript copy of his biography by Arthur W Upfield.
I thought it was a fascinating story that was worthy of at least limited publication so application was made to the author’s estate for permission. This was granted to the Trust for 300-350 copies.
The thread of the story is the selfless way in which Frank Cobbold made his money but the garment is the thousands of people whose lives have been improved as a result of his generosity and Rukba’s skills. ‘Go on or go under,’ he used to say. He would be pleased to have been heard and heeded.
Anthony Cobbold
Keeper, The Cobbold Family History Trust
September 2008
CHAPTER ONE
1853 to 1867
Early Years
1.
Francis Edward was born in Ipswich, Suffolk to Arthur and Sarah Cobbold. At the same time, the settlers of north-eastern Australia were agitating for separation from the huge southern state of New South Wales. Not only was he the seventh son of his parents, but he was the seventh son of a seventh son. This traditionally accepted sign of good fortune was to be substantiated through a long life of adventure and endeavour on the sea, among the islands of the New Hebrides, and in that part of Australia which Queen Victoria named 'Queensland' in 1859, when Francis Edward Cobbold was six years old.
Australia was to claim the boy from an early age and during this period it was rapidly emerging from being the depository for England's overcrowded jails. The great influx of free settlers was beginning to have its effect on the quasi-military form of government, and the public concern for democratic and responsible government resulted in colonies destined to be among the brightest jewels in the Queen's empire.
This new Eldorado beneath the Southern Cross called for men of grit and stamina, and did not fail to get them. British factories were demanding ever-increasing supplies of wool for their younger colony of Victoria when McArthur established the fact that sheep were ideally suited to be reared in Australia. The eyes of all adventurers in the world had begun to turn towards the south and the people of the British Isles were starting to realise that Australia was not, after all, a mere conglomeration of convict settlements but a land of great promise for those possessing initiative and determination.
It was only natural that one of the Cobbolds of Suffolk should be caught up by the enterprising stream flooding from England across the world to Australia.
2.
The earliest surviving records of the Cobbolds go back to Robert Cobbold of Tostock, a Yeoman farmer who died in 1603. He was followed by a succession of Cobbolds in direct line to Thomas Cobbold, who started a brewing business at Harwich in 1723. At this period, the water supply at Harwich was very unsatisfactory; Thomas Cobbold soon recognised the fact that successful brewing depended upon a pure water supply and arranged for water to be conveyed to Harwich down the river Orwell from Holy Wells Springs, Ipswich in especially constructed barges.
That condition of affairs did not satisfy him for long, however. It was not good business economics to bring the mountain to Mohammed, so he decided to go to the mountain, and the brewery was moved to the same water supply at Ipswich where the first Cliff Brewery was established in 1746. There, Thomas Cobbold extended his enterprises, becoming a farmer, a merchant, and a ship owner, determined to command the transport of merchandise and raw materials necessary to his business.
His son, young Francis Edward's great-Grandfather John Cobbold, extended his father's activities by a wharf and then building his own ships to be sent out to engage in foreign trade. At least eighteen units of