Historical Society some Cobbadah facts
History Notes
A busy few days for members this week with the markets and some interesting visitors on Sunday, and this is meeting week as well. The markets went off well on Saturday- just a couple less stalls than usual and a steady stream of visitors visiting the stalls and having a rest on the terrace at the back of the museum. Just one visitor to the museum was perhaps a little disappointing.
Sunday's meeting with visitors from Tamworth, who came to talk about our aboriginal residents in the past, was most interesting. The puzzle re a woman from Quirindi with a selection of names has been solved with an official certificate-a great relief to those who have been on the trail for some time.
There has been a request re Dick Smith, who was a resident of Cobbadah, and who is buried there. He is in the back section of the Cobbadah Book published by the historical society in 1975. Apparently, he was an orphan left on a doorstep in Victoria somewhere and Barraba's local solicitor, J. B. Ryan, was unable to find out any more than that when Dick made his will at retirement age. He is the only person buried in the Cobbadah Cemetery.
Another personality of the Cobbadah area was Harry Bushell. He was the son of a maintenance man and grew up with his family in a bark hut on Duncombe's selection near Cobbadah. Harry worked on the property "Ouyan" for 33 years earning himself the reputation for reliability- the society has a photo of him doing just that.
He retired to Cobbadah, living in a little hut in the village and it is described in Betty Crowley's book in great detail but has since disappeared. He enjoyed reading the paper particularly the horse racing in the Sydney Mail. Fred Randall was a close friend to Harry and the pair spent many hours together.
Harry Bushell died on 20th October, 1955 at the age of 78 years and is buried in Barraba. Fred Randall died just two years later and is also buried in Barraba.
This book also contains some information on Joseph Johnson, who was an early settler in the village and Charlie Robinson who had an interesting past history before settling in the area.
Charlie White, hotel keeper, at Cobbadah, was a bit of a poet as well as "Mine Host" and wrote a few lines known as "The Joke that Misfired" about his kitchen maid who was being courted by three local men. It seems the School Master won her heart in the end.