Wilkinson Family history

History Notes

Wilkinson is a well-known district name – it has been in the Barraba/Bingara district for more than a hundred years.  At this stage I do not know when or where George Wilkinson was born but it is thought he was about 27 years old when he married Mary Kelly at Wallabadah in 1857.  George was employed by John Gill in the early days, more than likely working with horses and coaches and learning “the trade”.

Geroge went out with Bowden in 1874 in the Tamworth/Bingara area.  He had stables in Bingara which burnt down about five years later.  Bowden left the business after the fire leaving Wilkinson to continue on his own.

The Wilkinson’s coaches were on the road 6 days a week which must have required a large stable to service the run.  The coaches left Barraba early in the morning travelling along a route similar to the present-day road with the exception of Bells Mountain.  On arriving at the Hotel at Bells Mountain the coach stopped for exchange of passengers and probably horses before moving onto Cobbadah to deliver mail and passengers.  There is a photo of the old Cobbadah Hotel given to me, many years ago – an old fence around a slab building which was not replaced until the early 1900s by John Crowley from Cobbadah Station.

The coach continued on after delivering mail for the surrounding villages and stations. On arrival at Oakey Creek the horses were changed for the journey up to Hilltop and down the steep incline to follow the creek valley into Bingara.  There is another coach stop about halfway along the creek which could have been a horse exchange as well, but I do not have enough information about that at the moment.

This mail run was serviced by Wilkinson for about three years before he sold it.  His interest then turned to the Cobbadah Hotal where he ran the hotel and the post office for a few years.  There is a story that he built the Cobbadah Pub but that is not correct – John Crowley had the pub built and leased it to different people to run it.  The story of the pub apart from the fire in 1965 is in the Cobbadah book.

George Wilkinson had 13 children – number 10 was Walter who worked in the Horton Region until he died in 1910 aged 36 years leaving a widow and 6 children.  George Wilkinson died two years before his son in 1908.  I think he may be buried in Tamworth.