OUR historic photo this week shows Mr W.P. Rutter's Fast Coaches that operated from Bathurst to Burraga and places in between. His coach is being pulled by five fine horses - three in front and two behind.
The horse team would have been controlled by four reins, all held in the right or left hand, leaving the other free.
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The coach is over-packed. The box seat is occupied by the driver, Mr Rutter, and two passengers, who probably paid an extra shilling to sit there.
The image was taken by Evan A. Lumme, an Estonian-born photographer who lived from 1865 to 1935.
He worked in Sydney as a professional photographer before moving to his farm near Lyndhurst in 1900.
Mr Rutter had to renew his coach licence each year with Bathurst City Council so he could drive the passenger coach between Bathurst and Burraga. His coach was licensed to hold a maximum of 15 passengers.
He carried the mail to and from Burraga under a post office contract for a number of years. Private parcels, packages and luggage were also carried on his coaches.
Daniel McGhee, the Burraga mine manager, used Mr Rutter's coach for one-day and return trips into Bathurst as required.
With some 100 hands employed, many with families, Mr Rutter's coaches were well patronised - as can be seen in our photo.
If the road condition was really bad, passengers were expected to get out and walk when it got boggy, sometimes digging the coach out.
Coach travel had its discomforts, despite its leather straps for suspension. The seats were hard, dust and rain could get inside and it was worse if one was seated outside.
All coaches had a back-and-forth rocking motion when travelling. Each coach was fitted with one or two foot brakes which were used to stop the coach or to slow the vehicle as it descended steep hills.
The brakes were attached to the rear wheels. The driver would apply one brake and the other would be applied by the driver's assistant or the passenger in the off-side box seat.
Mr Rutter claimed that his coach horses were specially bred and, knowing his reputation, it was probably right.
To reach Burraga, one had to travel on the coach for some 40 miles, leaving the Great Western Railway line at Georges Plains or Perthville.
The road was usually classed as a "fairly good one" for the most part, except for the last eight or nine miles, which was a perfect bog hole in wet weather.
It was known that the month of September was particularly bad.
Such times often meant that loose straw would be laid on the coach's floor to keep the passengers' feet warmer.
After Perthville, the extensive granite basin which encircles Bathurst was left behind and the country traversed out to Burraga showed, on all sides, the strong indications of mineral wealth.
In fact, much gold and copper had been won in years gone by from many parts of this vast belt of mountainous country.
Then there were the ravines about Rockley, Bunnamagoo and Gilmandyke which were passed en route and on to the Burraga Copper Mine, which was classed as second to none in the colony, with Louis Lloyd making handsome profits.
In January 1904, Mr Rutter advertised his "Day Coaches" from Perth (now called Perthville) to Burraga in five hours: "W.P. Rutter's Fast Coaches would leave the Bridge Hotel, Perth, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. sharp. Passengers from or to Bathurst can arrange for through journeys to meet all trains."
The proprietor expected commissions and guarantees to be prompt and delivery of said parcels entrusted to his care.
He stated that his charges were moderate.
Mr Rutter would stop for fresh horses on the way, which meant that his passenger coaches could maintain higher speeds.
