McCafferty's Coaches was an Australian family run interstate

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

operator from 1940 to 2004. In October 2004 the McCafferty family sold its shares and its operations were rebranded as part of

Greyhound Australia Greyhound Australia is an Australian coach operator that operates services in all mainland states and territories. It is owned by Entrada Travel Group. The company was established in 1928 and is not affiliated with similarly named companies ...

History

McCafferty's Coaches was formed in April 1940 when Jack McCafferty began a service from Picnic Point to Rangeville in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

. In 1955 McCafferty's began operating a service from Toowoomba to the Gold Coast. Over the next few decades McCafferty's expanded to operate long-distance services throughout

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. In December 1980 McCafferty's entered the interstate coach market with a Brisbane to Sydney service extending to Melbourne in December 1983. On 22 December 1989, one of their coaches was involved in a disastrous bus crash near Kempsey, New South Wales in which 35 people were killed. In November 1992 McCafferty's commenced operating Melbourne to Adelaide and Adelaide to Darwin services followed by Sydney - Canberra - Adelaide in late 1993 and Darwin - Broome - Perth in May 1995 making it a national operator. The latter service was withdrawn in June 1996. The Brisbane to Charleville service was acquired from

Skennars Skennars was an Australian interstate coach operator. History Clarrie Skennar began operating coach services in southern Queensland in 1956. By 1960 he was running a service from the Goondiwindi Shell Garage to the Barnes Auto Depot in North Qu ...

in 1992. In 1999 McCafferty's purchased MotorCoach Australia from the administrator of Clifford Corporation. As well as building coaches for McCafferty's it also completed orders for external customers. It closed in 2004 having completed over 60 coaches. In March 2000 McCafferty's entered into negotiations with Greyhound Pioneer Australia about a possible merge. In September 2000 a takeover bid from McCafferty's for Greyhound was accepted. As part of the deal the McCafferty family sold their shares to Tony McCafferty. In October 2004 the McCafferty family sold its shares to

ANZ Bank The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, commonly known as ANZ Bank, is a multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fo ...

and George Chapman, and both operations were rebranded as Greyhound Australia.

Fleet

From the late 1960s, McCafferty's purchased exclusively new Denning coaches. In the first half of the 1990s, 40 second-hand Denning Landseers from a variety operators were purchased for its interstate expansion. From 1994 it began purchasing MotorCoach Australia coaches. In the 1970s McCafferty's coaches were painted in a white with blue and black, then into the early 1980s, a magenta and blue livery appeared. In 1987 a silver, grey, blue and red livery was introduced followed by a two-tone gold and blue livery, originally intended as a special livery to mark the company's 50th anniversary in 1990, but adopted as standard. The final livery was a sand-like "Platinum" with blue colour scheme to celebrate the company's 60th anniversary.McCafferty's
Australia Showbus

References

External links

{{Australian interstate coach operators, state=collapsed Bus companies of Australia Toowoomba Transport companies established in 1940 Transport companies established in 2004 Australian companies disestablished in 2004 Australian companies established in 1940 Bus companies of Queensland