Rover Coaches is an Australian bus company operating services in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

. It is a subsidiary of

Buslines Group The Buslines Group is an Australian bus operator in New South Wales and is the third largest private bus operator in New South Wales. History John A Gilbert Group The John A Gilbert group was founded in March 1926 by John A Gilbert as Reo Moto ...

History

In 1925, George Ryder purchased two small bus operators, the South Maitland Motor Company and the Marble Bar Motor Service, and named the company Rover Motors. Ryder was soon joined in the business by Rab Lewis. In the 1930s, Rover Motors introduced the first centre-door double decker buses in Australia and purchased the Cessnock to Maitland service from the Fogg family. In 1944, Rover Motors introduced the first semi-trailer bus in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In the 1940s, the Fogg and Mordue families become part owners of the business.Our History
Rover Coaches By the 1950s, services ran to

Maitland Maitland may refer to: Places *Maitland, New South Wales, Australia **City of Maitland, a local government area * Maitland, South Australia, Australia * Maitland, Tasmania, Australia * Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada * Maitland, Ontari ...

every half-hour from 04:30 until midnight. Services commenced to Wangi Wangi and

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

on Friday nights, returning on Sundays. Services commenced operating to transport employees to the

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

Newcastle Steelworks The Newcastle Steelworks was built by BHP in Newcastle, New South Wales. Construction commenced in January 1913, with operations commencing in March 1915. It was officially opened on 2 June 1915 by Governor-General Ronald Munro Ferguson. Newcastle ...

. In the 1960s, Rover Motors begins operating coach tours to the Gold Coast and

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...

. With the withdrawal of passenger services from the

South Maitland Railway The South Maitland Railway was once an extensive network of privately owned colliery and passenger railway lines which served the South Maitland coalfields in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia and were the second last system in Aus ...

to Cessnock, Rover Motors began operating services to Newcastle on 3 October 1967. In the 1970s, Rover Motors opened a travel agency and began operating tours across Australia as well as providing overseas and domestic travel arrangements. In 1986, the Lewis and Mordue families terminated their shared interests in Rover Motors and Hunter Valley Coaches, with the Lewis family taking full ownership of Rover and the Mordue family, Hunter Valley. In July 2009, a Cessnock to

Morisset station Morisset ( ;) is a commercial centre and suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie local government area in the Hunter Region, Hunter region in New South Wales, Australia. Morisset is a part of the Greater Newcastle area, it is located west of the l ...

service was introduced. In December 2022, the Lewis family sold Rover Coaches to

. The Rover name will be retained.

Services

Since September 2006, Rover's services have formed Sydney Outer Metropolitan Bus Region 1. It primarily operates services from Cessnock to Maitland, with limited services to Morisset and

Newcastle Interchange Newcastle Interchange is a transport hub, transport interchange serving the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It serves as the terminus for Central Coast & Newcastle Line and Hunter Line train services, Newcastle Light Rail service ...

Fleet

As at 20th of February 2024, the fleet consisted of 59 buses and coaches. Rover was a long time Leyland purchaser, continuing to build up its fleet with second-hand

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

long after it had gone out of production.Last Rover Tiger withdrawn ''Australian Bus'' issue 73 January 2017 page 41 The original all red livery was replaced by red and white in the 1980s, and white and red in the late 1990s. In 2012, the

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is a Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government transport services and roads List of New South Wales government agencies, agency established on 1 November 2011. The agency is a different entity to the NSW ...

white and blue livery was adopted for route buses.

Depots

Rover Coaches operate a depot and overflow yard in Cessnock as well as a depot in

Kurri Kurri Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the , its population was 6,174. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, We ...

References

External links

* {{Hunter Region places and items of interest Bus companies of New South Wales Transport companies established in 1925 Transport in the Hunter Region 1925 establishments in Australia