The Australian Stock Saddle
and the Saddlers that made them
ALBERT JAMES COX 1887 - 1951
Albert (Bertie) Cox was approximately sixteen when his family emigrated from England to Australia. The family chose to reside in Rockhampton, and at an unknown age, Bertie commenced his apprenticeship with well known saddler William Henderson. In July 1923, Bertie Cox and family arrived in Miriam Vale and he set up his saddlery in the old teacher's residence. In later years he had the house moved up on the hill and made his saddles underneath the house.
Long time Miriam Vale local Alex Craig related some stories of Bert as follows:
"Bert Cox was a happy little fellow with a jockey type build, and he used to sing while he worked in his saddler's shop under the house. He had big double gates out the front which he used to lock at night and open in the morning for trade of business.
Alex stated that the Cox Poley was 19 lbs in weight. "There was a saddler, Werner, in Rockhampton who used to make a stock saddle that weighed 34 lbs. In the Cox saddle you were down close to the horse, you didn't have all the packing, you were with the horse. He used to make a saddle in 2-3 days." Alex stated that he bought his saddle in January 1941 for 13 quid. "Bert Cox was famous before the war and even sold saddles to America. He had such orders at this time that you had to wait for your saddle."
Photo 1 - The Cox residence with the saddlery shop under the house
Photo 2 - Bertie's favourite dog
Photo 3 - Bertie with his favourite racehorse
Photos kindly supplied by Bert Cox's daughter Gwen Teske
Bert Cox became famous in the 1920’s, when he came up with the “broken neck” poley. This refers to the way the seat webbings were strained, creating a flatter seat and he raised the kneepads closer to the top of the pommel, which revolutionised, to a great extent, the stock saddle in Australia. This design made provision for the rider to sit more forward under the pads, allowing for better balance during fast cattle work, and also gave a better grip to the rider on a bucking horse.
Unfortunately Bert's health took a turn for the worse as he contracted cancer. This prompted him to sell up and move to his son's house in Brisbane in 1948, however he continued to make saddles under Les' house and even had his stamp changed from "Maker Miriam Vale" to "Maker Brisbane". Albert Cox succumbed to the disease and passed away in 1951.
The popularity of his saddles was such, that within weeks of him passing away, several of the larger manufacturer's in Brisbane and other areas of Australia had their version of his "Cox Poley" saddle on the market.
This saddle was made for Bert Cox's grandson Les Cox Jnr. Bert admitted that it was the hardest saddle he had ever made, as it was 1/5th to scale. Les recalls coming home from school one day to see his grandfather talking to Tex Morton. He also added that Bert had never used a sewing machine and he always sewed by hand.
Photo kindly supplied by Bertie's grandson Mr. Les Cox