More Info →Tollkeeper and family at the Manawatu Gorge toll-gate

The Gorge road opened in 1872, and in 1875 the Government established a tollhouse at the Woodville end to defray the cost of maintaining the road. Hans Olsson was the third and last toll-keeper and also worked on the Gorge road. In 1912 tolls were abolished and the tollhouse was demolished making the Olssons redundant and the small settlement which grew up around the tollhouse disappeared. This photograph shows Hans Olsson charging a shooting party to the the bridge. The fee for a horse and rider was ninepence, a horse and cart was one shilling and threepence, and sheep travelling through the gorge were charged per head. Mrs Olsson and their son, Joseph Gottfred Olsson, are on the right.