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Demolition of the Dahlstrom family's orginal whare, Roberts Line

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Description: Sidney Burr, watched by his son Leo, is shown demolishing the Dahlsrom family's whare with a mallet.
Vera L McLennan write that Ola Persson Dahlstrom (1842-1924) "hewed his first hut or whare out of totara from standing bush. He came from Lund, Sweden, and his wife Perania Mathira nee Osterby, from Aar, Denmark, where they were married in 1870. They came to New Zealand in the early seventies. His grant [of land] is dated 5 February, 1877. Roughly hewn uprights were used in the building of the two-roomed cottage, and a two-forked branch was used in the dividing wall between the kitchen and the bedroom. There was no ceiling, and the dividing wall was only as high as the doorways, so it must have been quite cold in the winter ... Its roof had two layers of wooden shingles, which were later covered with corrogated iron. There was once a door between the two rooms, and a back door with a porch over it. In the kitchen was a Colonial oven. The outer walls were of upright hand hewn totara boards painted a red colour. Many of the first homes were built similar to this one" (From Stoney Creek to Whakarongo: 1877-1977, p.27).
Ola Dahlstrom worked as a bricklayer and builder. The family lived in this whare until 1890, when he built their permanent home. In 1887, Ola and Perania adopted Lydia, the seven year old daughter of Anders and the late Maria Christensen. Lydia later married Sidney Burr.