Set in the 1860s, this re-release for a new audience is set in the gold rush town of Dunstan, in NZ’s South Island, where Mary Brogan is looking for her father. Mary and her family moved to New Zealand from Australia ahead of her father, who intended to follow later. But unforeseen events have kept Mr Brogan in Australia for the past seven years and Mary’s mother has had to cope with raising the two children on her own. The family are now living in poverty in Dunedin where her mother has made it clear Mary must leave school and start contributing. But now gold has been discovered in the Otago hills and Mary is sure her father will be there. If only she can find him, she is sure their troubles will be over. Mary dresses as a boy, calls herself Harry, and makes the long and dangerous trek from Dunedin to Dunstan – the site of the latest gold rush.