The discovery of gold in New Zealand in the 1800s led thousands of people to rush to overnight tent towns set among isolated mountains and rivers. In the north, vast forests of giant kauri trees cloaked the land. Yet now only a tiny fraction of the trees survive in threatened forests, and many goldmining settlements are just ghost towns. Rush to Riches tells the story of how mining for gold and felling the kauri forests helped found New Zealand, with both Māori and new immigrants involved in these new industries. The tales in this book reveal how exploiting these resources changed the face of the land and its people.-back cover.