Why a Booktrail?
Mid 1800s: Travel back in time to New Zealand as you arrive by boat more than 150 years ago…..
The Colour
What you need to know before your trail
Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in search of a new beginning and a better life. However from the moment they arrive, events seem to be set against them. Joseph finds gold in the creek but becomes obsessed with the glitter of all that is gold, for he soon takes off in search of greater wealth to a place where hundreds more are chasing similar dreams.but there is competition and desperation for what they will find there.
The Gold rush in New Zealand in the 1860s was a prosperous time for many yet it struck at the heart of families and communities and often broke them apart.
Travel Guide
New Zealand’s gold rush of 1860s –
Immigrants Joseph Blackstone and his wife, Harriet travel to the country and hope to settle and take advantage of the Gold Rush which is transforming the country there.
But life is tricky and when they settle on the farm near Christchurch, they are isolated and alone. Having come from Norfolk in England, the lifestyle, weather and landscape is very different to what they know.
The Gold Rush sounds and probably was fascinating and exciting although it was described in quite a unique way according to the Lyttelton Times of New Zealand in 1866 –
“Gold Diggings disorganise society, induce a moral blight and divert activity from saner enterprise…….”
Harriets journey following Joseph abandonment of her is hard to read and she heads off to the south island in search of the gold diggers and her husband.
“When the spring came, Harriet promised herself, she would go into the mountains. To be alone here, alone with a strong horse if she had one by then…”
Harriet also has a mission whilst travelling through the mountains – to find a missing Maori woman. And so the colour of skin, the colour of gold and the colour of things to come becomes the nature of the novel. Vivid descriptions and vivid emotions in a barren and desolate landscape.
Where Next?
