To Catch a Rainbow — Estelle Thompson

Early in 1869, the charming,irresponsible Robert Walden arrives with his wife Elizabeth and their two children in the crude, crowded town of Gympie, Queensland, which has erupted into existence with the discovery of gold. But instead of fortune, the Waldens meet disaster. The story follows the divided loyalties of a family torn apart by murder, suspicion and a town's hostility. Above all, it is a drama of a pioneering people caught up in the tremendous pressures of excitement, greed, rocketing triumph and stifling failure that follow that one magical, terrible cry: "Gold!"