The first version in the DT - the one without extra verses - is included in Neil Colquhoun's 'New Zealand Folksongs: Song of a Young Country' Bailey Bros & Swinfen 1972, p29. Colquhoun reconstructed the tune.
The NZ Folk Song info doesn't appear to include the note from Colquhoun:
In Dunedin, the prices of goods, clothing, board and lodging and building sections were rising. Carpenters were building rows of cottages to rent; new shops and warehouses were opening. Otago province was going to become the richest place in New Zealand. The first gold rush of this country was to be in the steep-sided gullies in the Tuapecka district.
Colquhoun also includes this quote from Vincent Pyke 'Early Gold Discoveries':
...he who is unable to draw on his memory and personal experience cannot possibly conceive of the absolute solitariness which in those days pervaded the interior of Otago - the solemn loneliness of the mountains ... where the profound stillness was painful in its prolonged intensity ... such was the country, devoid of path or track over which the courageous gold-seeker, sometimes with his family, had to conduct his prospecting tours.
The previous song in Colquhoun's book, 'Tuapeka Gold' had this note:
In May, 1861, Gabriel Read discovered a large deposit of alluvial gold while prospecting along the Tuapeka River in Otago. He reported his find to the authorities in Dunedin.
And this quote from Colin Hemingsen 'Reminiscences of a Gold Digger':
Overnight the city was transformed and men left all kinds of occupations to hastily buy tools ... provisions and to set out for the goldfield. Within one week a city of tents and lean-to's appeared, stretching for miles along the Tuapeck.
Perhaps of interest to some Mudcatters, the song was recorded by Gordon Bok on his 'In the Fine Land' CD. He had the song, with extra verse, from the Australian folk singer, Phyl Lobl.