Author: Grahame Sydney. In 1862 the barren Interior of Otago, New Zealand was largely unknown, and was home to a small number of newly-settled pastoralists. However when two prospectors announced they had struck gold, this sparse, inhospitable region became magnet to tens of thousands of hopeful men.Using several surviving diaries of gold prospectors, ‘Promised Land’ is a comprehensive and graphic account of the story of the discovery of gold and what we now call ‘Central Otago’.  Published 2009. SORRY SOLD OUT.