'Twas in the year of sixty two as near as I can guess,
When I left my dear old hometown in trouble and distress.
My family didn't want me I was left out in the cold,
Until I started searching for the Tuapeka Gold.
The day I left Dunedin I could not help but cry,
For not one single person came to bid myself goodbye.
So I set off on my journey and soon I did behold,
The hills that were covered with the Tuapeka Gold.
I looked the field over and then made up my mind,
To stake a claim on Blue Spur to see what I could find.
I scraped and panned and cradled all through the bitter cold,
And quickly made my fortune from the Tuapeka gold.
When some six months later I came back to my hometown,
Carrying the fortune that I'd taken from the ground,
Strange to say my old friends turned out to say hello,
But I knew all they were after was my Tuapeka gold.
The other day while walking I met young Maggie Brown,
Who once took all my money while I was sleeping sound.
Says she "come to my bedside, we'll be lovers as of old,"
But says I "you don't love me but my Tuapeka gold."
So come all you bold young fellows and attend to my advice,
And don't trust man nor woman 'til you've looked them over twice,
I've travelled for experience and many a time been sold,
Ah-ha, but this time they won't get me nor my Tuapeka gold.