As property opportunities go, this is one that might benefit from a little estate agent jargon. There are the original features (peeling paint on weatherboard exterior complete with rusty nails), the open-plan interiors (a huge hole in the kitchen wall), the potential for improvement (floors caked in dust) and the secluded location (down a gravel track miles from anywhere).

But the farmhouse up for rent in rural New South Wales does have one appealing feature: at just A$1 a week, it is undoubtedly a bargain.

The property is one of six which the outback town of Trundle hopes to use to reverse decades of decline and start its population growing again. The houses need work (some more than others – DIY novices need not apply) and tenants will have to be hardy rugged types willing adopt a "bush" lifestyle. But locals are convinced the deal – essentially £30 a year for a home and fresh start – is compelling.

"I'm really excited," said farmer Ben Kerin, 36, showing off one of the farmhouses on offer. "Before we've had tenants in the houses but it's been whoever has come along. We've never had this wonderful opportunity to screen applicants and choose who we want to live in the houses."

Trundle is six hours' drive west of Sydney, much of the final stretch along dusty gravel roads. Its population has fallen by a third in the past decade, down to 380 people, as a combination of the crippling drought, mechanisation and economic hardship have driven people away.

"It's been a very emotionally draining eight or nine years," said Kerin, a wheat and sheep farmer who runs 4,000 acres.

Not a single farmer in the town has seen a return in that time. Many have been driven off the land to work in cities or in the booming mining industry. As farm work has become more mechanised, even more jobs have been shed, leaving empty houses and putting local businesses in jeopardy. Now, after months of drenching rains, a bumper crop is in store and the people of Trundle have been energised to woo new residents to their community.

Trundle boasts the widest main street in New South Wales, at 60 metres across – a throwback to its days as a travelling stock route.

Last year the town said goodbye to its last bank – closed for lack of customers. There used to be two butchers along the main shopping strip. Now meat is delivered once a week to the two small grocery stores. When the town's public library and community business centre were threatened with closure, residents took action. "We held a crisis meeting and hundreds of people came," said Cherie Quade, 35, a schoolteacher and spokeswoman for the farmhouse rental scheme. "People realised if we lost anything more, we'd be in real trouble," she said.

In the week since the "Tree Change" (relocating to the country) rental scheme was launched, there have been more than 100 formal applications from families around Australia and the world, including from Britain, Canada, Turkey, and the Netherlands. Successful families will be asked to sign a three-year lease, with the hope that they'll stay on after that. "Our main priority is families with children," said Quade. "We also want people who are community-oriented and have renovation experience so they can do up the farmhouses."

Tenants and landlords will make individual arrangements about what needs to be done, the landlord may buy a water tank on the understanding that the tenant installs it.

Many of the applications have been from people saying they are desperate to get out of the city rat race, paying high rents or mortgages. A number of former farmers have also applied, some from as close as an hour's drive away.

Residents are positive and cannot wait to have new families in town. People talk proudly about keeping their two schools going – one a primary school with 35 pupils and the other a kindergarten to year 12 (A-level equivalent) school with 100 pupils. Both are well equipped with computers and senior students have some of their classes via video-conference with other schools in the district.

Trundle also boasts a permanent doctor, a rarity for a rural community of this size. But nurses are needed, as are other professionals. "We've got a bloke here in Trundle who works in IT and can't keep up with the demand," said Quade. "If you get more people coming to town, there will be more of a demand for services and that's good for everyone."

The gold and copper mine at nearby Parkes, about 45 minutes' drive away, is a big employer. Mining wages across Australia are inflated – a response to the country's commodities boom – and staff of all kinds are in high demand. A driver delivering water trucks in a mine can earn as much as A$800 for a 12-hour day.

Whatever the opportunities Trundle may offer, the reality will be a somewhat isolated existence in a house that needs serious work. Utilities are basic, and some properties are remote and ill-equipped. There is no doubt the people of Trundle are warm and welcoming, but "Tree Change" may turn out to be an understatement.

Looking for a new life



Lyndsey Shir-McDermott-Pour, 30, lives in a three-bedroom council home in Alvaston, Derby, with her husband Akbar, a four-year-old daughter and son aged six months.

I saw a story about the offer on Yahoo news and there was no link. But I figured out that more or less anyone in the town would know what was happening, so I got in touch with someone and they pointed me in the right direction. We've almost finished the application form now.

I'm guessing there will be a lot of people going for this so I'm not expecting to get one of the houses. But it's like the lottery – if you don't go for it you've got no chance. Then we'd have to get accepted by Australian immigration.

It would be very different from Derby but I like rural places. We spent a few months living on the Shetland islands last year, and that's about as remote as you get in the UK. I don't particularly want to be isolated from people but it would be nice to be somewhere with a real community, where my daughter could play out. I don't let her play on the street here, and her school friends don't live close so it's quite lonely.

I've been in the army and I've done lots of jobs, including customer service and being a flight attendant, so I'm not afraid of hard work. My husband is trained as welder.

I've travelled a lot but I've never been there. I do watch Masterchef Australia, so at least I know the good places to eat.