The Mathers family have ditched Victoria's big city life for a more laid back lifestyle in rural Tasmania.

Key points: More and more Australians are opting for a "quieter" lifestyle in rural areas

More and more Australians are opting for a "quieter" lifestyle in rural areas Residents of St Marys say the population has grown in recent years because of people looking for a "tree-change"

Residents of St Marys say the population has grown in recent years because of people looking for a "tree-change" The median house price in St Marys for the first three months of 2019 was $230,000

"We came from Melbourne and we love Melbourne, it's great, but it's out of control with population and traffic, and we wanted to step right back from that," Michael Mathers said.

Like many Australians, the Mathers are opting to escape the growing pressures of city life and return to the "real Australia".

They've bought 12 acres in Tasmania's rural town St Marys, which is about 15 minutes from the state's east coast, and have just started building their dream home.

"There's nothing St Marys, as far as we could figure out, that they don't have," Nicole Mathers said.

Michael and Nicole Mathers and daughter Hannah bought land at St Marys to escape the city. ( ABC News: Manika Dadson )

"They have the medical centre, and the post office, and everything else. The pub obviously, and a hairdresser, which is great.

"We're not going to be clearing any of the rest of the land, we love it as bush and natural.

"We do have a big garden up the back there that we're also developing, so hopefully that will be self-sustaining in the long run."

The median price for houses in St Marys, Tasmania is currently $230,000 and land sales average at $45,000, according to the most recent data from the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania.

The same statistics list the median price of Launceston houses as $347,000 and Hobart house prices as $720,000.

From forestry and mining to a tree change

Many newcomers to St Marys say the small town has all they need. ( ABC News: Manika Dadson )

St Marys is made up of one main street, with a dozen or so roads surrounding it, filled with houses and farm land.

It's about a 90-minute drive from Launceston, and 40 minutes from St Helens.

The most recent census data put the town's population at 682 people, but a number residents believe it will increase as more people discover the ease of rural life, and the cheap house and land prices.

The small town was built on mining, agriculture and forestry.

Around 300 people worked at the nearby Cornwall Coal and the Fingal mines in its heyday, while forestry also employed about 300 residents before the industry collapsed.

The Cornwall Coal Mine still operates, but only around 60 people work there now.

John McGiveron, who is the Deputy Mayor of Break O'Day Council and the former Cornwall Coal Mine operations manager, said it was the mine that kept him living at St Marys in the early days.

"Jobs were good, and then I met the girl next door, which I thought was really good and I didn't have to travel to go and see her," he said.

"I'd just walk up the hill, so that worked out really well, so I stayed."

Ruth and John McGiveron have lived in St Marys for more than 70 years and say a lot has changed over the decades. ( ABC News: Manika Dadson )

He said a lot had changed at St Marys over the past 70 years and there had been a recent new shift.

"All of a sudden the demographic has changed and people have started to move back in because they can buy large blocks of land around the area," Mr McGiveron said.

"It's tree change probably, if you'd like to call it that, and it's started to build up again.

"Years ago, I would have known everyone in the town, and now I probably know about a quarter of them.

"The town has now brightened up, and we've got six places you can go and have a coffee, where as a few years ago you couldn't get one.

"We've got a free camping ground, which has got showers, toilet, and that's full all the time."

Mining played a big role in the town's history. ( ABC News: Manika Dadson )

'It's got everything we need'

Tameika Gillies lives at St Marys with her husband Adam and their three children.

They live a few minutes drive from St Marys District School, the community health centre, and the main street, which has two supermarkets, a hairdresser, cafes, library, pub, newsagency, art gallery and an asian food store.

The Gillies family say they have everything they need in St Marys, including sporting activities for the kids, Mary 14 2019. ( ABC New: Manika Dadson )

"St Marys is a small town, but basically we have the same here as what we could have in big cities, but they're just too hectic, too chaotic," Mrs Gillies said.

"We're getting a lot more things down to shops, to hairdressers and whole food cafes.

"Having my children grow up in this small community is really good.

"We don't have to travel too far to actually do something that they really like. Football, netball, dancing — it's all here."

Evelyn McGee, who works at the St Marys Bakery, said it was the people that kept her in the town.

"You can go anywhere, people say 'hi', and it's just like a big family," she said.

St Marys Bakery's Evelyn McGee was born in the Philippines and moved to St Marys in the 1990s. ( ABC News: Manika Dadson )

She said the only additional thing she would like was more permanent doctors.

"It's only two doctors, and it's not enough."

Working in a regional community

Ian Summers loved St Marys so much when he worked there as a teacher in the 70s that he decided to move there. ( ABC News: Manika Dadson )

One of the biggest struggles for many people living in regional Tasmania is finding a job.

A lot of young adults and the working age population have left St Marys — the median age at the last census was 53 — as the main jobs going around are council jobs, mining, hospitality and a few in agriculture.

Ian Summers, who initially moved to St Marys to take up a teaching role in the 1970s before relocating for good in the early 2000s, admits his "Cranks and Tinkerers" museum doesn't make him much money.

"I don't have an entry fee and I don't sell anything, so I don't think I'm on the road to a fortune," he said.

"But I do cause money to be spent elsewhere, so it's a contribution to the town if you like."

Those like the Mathers, who have recently moved in and are full time professionals, split their time working from home and commuting.

Mr McGiveron said for a small town like St Marys to retain a working population it needed a new industry.

"We used to have a cheese factory, but that's gone now," Mr McGiveron said.

He said a mine expansion, or bringing controlled forestry back, could increase the working population, but he knew both options would be controversial.

But many in town are happy to keep things just as they are.

"We don't want too many people coming here," Mr Mathers said.

"Yeah, don't like it too much because we're happy with our little piece of paradise," Mrs Mathers said.

"The community here is so much closer, everyone knows everyone, everyone looks out for everyone, and it's just a happier lifestyle."

A lifestyle more and more Australians appear to be opting for.