It’s that brutal lesson the once-blithe township of Gunnedah is now attempting to swallow.

The true heart of the northwestern town is dying on the inside; a victim of its own success and the mining dollars that have flooded into its streets, transforming it into one of the most expensive places to live in the nation.

While six coal mines surround the town providing a jobs boom, many of its long-term residents can no longer afford to stay there, with rents tripling and businesses closing down as the town’s young men give up their professions to chase the coin down the mine shaft.Some rental properties are now commanding $1350 a week, giving middle and low-income families no alternative but to move out of the district.

Gunnedah mayor Adam Marshall said the exodus is growing.

“Locals are getting priced out of the market and I’m fully aware that those who can’t afford the rent are leaving town just to survive,” he said. “Council approved 82 residential dwellings in the last financial year, the best figures since 1981, but rent keeps going up.”

Long-time locals, brothers Shannon and Chris O’Shea, have packed up their respective families and moved to Newcastle, where they found employment immediately.

“We are looking at renting a house on the water cheaper than we can in Gunnedah,” Shannon said. “Chris and I both love Gunnedah, especially the fishing, camping and shooting, but we saw the writing on the wall when the mines starting opening up and look at the ridiculous rent now. We know plenty of other people who are thinking of moving out of the town for the same reasons.”

Mr Marshall last week toured Roma in Queensland to get a grasp on what coal mines and coal seam gas booms over the recent years have done to the town of 8000.

“Roma is in all sorts of trouble. The town has lost its character as locals left in droves, forced out by high rents and big industry,” he said. “We don’t want this to happen in Gunnedah and we need to act quickly before it’s too late.”

Local real estate agent Ben Hennessy is dealing first hand with the rental crisis and also agrees that something needs to be done quickly.

“We have three to four inquiries each day for rentals and there is no argument that locals are getting priced out of the market,” Mr Hennessy said.

Mr Marshall describes the rental market as a machine snowballing out of control.

“If the mining companies pay top dollar for rental houses everyone with a rental investment thinks they can get the same money, and that’s when the real problems start,” he said.

“I live alone in a four-bedroom house and I’m probably better off moving in with my grandparents and renting it out for $350-$400 a week.”