A new TV series looks at ways to change "one of the whitest town in Australia". That town is Maryborough, a two-hour drive from Melbourne. It's also rapidly ageing, in part because the younger generations tend to leave to find opportunities in the big cities, resulting in a larger segment of the population being older. Last year, the Central Goldfields Shire Council started a program to encourage skilled migrants to move to the town - both to create a more cultural diverse population and increase job opportunities. The makers of SBS series Meet The Neighbours chose to take their cameras to the town to film the experience of some of these Maryborough newcomers. Host and narrator Myf Warhurst felt the council's efforts were a conversation starter and could be applied to help other country towns in similar situations. "Towns need to be diverse and reflect the country in order to flourish," Warhurst said. "Australia is a very, very multicultural society so I think it's important that country towns as well reflect that. "The country has changed and is very much changing at a rapid pace so I think this was a great idea to see how the participants feel, though they were amazing - they just jumped in feet first with families. "I can't imagine how difficult that would be but they did it. Some of those families had teenage kids, and what teenager wants to move to a country town?" That's a feeling Warhurst knows all too well; she spent her childhood in country towns before moving away to Melbourne to go to university. "That's a lot of the reason why small towns are struggling because the younger folk have to leave for work opportunities and study opportunities and it's putting country towns into really difficult and precarious situations," Warhurst said. "I loved growing up in the country but it's harder to make friends because there's a smaller pool of people and [the teenage newcomers] just want to stay with their friends where they've grown up. "So I think it was difficult for some of the families but most of them just embraced it wholeheartedly and gave it a good go. "Some of them stayed and absolutely thrived." Still, there were those who found it a struggle. One had a hard time at their job, while another - a self-confessed "social butterfly" - didn't cope well with the fact the streets of Maryborough were empty after sundown. "Some people had never even lived in a country town before and they might not have realised that about country living, in terms of it being a bit quieter and having less social activities, that it might not be for them. "The good thing about the doco is it hasn't really shied away from any of their experiences. "It's very honest, it's very open about a lot of the stuff that goes on, and I think that's important to see. These conversations need to be had and we can't pretend that the difficulties aren't there and their problems don't arise." As well as other country towns perhaps getting some ideas from watching Meet The Neighbours, Warhurst also felt there were messages there for the city slickers too. "I also don't think the people in the city really understand that this is what is going on," she said. "So hopefully they might learn a little bit about what some of these towns are facing and some of the struggles that they're facing."