After injuring himself during construction of the Sydney Opera House Mijo Matanovic moved to Lightning Ridge, a town famous for its opal mines and its Great Artesian hot springs.
"This is a very good, healthy place. I've noticed it's been good for the body and everything else to live here. And the water helps."
Now well into his 80s, Mr Matanovic still lives in a camp he built with his two sons.
It's about the size of a studio apartment, equipped with power generators and water tanks.
He's just one of several elderly migrants who hold claims to mine for opal in surrounding areas.
Hungarian-born Ana Vastag used to be one of them.
"A lot of these people came in the 60s and 70s, mostly people who worked on big projects in their youth like the Snowy Mountains dam project. And when they have finished the job they came to Lightning Ridge to look for their big fortune. But then the years went by and a few found a fortune, but most of them didn't. A lot of them didn't provide for their old age, so they live now on the fields."
Ms Vastag has spent the last decade as a migrant support worker in Lightning Ridge.
More recently she's been helping them arrange paperwork and doctor's appointments through an interim service set up using spare funds from another community group.
But with the money now spent, she says the service has no choice but to close its doors.
"I am worried because there is a huge gap in the services for these people. They're isolated, a lot of them are alone, they don't have family support. They're getting older and they have more need for care. Who do they turn to?"
Ms Vastag is now lobbying the state government to create a new migrant worker position in Lighting Ridge and approve more aged care units.
A statement from the New South Wales Multicultural Ministry says it's "in the process of reviewing" Ms Vastag's concerns.
They also highlight $30,000 in annual funding for the nearby Lightning Ridge Neighbourhood Centre, where Ms Vastag's clients are being told to go if they need help.
But staff there, including Lorraine Crawford, say they're ill equipped to assist them.
"They don't really like to talk to somebody when it's not in their own language and they don't always understand what we're trying to tell them and vice versa. They will probably become even more isolated than they are now, and I'm frightened some of them are going to end up dying out in the camps and no one will find them."
A big influence in deciding how much money should go towards certain services is the Census.
In 2011, the count put Lightning Ridge's population at around 2,500.
But Ms Vastag says that doesn't include the people who live in the camps, and other isolated areas. "That is one of our biggest difficulties, to count our population. People for various reasons don't like to fill out the census, so we always come short in that respect."
Depending on the time of year, she says, the population could be as high as 8,000 - leading to many community services being further stretched.
Peter Preradovic has lived on Lightning Ridge's mining flats for nearly 20 years but arthritis and poor circulation in his legs means he can no longer mine.
The Croatian-born migrant says Ms Vastag's services have been vital for people like him.
"When I buy this property, she do papers for me because I'm not, uh... writing English or reading. She help me so much. (If) They close the office, a lot of people will be sorry."
Ms Vastag says she will still volunteer wherever she can, but remains hopeful there will be some good news for her clients in the new year.
