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The raucous cry of “Tele” in many and varied interpretations was always a feature of late afternoons in the temporary accommodation camps across Queensland as schoolboys earned a few extra shillings a week selling Brisbane's newspapers.

If there's one person who remembers the way things were in some of Queensland 's temporary accommodation camps after the war, it's the lad who delivered the papers.

For six years from 1945 to 1950, Allan Hodge bundled onto his bike after school and headed to Camp Muckley – set up in 1943 – to earn a little money by selling The Courier-Mail, The Telegraph , The Truth and on the last day of the week the Sunday-Mail. “Everyone wanted to pay their two pence to find out what was happening in the world.”

The paper run was a mixture of bike riding on Allan's old Malvin Star, and plenty on foot. “It was quite a feat, probably all up about six kilometres – I often wouldn't get home until about 7.30pm.”

And when he finally did walk in the front door, it was usually to a pot of solid stew – nothing fancy – but there was always a bread and butter pudding or jam on bread for supper.

But for the children, camp life meant a constant supply of playmates and a guarantee that there was never a dull moment. “Those days we'd run around in the bush or go swimming in the creek or fishing and we built tree houses, played cowboys and indians or marbles or jumped on our bikes for a ride,” Allan said. Recycled bikes scrambled together from bits and pieces and built by their fathers. “A lot of kids didn't have any toys so we made our own fun,” Allan said. “There was always a playmate.”

When the camp closed down in 1953, the site was used to build Queensland Housing Commission “pre-fab” Swedish style houses.