Two of the camp's first intake of children were in the town yesterday marching with hundreds of others in support of the facility staying open.
Seaton Mills (77), of Balclutha, and Richard Beeby (75), of Alexandra, were 9 and 7 respectively when they travelled by train to Milton from Balclutha to be among the Roxburgh camp's triallists before its official opening in 1941.
Both Mr Mills and Mr Beeby vividly recalled their three months spent at what was still a construction site of sorts, in the summer of 1940-41.
Mr Beeby had mumps at Christmas and spent his first holiday away from home in the camp hospital. Mr Mills prepared peas for the camp's dinner.
Visitors were sparse as few people had their own vehicles, dorms were "austere" with "spartan beds and cubicles", toast was "dehydrated" in the oven, and nothing could be kept hidden from other camp pupils, he said.
"Seeing as we were the guinea pigs so to speak, they [camp staff] had no idea what to do with us. We did more or less what we liked," Mr Mills said.
Days at the camp were spent making huts from construction materials on site, and hunting for skinks, geckos, and trapdoor spiders.
Mr Beeby said: "We would catch geckos with a hooked wire from under rocks, and put them in the camp baths to watch them run on water.
The easiest way to get trap-door spiders out was to drop a couple of black beetles in their traps and they would come running out."
Mr Mills said although boys had to wear minimal clothing resembling the "bottom end of a bikini" during the summer, it was not enough to spoil their fun.
Mr Beeby: "When we got home and went back to school, we bragged about going away to everybody. They were all jealous. There was certainly no stigma about the camp back then; we went for physical health."
Mr Mills had been in hospital for 12 months with tuberculosis before staying at the camp, and Mr Beeby had colitis.
The camp aimed to boost physical health and resistance, and such a facility was still needed, Mr Mills said.
"Kids will learn what they have lost the art of these days, which is being able to live with others. The camp experience made such a difference in my life and today I don't mind the odd spoonful of cod liver oil," he said.
