Ms Lea said she had been restoring the camps to house relatives which were coming to visit.

After working at the camp last Tuesday, Ms Lea left to go home thinking her camp was safe.

However, not long after neighbours contacted her saying one of the camp s had been broken into.

"My neighbour ran out at 6 o'clock after he heard the noise of a door being broken down, and realised people were breaking into my camp."

"My neighbour yelled at the offenders to stop, but they had allegedly threatened to shoot him."

Ms Lea said the burglars took a stove, and a range of household contents.

"I believe they're trying to set up their own camp so they decided to rat someone else's.

"They took things like sleeping bags, candles and those type of things, but the worst thing is the smashed door, because I had only rehung it after improvements a week ago."

"From Sunday to Tuesday (last week) neighbours said they had seen a white van driving around the Simms Hill and Indian's Lookout area."

Ms Lea said she was aware other camps had also been broken into in the past couple of weeks.

"The bad thing though is that many people haven't reported it (to the police).

"It doesn't matter whether people are insured or not, there's nothing anyone can do about it if it is not reported," she said.

Ms Lea said most of the robberies had occurred at at dusk.

"There would have to be at least 10 camps that were broken into in the past three weeks, and it seems unlikely this is coincidental," she said.

"In the past three years there were never as many break and enters as now, it appears there are a gang of ratters currently operating in the area."

Ms Lea said a number of her neighbours had given the police information about the suspected vehicle.

She said the vehicle had been identified as a stolen white van with Queensland number plates.

Ms Lea said it was believed there were two men involved in the thefts, both believed to be aged in their 30s.

"Police have been able to draw up a really good description of one of the men who broke in," she said.

He is described as having medium-length blond hair with dark sideburns, blue eyes and is of medium build.

If anyone has seen the men in question or the van, or knows their whereabouts they can contact the police on 6829 9799.