A group of Yuggera Ugarapul people are taking drastic action by camping on sacred land near Ipswich in a bid to stop the construction of a 925-lot housing estate close to a heritage-listed Aboriginal mission and cemetery.

Key points: Traditional owners are camping at the site hoping to halt its imminent development

Traditional owners are camping at the site hoping to halt its imminent development The Yuggera Ugarapul people are concerned about burial locations and a possible mass grave

The Yuggera Ugarapul people are concerned about burial locations and a possible mass grave Queensland Heritage Register information suggests several unmarked burial sites

Development company Frasers Property Australia plan to develop land for new houses and a school around the former Deebing Creek Mission and cemetery at Deebing Heights, west of Brisbane, causing upset among traditional owners.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware this story contains images of Indigenous people who have died.

Preliminary work is set to start next month on the development plan, which would turn the mission site into public parkland and include the revitalisation of an old cricket field and heritage trails established to tell the history of the area.

Frasers Property Australia says no residential lots would be developed on the mission site and the cemetery would be persevered with a 30-metre buffer zone around it, creating 37 hectares of dedicated parkland.

Traditional owner Karen Coghill is among a group of Yuggera Ugarapul people who have begun camping on the site in an effort to stop trucks from entering the area.

"We're talking about lands and it's serious — it's livelihoods, it's connection, it's not just an economical venture — this is personal," she said.

"Why do we have to go to extremes and occupy the land with old women and children camping out here?"

Ms Coghill said the Yuggera Ugarapul people were also concerned about burial locations being disturbed during development.

Karen Coghill said this was more than economics to the traditional owners. ( ABC News: Rachel Riga )

"There's a potential massacre site that's been found [near the cemetery] and they [the State Government] never looked into it, but now there's a plan for 900 houses on this site," she said.

In 2016, a report commissioned by the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships found what appeared to be numerous unmarked burial sites in the cemetery using ground-penetrating radar.

The report said information from the Queensland Heritage Register showed as many as 13 unmarked burials could have occurred in the cemetery.

Since the report's release there have been no plans by the State Government or Ipswich Council to excavate the area.

Some of the Yuggera Ugarapul people say they want the State Government to buy back the land so they become caretakers.

But, in a statement, a Queensland Government spokesperson said this was unlikely.

"The Queensland Government owns and maintains the Deebing Creek Cemetery site which will not be impacted by the development. There will also be no housing development on sites that are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register," the spokesperson said.

"There are no plans at this time for the Government to acquire any additional land in this area."

Traditional owners aiming to file injunction

Lawyer for the Yuggera Ugarapul people Trevor Hauff said they wanted to take legal action against Frasers Property Australia and were planning to file an injunction.

"We've put them on notice, we've provided them with details of what we will be making the application for in the hope they might decide not to proceed with preliminary work," he said.

Last year, part of the development was approved by Ipswich City Council, and work can now begin in the north-western corner of the site outside the heritage-listed area.

To develop within the mission area, Frasers Property Australia will have to file a separate development application requiring obligations to be met under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act and a Cultural Heritage Plan, which would require traditional owner approval and State Government assessment.

In a statement, an Ipswich City Council spokesperson said the company could undertake works on the parts of the property identified in the approval only.

In 2015, the development company purchased 115 hectares of land, including the mission and cemetery sites, as freehold land under the Ripley Valley Priority Development Area.

A tombstone at the cemetery for the former Deebing Creek Aboriginal Station. ( ABC News: Rachel Riga )

The cemetery is owned by the State Government and is not part of the Frasers Property Australia land.

Frasers Property Australia said it had had numerous meetings with the Yuggera Ugarapul people since they were recognised as the traditional owners in 2017.

"The outcome of these meetings has been that, while the Yuggera Ugarapul people have not raised any specific objections to the CHMP (Cultural Heritage Management Plan), ToR (terms of reference) or MoU (memorandum of understanding), they are unwilling to formally agree to or sign these documents and are instead seeking a political solution," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

"Therefore, under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, we must take the necessary steps to manage our duty of care for Aboriginal cultural heritage ourselves, without the involvement of the Yuggera Ugarapul people.

"We have communicated to the Yuggera Ugarapul people that we welcome the opportunity to engage at any point should their position change."

The developer said it would consider a land buyback if the Queensland Government raised the idea.

"We're aware that the traditional owners have raised this with the State Government but, to date, it's not something that the State Government has raised with us," said a Frasers Property spokesperson.

"We would welcome and participate in such a discussion in good faith."

A 1910 cricket match at Deebing Creek Aboriginal Station. ( Supplied: Save Deebing Creek Mission )

Cemetery site could contain mass grave

The mission operated between 1887 and 1915 as a place of residence and work for missionaries and Aboriginal people from Ipswich and other parts of Queensland.

A group of Indigenous people at Deebing Creek Mission in 1900. ( Supplied: Save Deebing Creek Mission )

The reserve was later used for grazing purposes and the mission was transferred to the nearby suburb of Purga.

Traditional owner Faye Thompson-Carr lived on the reserve in the old mission house with her family as a child in the 1950s and said it was a very sacred place.

"That's why we've got to keep doing what we're doing and we know we'll probably lose but we've got to have a go," she said.

"This means everything to us, this is all we've got left so we need to try and keep it. Our ancestors are here, you can feel it in the lovely breeze. They're always with us."

Ms Thompson-Carr said there is anecdotal evidence a group of school children and their teacher were massacred at Deebing Creek in the late 1890s.

"My brothers use to hear little ones, babies crying, and none of us were young. You know mum would try and tell us not to be scared."

The only tombstone in the cemetery is dedicated to Ms Julia Ford, an Aboriginal woman from the Beaudesert area who died in 1896, and spent time at the Deebing Creek mission with her husband Arthur Ford and some of their children.

According to her great-great grandson Shaun Davies it's believed one or two young children may be buried with her.