Indigenous communities across the country have been ordered into lockdown to help protect them from coronavirus, but there are concerns some are moving too slow in adopting the Federal Government's travel restrictions.

Key points: A checkpoint has been set up outside the Queensland community of Cherbourg, north-west of Brisbane

A checkpoint has been set up outside the Queensland community of Cherbourg, north-west of Brisbane Residents of Davenport, SA, only found out about a lockdown five days after it was implemented

Residents of Davenport, SA, only found out about a lockdown five days after it was implemented In Wilcannia, NSW, local children are making signs urging visitors not to stop in the town

In the Queensland community of Cherbourg, 250 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, a checkpoint has been set up to prevent anyone other than essential service workers from entering.

The Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council and Queensland Health staff are policing the checkpoint 24 hours a day, and residents who leave or try to re-enter are being forced to self-isolate for 14 days.

In 1919, the Spanish influenza swept through the community, killing 90 people in three weeks.

Elder Bevan Costello said there were fears it could happen again.

"That Spanish flu came through and killed our people ... so it's something that is on people's minds," he said.

Mr Costello said many people were worried, particularly those with existing medical conditions and at risk of complications from COVID-19.

After being frustrated by a steady stream of visitors, Wilcannia put its kids to work making signs urging people to keep driving through. ( ABC Regional & Local )

"A lot of people are quite scared... especially the ones aged over 50 and [who] have a chronic disease like diabetes," he said.

Police, Queensland Health and Cherbourg Council staff attend the checkpoint 24 hours a day. ( ABC News: supplied )

Food supplies are being delivered and a supermarket has been set up for residents to buy essentials such as fruit and vegetables, eggs, milk and bread.

"The shop only just opened yesterday morning and the people were lined up outside about 200 metres long," Mr Costello said.

"They're only letting two people in at a time, so it's a slow process there,"

Mr Costello said light beer and cigarettes were being sold from a truck at the checkpoint, with restrictions limiting the alcohol to two cartons per household.

Slow adoption of travel restrictions

The Australian Government's travel restrictions to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were announced a week ago, but some communities were yet to adopt them.

Food supplies are being delivered to Cherbourg for residents to buy during the pandemic ( ABC News: Supplied )

In Davenport, a community in South Australia, most residents only found out they were in a lockdown five days after it was implemented — from a Facebook post.

Davenport Community Council CEO Lavene Ngatokorua said the council had not informed the community because the small organisation did not have the resources or the information to impose the Federal Government decision.

"People can come in anytime they like because there's no information out there, and there is no lock, there is no boom gate or anything that is going to monitor people coming in or out at the moment," she said.

Ms Ngatokorua said the council was still working to secure supplies, including food for the entire community, despite the lockdown technically already being in force.

"We shouldn't be the ones negotiating with the local Coles and Woolies supermarket so that our people can have food," she said.

Ms Ngatokorua said outsiders were still entering and leaving the SA community. ( ABC News: Supplied )

"That should be already in place, because we are under the government lockdown."

Until those basic services were provided, Ms Ngatokorua, said a lockdown was futile, despite further delays putting local elders particularly in grave danger.

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"A lot of our people have chronic illness; they don't just have one chronic illness, they have about five or six," she said.

She said given the community's location, near one of the biggest centres connecting western and eastern Australia — Port Augusta — it did not have time to waste.

"We're the crossroads of Australia, so therefore the risk of contamination or transfer is really high," she said.

The South Australian Police, which is in charge of the lockdown's enforcement, said it was aware of the issue and trying to address it.

"We are working closely with affected communities to address community concerns... and planning for logistical issues relating to food supply and health are well underway," it said in a statement.

'No-one's going to help us'

Frustrated by a lack of support from authorities in locking down their town, the residents of Wilcannia in far-western New South Wales have taken matters into their own hands, with local children making signs urging visitors not to stop in the town.

Indigenous kids in Wilcannia, NSW, have made signs discouraging visitors from entering the town. ( Supplied )

The largely Indigenous community is situated on the Barrier Highway, a busy thoroughfare for caravaners and trucks.

After being frustrated by a steady stream of visitors stopping in the town to buy supplies and fuel up, the community put their kids to work making signs urging people to keep driving through.

Ann Currie, a Barkindji woman who helped local children making the signs at a local drop-in centre, said stopping visitors to the town was essential.

"We don't want any travellers coming through our town with this virus and things going around," she said.

"We don't know where they're coming from. I'm not saying that they're carrying it, but we just need to be safe in our community."

As borders have closed around the country, there has been a steady stream of caravaners coming through the town and buying up supplies and fuel.

Ms Currie said that had also put unnecessary pressure on the town's resources.

"We've only got one little shop," she said.

"We can't have people coming in here and buying food and whatever, because that's all we've got.

"We're not we're not being nasty or anything, but this disease is very serious, and we've got to do what we have to do to survive it, because no-one's going to help us."