A TENT embassy has been set up at the Point Lookout headland in a last ditch effort to stop a whale centre being built on the site.
The centre received planning approval in March 2020, and is set to feature the 15-metre skeleton of a humpback whale which washed ashore in 2011.
The state government awarded a building contract earlier this month, and QYAC announced construction would start in early February.
A spokesperson said the protest, dubbed the Truth Embassy, was residents' last bid to have their voices heard.
"After three years of disrespect and disregard we refuse to stand by and allow our sacred country to be destroyed and desecrated for unnecessary commercial benefit and gain," the spokesperson said.
"This has become our only option and our last resort to assert our sovereign rights, speak our truth and have our voices heard."
A QYAC spokesperson said the corporation supported the people camping at the Truth Embassy.
"They have every right to camp where they are as Traditional Owners," the spokesperson said.
"Many Quandamooka elders asked for the bones to be returned and fully support this project.
"The QYAC Board is aware of the issues in relation to this project."
Quandamooka elder Gary Tippo said there was disgust and dissatisfaction about the centre and the approval process.
He said the facility was known by some locals as the whale coffin.
A Ministerial Infrastructure Designation streamlined planning processes for the centre and meant its approval could not be appealed. He said the decision failed to respond to objections raised by island residents.
He said the decision failed to respond to some of the objections in submissions made by island residents.
"The Palaszczuk government's lack of respect for public opinion, and for many of the Aboriginal residents of Stradbroke, seems to have no bounds," he said.
A Planning Department spokesperson said decisions on Ministerial Infrastructure Designations were subject to robust environmental assessment and community consultation.
"Submissions ... were considered in the assessment of the proposal and in the final decision by the former Planning Minister," the spokesperson said.
Residents opposing the centre said the headland was culturally and spiritually important, and the whale, as a sacred creature, should not be on display.
Some called for the skeleton to be returned to the sea.
A petition to prevent development on the headland has attracted more than 30,000 signatures.
Former QYAC chief executive Cameron Costello told the Redland City Bulletin last year that the petition contained outdated information and there had been extensive consultation.
He said the whale bones had been dealt with in a culturally respectful manner.
It comes after reports of a Blainville's beaked whale washing up on Main Beach in late January.
