Key points:

- Appeal to halt Olympic stadium construction at Barrambin rejected

- Traditional custodians highlight cultural significance at Sunday rally

- Protest movement vows to continue resistance

Federal government rejects heritage protection bid as Indigenous custodians and community protesters vow to continue their fight against Olympic stadium construction at Barrambin.

The fight to save a sacred Aboriginal site ahead of construction of Brisbane's Olympic Games stadium ran into a stumbling block on Sunday after the Federal Government dismissed First Nations appeals to prevent bulldozers from rolling in the next day.

Aboriginal custodians of Barrambin / Victoria Park, the inner-city Magandjin parklands which sits on Turrbal and Yuggera Country, joined Save Victoria Park protesters to rally against the state government proposal and voice their ongoing frustrations over the arrangement.

A rally of several hundred protesters on Sunday heard respected Elder Gaja Kerry Charlton, who submitted one of the section 10 applications, deliver the first of multiple Indigenous speeches on the day.

"We wanted to give that message to the government, to the nation, to the world, that this action is deeply wounding us and many different First Nations people here on Yuggera Country," she said.

Another spelled out the resistance based on longstanding cultural lores.

"We still fighting, we're still going through the legal system to fight on," Elder Theresa Williams added.

But for the Aunty Theresa, who has delivered multiple Welcome to Country ceremonies and guidance at civic and community heritage events in Brisbane, the site is one of deeply personal, cultural significance.

She is a living storyteller and the preeminent authority of the oral history of her peoples on the Turrbal and Yuggera Country.

"This place does have birthing sites - my family's birthing sites," she added.

"This park is a beautiful, natural park...and has burial sites."

Uncle Adrian Burragubba, from Wangan and Jagalingou Country in Central Queensland, spoke out against the actions of Brisbane City Council staff and police officers, who participated in forced eviction of protesters, including First Nations advocates, on Friday.

He joined non-Indigenous speakers saying the physical intimidation on display, which led to arrests two days earlier, should be investigated.

The arrests without known charges included removing the Goori camp embassy, where a group of Indigenous objectors had occupied the area throughout this year.

"They were forcibly and they were coerced in a manner that is only seen in a war-torn area," he said, "and we were treated like animals".

On the back of a traditional ceremonial performance at the rally, Mr Burragubba said there is a deep cultural misunderstanding on the part of enforcing authorities at the heart of their objections.

Barrambin — the traditional name of the park's locality — he said, remains sacred for all Aboriginal people since their ancestors have passed down traditions of the land over generations of time.

"I pay respect to that first lore - that lore has always been here," he said.

"For over 60,000 years, it has always established for our people.

"They're the ones who told us that song and that story, and that Dreaming, and that dance, and that rhythm.

"Where that rhythm comes from, and where that melody comes from as well, it's from here - it's from the natural environment.

"This is what we do as Aboriginal people - we bring the story, we bring the song and the dance, and a lot of our people that grow up with it from very young age, and this is where they come and learn.

"There's a sacred site here.

"It's a spring - we're connected to that spring, we're connected to the kinship ties with this mob here."

Ownership for most of Victoria Park, an accessible public recreation area for past 151 years, will be handed over as of Monday from Brisbane City council to the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority.

The vocal opponents' first act was a section 9 application of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, which called for plans for the Olympic Games' main arena and the nearby National Aquatics Centre on the site to be scrapped.

However Federal Environment minister Murray Watt rejected two separate last-ditch applications on Sunday to to stop work going ahead after its midnight deadline passed as a public park on June 1.

Mr Watt, in assessing the section 9 applications, considered whether a "significant Aboriginal area was under serious and imminent threat of injury or desecration".

"In accordance with federal cultural heritage law, I have decided not to make declarations under section 9 of the act in relation to these applications," Mr Watt said in a statement on Sunday at the height of the rally.

"This is because, based on the information before me with respect to each application, I was unable to be satisfied that either application met the statutory requirements for a declaration to be made under the act.

"Today's decisions follow consultation with interested parties, and I acknowledge the importance of the area to the Turrbal and Yagara peoples."

A further four applications submitted under section 10 of the Federal government act, Mr Watt confirmed, remained under the minister's consideration.

However, construction equipment was expected to be brought into Victoria Park regardless after barricades were installed in recent days to prevent public access to the site.

Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman — the ex-leader of the same Liberal-National Party whose government switched plans of hosting athletics at the 'Gabba, the city's existing stadium in preference of a newly-constructed venue — also spoke out on Sunday.

The 62-year-old, who led Queensland in 2012 for a single term in office until 2015, first appointed Jarrod Bleijie, the current deputy Premier, to the role of the Attorney-General, who has been a vocal critic against what he called "loopy" protesters.

"They're not listening and they're making a dreadful mistake," Mr Newman told media after his own speech to the public.

"Not only will they destroy natural heritage values (of the park), they'll destroy Aboriginal cultural heritage."