Yuggera/Chepura woman Aunty Deb Sandy has called for urgent action to stop the Queensland government from building a $3.8bn stadium on Barrambin/Walan, Victoria Park, a site of deep cultural significance to Brisbane's traditional custodians.

The state government confirmed it would construct a 63,000-seat venue at Victoria Park for the 2032 Olympics, despite Premier David Crisafulli previously pledging during his election campaign that no new stadium would be built, especially not on the site.

Aunty Deb said the Premier's backflip had caused deep hurt among the community.

"To have a stadium built there wouldn't be good," she told National Indigenous Times.

"Aboriginal people used to camp there. It was home.

"It was communal grounds for visitors from up the coast, out west – for ceremonies, for travel, for everything."

She said Barrambin, traditionally known as Walan, had long served as a central place for Turrbal and Yuggenra peoples, stretching far beyond what is now Victoria Park.

"Traditionally it wasn't just all in that one area - you go down to the showgrounds and cross over before they built the rail and the motorway, Centenary Park, right up to the ridges - the campground was a lot bigger before they made the golf fields"

The site is also marked by a violent colonial history.

"There was a lot of killings and murders that went on there," she said.

"Aboriginal people in particular, when they were sitting around camping, here came the army and people, they'd done massacres.

"They murdered people there, shot them, clubbed them over their heads."

Aunty Deb said her own family fled the area during raids.

"My dad always tells me how our tribal group were some of the first casualties when the colony people came here," she said.

"My ancestor Bungaree, he had to run out of there with his father. They ran to Rosewood Scrub to survive."

​In February 2025, the advocacy group Save Victoria Park organised The Big NO Event, during which community members formed a human "NO" in Victoria Park/Barrambin to protest the proposed construction.

The event aimed to send a clear message of opposition to the Queensland government's plans, highlighting the park's cultural and environmental significance.

Despite decades of development and displacement, Aunty Deb said her family has maintained its connection to the land.

She said the decision to build a stadium ignored not only Aboriginal connection to Country but also past promises to preserve the park as public green space.

"That green space was promised to the people of Brisbane," she said.

"It should be left as it was - no stadium. No deal."

Aunty Deb urged the Premier and the public to reconsider the development.

"It wouldn't be nice for people to realise they're sitting in a stadium that was once a massacre site," she said.

"It's a no-brainer. This is sacred land. Leave it alone."

A GoFundMe set up the Save Victoria Park Inc. is currently seeking donations to help fight back against the development.