The roar of four-wheel drives fails to stir the sleeping koala on North Stradbroke Island off Brisbane.
With holiday houses metres away, it is used to the presence of people at Point Lookout.
But this marsupial may need to find another tree if a proposal to rezone the land goes ahead.
The reclassification would allow more tourist accommodation to be built on George Nothling Drive.
Across the island, traditionally called Minjerribah, 25 parcels of land covering 249 hectares are earmarked for rezoning.
They extend the townships of Point Lookout, Amity Point and Dunwich.
Under Redland City Council's existing planning scheme, 20 parcels are conservation zones.
If the changes are approved, most of those areas will be designated for low-density residential and urban development.
Resident Geoffrey Gearheart says the island's unique nature is being put on the chopping block.
"We just have to look down to Byron Bay and Noosa and those areas to think, 'Is this what we want for our island?'"
Nicole van Leeuwen, who has lived on the island for more than 30 years, said the koalas were the most exciting part of a visit to Stradbroke.
"Often [tourists would] say they'd never seen a koala in the wild before," she said.
Koalas are clinging to existence, as though it were a gumtree.
In February, the federal government upgraded the species' status from vulnerable to endangered.
Dr Gearheart, who has a doctorate in science, said the destruction of their habitat stressed the animals and made them more prone to disease.
"These large areas that are earmarked for rezoning for development are greatly going to affect koala populations here," he said.
He said Minjerribah's koalas had a trait that could help protect those on the mainland.
"For some unknown reason, some mysterious reason, they don't show signs of [chlamydia]," he said.
Indigenous community says it was kept out of the loop
The council was directed to change its city plan by the Queensland government so the island's native title holders, the Quandamooka people, could develop the land as they wish.
Following a native title determination in 2011, the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC) entered land-use agreements with the state government and Redland council.
The aim was to create housing for Quandamooka People, as well as cultural and economic opportunities.
Quandamooka man Mark Jones told the ABC the island's Indigenous community had been kept out of the loop.
"We get told it's commercial in confidence and the people sitting at the committee level can't bring that information out to the people," he said.
Mr Jones, who runs a tour business on the island, worries the land will be sold off.
"Once the land's sold, our native title rights and interests are surrendered and lost forever," he said.
The QYAC has told the ABC it is committed to upholding the native title rights and interests of "all Quandamooka people".
"QYAC is also committed to ecologically sustainable development across all Quandamooka country," a spokesperson said.
Call to suspend the process
However, the Quandamooka Truth Embassy Elders have urged the state and local governments to suspend the process, which they said lacked transparency.
"Will the land be sold? What land, if any, will be made available for affordable public and Aboriginal housing?
"If the land is proposed to be sold, how will the sales proceeds be utilised? Who will these proceeds benefit?
"What will be the process and terms for allotment allocation and occupation?"
The elders are also calling for a "proper assessment" of the island's ecological and human population capacity.
Feedback to be sent to government for final consideration
Mr Jones said habitat had been lost ever since mining operations began on the island in 1949.
"We can keep saving the habitat as much as we can, but people need to reflect on what damage was done where the current developments happened as well," he said.
"And do they want to exchange that development there for leaving the land as is? I guess not."
Six weeks of community consultation on the proposed changes to the city plan ends on Monday.
The feedback will be sent to the state government for final consideration.
A spokesperson for Acting Premier Steven Miles said development of the parcels would still need to meet council planning controls.
"In addition, where a development will impact on mapped koala habitat areas, the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) may also be required to assess any impacts from the development on koala habitat area," the spokesperson said.
"Future development on these sites will be dependent on the decisions of landholders and the characteristics of land parcels, including such factors as location, access to infrastructure, environmental attributes and mitigating risk from natural hazards."
The Straddie Chamber of Commerce said in a submission almost half the parcels were unsuitable for development.
Its president, Colin Battersby, told the ABC while the business community welcomed bigger townships, the island's infrastructure would not cope.
"There's already strains and pressures on the public utilities here, like sewerage and roads and parking," Mr Battersby said.
"You're looking at doubling, potentially tripling the number of people that are going to be here at Christmas time."
Some locals say the old sand mine should be considered for housing development.
Operations shut in 2019 and rehabilitation is underway.
"You're never going to get the old trees to grow like they are trying in the rehabilitated areas," long-time resident Desleigh Specht said.
"There's hundreds and hundreds of hectares of former mining area. They even have roads leading to them," Dr Gearheart said.
