‘You cannot replace it’: dismay over threat to sacred site posed by Toowoomba bypass

Conrad Bauwens, caretaker of Gummingurru, says ‘a certain amount of reverence and respect … should be shown to these places’. Photograph: David Kelly/The Guardian

Twenty minutes north-west of Toowoomba, down a gravelly country road, lies one of Queensland’s most sacred and significant sites.

Behind the coolabah trees and bush-tucker garden, dozens of ancient stones swirl into mosaics of a starburst, rainbow snake, emu and turtle.