A local indigenous spokesperson has hit out at the hosting of the National Native Title Conference at Sheraton Port Douglas, following claims that the resort is built on an ancient burial ground. 

Shanelle Young, a Yalanji woman who performed a ‘welcome to country’ for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s visit to Mossman, has set up banner on Port Douglas Road criticising the decision to host the Native Title Conference - the theme of which is ‘Leadership, legacy and opportunity’ at the Sheraton, which Kuku Yalanji elders claim is built on a traditional sacred site. 

Elders Bennett Walker and Ray Pierce claimed in 2011 that the when magnate Christopher Skase began construction at the site in 1988, human remains were disturbed and not reburied with respect. 

Ms Young was invited to perform a welcome to country and smoke ceremony for the Native Title Conference by speakers Jim Turnour and Mary-Anne Port but refused, saying it was disrespectful to do so. 

“Would you have a meeting if you knew it was on top of a burial ground?” she said. 

“My grandparents were involved in the heated discussion about the Sheraton Mirage when it was first built. 

“Even after the truth about this has come out, they have still gone ahead.”

Fellow ‘concerned person’ Prue Barrett, who joined Ms Young at her post on the side of Port Douglas road, said there had been a coverup of the destructive actions at the Sheraton and elsewhere in Australia. 

“It’s all been covered up,” Ms Barrett said. 

“It’s happened all over the country.”

Newsport has contacted Sheraton Port Douglas for comment.