About 43 kilometres from Brisbane's GPO is an emerging land use, humanitarian and fire disaster just waiting to happen to about 150 people living in makeshift houses on North Stradbroke Island.

All it needs is another bushfire and people may die.

The land where these people live has no running water.

On North Stradbroke Island there is a bushfire almost every summer.

That has certainly been the case in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

These 150 people now live in a patch of bush near Dunwich on the bayside of Stradbroke Island without power, without running water, or any modern system for waste disposal.

The people live in rumpled caravans, tin sheds, tents with annexes, and a range of timber homes - some for better and some for worse. There is scrap rubbish around the homes.

Queensland's Fire and Rescue Service Superintendent Jeff King admits fire officers are very worried at fire safety at One Mile.

"Basically, the whole One Mile area is an area of concern for us," Superintendent King said.

He says there is a lot of planning to reduce the fire load, but says it is time to improve the situation.

"It's a major area of concern for us because of the lack of access in and around there," he said.

"That is one of the areas we put a lot of effort into preventing fire getting in there because of the lack of infrastructure that is in there."

The residents here pay no rent and they pay no-one a lease.

Some people call them squatters, but that conveniently ignores history.

This 30 hectare piece of bush is called One Mile, named because the creek is one mile from Dunwich.

One Mile was established because North Stradbroke Island's aboriginal families were forcibly shifted to an aboriginal settlement at Myora Springs, where they lived from 1892 until 1940.

After 1941 – when the Myora Springs aboriginal settlement closed – they shifted to nearby One Mile.

Their parents and grandparents worked at Dunwich's local mental institution and other businesses for rations.

Today their water comes from One Mile Creek, as it has for 30,000 years.

They draw their water by pumps, by bucket or from rainwater tanks. They use bucket toilets, septic tanks and bury their human waste, as they have for the past 70 years.

In July 2012 the International Water Centre – backed by the University of Queensland and Griffith University – found faecal contamination of Stradbroke Island's One Mile Creek.

The International Water Centre asked Queensland Health for an urgent examination of the situation.

On December 12 2012, Redland City Mayor Karen Williams wrote back to then-premier Campbell Newman, pleading for state government action after massive bushfires swept through One Mile.

"Fire last Sunday ripped through a 'living area on State land near Amity Point. One demountable, a number of caravans and vehicles and dwellers lost their possessions in the blaze," Cr Williams wrote.

"Miraculously, no person was physically injured, but those affected are now incurring the emotional and rebuilding costs."

That December 12, 2012 letter followed an earlier letter in August 7 2012, when Redlands desperately asked the previous state government for help.

"My letter outlined Council's concerns that about people who were living in without appropriate permits in State land, in sub-standard buildings, shelters and caravans, in potentially unhygienic conditions, without access roads, water or waste services and in areas that may be prone to fire, land slip and storm events."

The fact that for the past 70 years, no-one has yet lost their life in one of the massive bushfires across North Stradbroke Island is regarded by locals as a miracle.

The fact that no-one has been willing to improve the situation in 70 years is regarded by locals as a state embarrassment.

It is a story about aboriginal people who were told by Southeast Queensland's aboriginal Protector in 1898, that he alone refused or approved their right to practice their culture.

However on July 4, 2011 Native Title to the land was granted to Stradbroke Island's Quandamooka people and One Mile has officially been Quandamooka land.

Quandamooka elder Ian Delaney - who had sand from his country sifted through his hands at the Native Title ceremony at Dunwich in July 2011 by former premier Anna Bligh – says it is now time for state, local and federal authorities to "make good."

Ian Delaney is one of the 12 traditional Quandamooka owners of North Stradbroke Island, which they call, Minjerribah.

"Because, if it was white people living like this... " Ian Delaney – known on Straddie as the "Mayor of One Mile" - said this week, "it would have been fixed years ago."

Nearby land at Dunwich is curbed and channelled, has water and electricity and the residents pay their rates and have their rubbish collected.

There are two water reservoirs on the hill over Dunwich - next to One Mile – where water could be linked and "gravity fed", elders point out.

Clearly it is more complex than this, everyone understands that.

But - in a nutshell – this is what the Quandamooka people in 2015 would like.

And if a bushfire goes through One Mile again, people will die, they believe.

As Ian Delaney says; "It is time to make good."

State Development Minister Anthony Lynham has recently been briefed on the situation.

"We have been in contact with the Quandamooka people and with the Redland City Council about meetings, but a mutually suitable date for these has yet to be confirmed," Mr Lynham said.

"We aren't going to make any rushed decisions. I will be looking at the issues closely and consulting with the various groups before I present any options to the cabinet for their consideration."

Mr Lynham maintains solving water and sewerage issues are Redland City Council issues, however Redland City Council disagrees.

Redland Council says the 30-hectare parcel of land is "unallocated state land" and until some state government decisions are made on its usage, Redlands cannot "rate" the land or begin the process of putting in some form of water supply.

QFRS Superintendent Jeff King said fire safety at One Mile now largely depends on the Quandamooka people raising the alarm among their community.

"In the event when fire is approaching - and it is coming up towards Myora Springs – everybody in that One Mile area is notified through the Quandamooka council, because they know the people and they know where all the huts are," he said.

Superintendent King agrees planning needs to be shifted to the next level.

"I think the first thing is to be able to identify what exists in terms of the residential structures in that particular area," he said.

"If we've got access into places, obviously we can do a lot more if a fire goes in there."

Superintendent King said they can fire bomb One Mile from the air.

"We can do aerial fire bombing if we have to," he said.

"But it is always easier, if we have some sort of access in there in the first place."