The oval, the National Library of Australia archives attest, has long been a place of running races and football matches, and served as a base for travellers from interstate visiting the Tent Embassy; a place to get a shower and some respite.

While the territory government has done some minor works to improve it as a casual recreational and meeting centre, last July it outright rejected calls for the oval to be handed back.

The government also has no plans to invest the estimated $3 million it would take to make it a fully functioning sports ground again.

ACT Indigenous Affairs Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith would not answer questions about the future of the oval or its importance to the Indigenous community, referring all questions to Sports Minister Yvette Berry, who is currently on leave.

A spokeswoman for Ms Berry said the government was working with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body to determine the future governance of the oval, including a strategy for indigenous management.

But Ms Tongs said she had not been contacted about any such plans. She said that Winnunga and Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation were the only indigenous service providers in the ACT and, as such, should be part of any such plans.

Ms Tongs said Charlie Perkins, at the time the secretary of the then Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs, had fought for the entire Indigenous community to have control of the oval, for locals to enjoy and visitors to have a base.

But she said it was now time for the territory government to acknowledge its central role and hand the land back - and not just as a sports ground. She also suggested part of the land could be used a centre to house Indigenous social enterprises and possibly a Men's Shed.

Ms Tongs said the petition was just the start of an official campaign to wrest back control of what was always Aboriginal land, and she was calling on the broader community to get behind Indigenous people on the issue.

She said the government's refusal to hand back the oval was just the latest in a string of examples of the ACT government not listening to Aboriginal people, including the controversies over the Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm and the Yarramundi Cultural Centre.

But Ms Tongs said she had not taken up the government's invitation to tour the oval since July last year, as she was disgusted with the way Indigenous people had been treated by the government, after they had worked for months to prepare a proposal for the oval's future.

"We are getting consulted all the time, but the government seems to think that's enough, that it's enough to tick that box and then ignore everything we've said," she said.

"Boomanulla Oval was a national icon. It was one of the first pieces of land to be returned to Aboriginal people, and it is a disgrace to know what the territory government have allowed it to become."

She said it was a big issue for the Indigenous community, and with Invasion Day this Saturday, it was time for people to stop being complacent and letting the government walk all over them.

"I won't sit in the corner and be quiet. We have the highest rate of incarceration, the highest rate of removal of Aboriginal kids, this is becoming more like a horror story every year," she said.

"We live in one of the richest cities in the world, but it's not like that for a lot of Aboriginal people in this community. They live in poverty.

"The only diversion centre for Indigenous people in Canberra is the Alexander Maconochie Centre [the adult prison] and we need a different option, a social and cultural centre, and Boomanulla Oval is perfect for that."

Ms Berry's spokeswoman said the process "had its challenges" and the government was "working with Indigenous Canberrans to improve future processes".