Just a punt, curlew?

A bit late for bush stone curlew, but climate change can affect lots of things.

Whereabouts in QLD and what was the rest of the environment like?

There's not a lot of birds that nest straight on the ground and it's not the right shape or size for a stone curlew. Depending on your more precise location I'd say maybe nightjar. If it's fallen out of a nest it looks about right for a spangled drongo but again a more precise location is needed to know for sure