Places and Drives - The Northern Tropics - Black Mountain

Giant piles of black granite boulders near Cooktown are the northern sentries of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Black Mountain's rocks are actually a light grey granite but appear black because they are covered with algae. They are rich in feldspar, mica and horneblend and, on very hot days, rain can cause the boulders to explode. Geologists believe the boulders were once a molten mass which solidified deep below the earth's surface 260 million years ago. Erosion gradually exposed the granite plug and fractures began to form the boulders we see today. Each Aboriginal language group in the Cooktown region has its own rich stories about 'Kalkajaka' and its meaning in the landscape. When Europeans arrived, they added to the Aboriginal stories with a few of their own. Stories are told of people, horses and whole mobs of cattle disappearing into the labyrinth of rocks, never to be seen again. Black Mountain is home to the rare Ghost Bat (Macroderma gigas), Australia's only carnivorous bat. The boulders also shelter three species found nowhere else in the world - the Black Mountain Skink (Carlia scirtetis), Black Mountain Gecko (Nactus galgajuga) and the Black Mountain Microhylid Frog (Cophixalus saxatilis). The worldwide distribution of these animals is, remarkably, less than 6sq km / just over 2 sq miles!

How to get there
The boulders are about 30km (18 miles) south of Cooktown on the Cooktown Development Road. Phone the QPWS office in Cooktown on (07) 4069-5777 for more information.