ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

The Australian Government acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and acknowledges their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the Elders past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.

Indigenous.gov.au Connecting With First Nations Australians
Back to Stories

Kalkajaka, the mysterious Black Mountain - This Place

29 January 2020
Culture and cultural heritage
An Indigenous man in khaki shirt and wearing a cap stands in front of green and yellow and brown foliage.

Learn about the sacred battlefield in Far North Queensland.

For thousands of years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been naming places that were sacred or important to them.

This video is part of an ABC produced series named This Place. It tells the story behind one of these special places:

To traditional owners, Kalkajaka is a sacred battlefield of both spirits and warring clan groups.

To tourists, Black Mountain is the eerie and striking landform along the Trevathan Range many feel compelled to stop at on their drive to Cooktown in far north Queensland.

The mass of massive, granite boulders towers over the landscape; black and barren, in stark contrast to the scrubby green savannah below.

Black Mountain is a place of mystery and legend to Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, dubbed the 'Bermuda Triangle' of far north Queensland due to stories dating back to the late 1800s of disappeared people, horses and whole mobs of cattle.

Find out more

For more information, visit This Place.