Editing Kalkajaka National Park

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox Australian place
| type                   = protected
| name                   = Kalkajaka National Park
| state                  = qld
| iucn_category          = II
| image                  = Black Mountain1.jpg
| caption                = View of one of the park's mountains from [[Mulligan Highway]]
| image_alt              = 
| coordinates            = {{coord|15|40|05|S|145|13|55|E|type:landmark_dim:5000|display=inline,title}}
| relief                 = 
| map_alt                = 
| nearest_town_or_city   = [[Cooktown, Queensland|Cooktown]]
| area                   = 7.81
| area_footnotes         = 
| established            = 1980 (Register of the National Estate)
| established_footnotes  = 
| visitation_num         = 
| visitation_year        = 
| visitation_footnotes   = 
| managing_authorities   = Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
| url                    = www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/black-mountain
}}

'''Kalkajaka National Park''', also called '''Black Mountain National Park''', is a {{Convert|781|ha||abbr=|adj=on}} [[protected area]] in [[Shire of Cook]], [[Queensland]], Australia.<ref name="naq"/><ref name="abmnp"/><ref name="NEstate01">{{cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=9030 |title=Black Mountain National Park |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924124656/http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=9030 |archivedate=24 September 2015 |url-status=live |website=Register of the National Estate}}</ref>

== Geography ==
The park is 25&nbsp;km south west of [[Cooktown, Queensland|Cooktown]]. It is managed and protected as a [[national park]] under the [[Nature Conservation Act 1992]].

The main feature of the park is the mass of granite boulders, some the size of houses. The absence of soil between the boulders and rocks create a maze of gaps and passages, which can be used to penetrate inside the mountain.<ref name="naq">{{cite book |title=Natural Areas of Queensland |last=Shilton |first=Peter |year=2005 |publisher=Goldpress |location=Mount Gravatt, Queensland |isbn=0-9758275-0-2 |pages=11–13 }}<!--|access-date=4 July 2011--></ref> These rocks can become extremely hot.

The area has a bad reputation as numerous people and those searching for the missing have disappeared without trace.<ref name="naq"/>  The [[Mulligan Highway]] marks the western border of the park.

==Natural history==
The national park’s distinctive hard black boulders (often termed [[granite]]) and range are composed of the igneous felsic intrusive Trevethan [[Granodiorite]] which is predominantly a white to grey, medium-grained, porphyritic [[biotite]] [[monzogranite]] to granodiorite. The age of the intrusive is Late [[Permian]] and has been dated from 259.1 to 251.9 million years old. The Trevethan Granodiorite was originally magma that slowly solidified under the earths crust.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://macrostrat.org/map/loc/145.2302/-15.6719#z=12.7 |title=Macrostrat|website=macrostrat.org}}</ref><ref name="nch"/>

The softer land surfaces above the solidified magma eroded away over time, leaving the magma's fractured top to be exposed as a mountain of grey granite boulders blackened by a film of microscopic blue-green algae growing on the exposed surfaces.  Colder rains falling on the dark, heated granite boulders causes the boulders to progressively fracture, break, and slowly disintegrate, sometimes explosively.<ref name="nch"/>

==Cultural history==
Kalkajaka ("Black Mountain") is a heavily significant feature of the [[Kuku Nyungkal people]]'s [[cultural landscape]]. Kalkajaka translates to "place of the spear".

Queensland's Department of Environment and Natural Resources has been advised of at least four sites of particular [[Australian Aboriginal mythology|mythological]] significance within the area as follows:<ref name="nch"/>

<blockquote>
''There are at least four sites of religious or mythological significance on the mountain. These are the Kambi, a large rock with a cave where flying-foxes are found; Julbanu, a big grey kangaroo-shaped rock looking toward Cooktown; Birmba, a stone facing toward Helenvale where sulphur-crested cockatoos are seen; and a taboo place called Yirrmbal near the foot of the range.''
</blockquote>

Kalkajaka also features strongly in local, more non-Aboriginal cultural landscapes, some of which has also been described by Queensland's [[Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (Queensland)|Department of Environment and Resource Management]] as follows:<ref name="nch"/>

<blockquote>
''When European colonists arrived late last century, they added to the many Aboriginal legends of the area with a few of their own. Stories abound of people, horses and whole mobs of cattle disappearing into the labyrinth of rocks, never to be seen again''
</blockquote>

It is believed that those who vanished most probably fell into one of the chasms under the rocks or after entering one of these places became lost.  It is estimated only three in ten would survive such falls, wandering below the Earth's surface with only ground water streams and insects to nourish them.  A minority group is referred to by colonists as the Outback Moles (perhaps in reference to New York's underground population).<ref name="naq"/>

==Ecology==
The park's mountains are located at the northernmost end of the [[Wet Tropics of Queensland|Wet Tropics World Heritage Area]], where world heritage listed wet tropical forests meet drier [[savanna]] woodlands - making it a natural [[Refugium (population biology)|refuge]] for once more widespread, now isolated [[Relict (biology)|relict]] fauna.

Queensland's Department of Environment and Resource Management advises, for instance, the relatively small, unusual "Black Mountain" environment is the world's only habitat for at least three animals: the Black Mountain boulderfrog or rock haunting frog (''[[Cophixalus saxatilis]]''); the Black Mountain skink (''[[Carlia scirtetis]]''); and the Black Mountain gecko (''[[Nactus galgajuga]]''). This makes the area one of Australia's most restricted habitats for endemic fauna.<ref name="nch">{{cite web |url=https://parks.desi.qld.gov.au/parks/kalkajaka/about/culture |title=Black Mountain (Kalkajaka) National Park: Nature, culture and history |date=1 October 2021 |website=Queensland Government: Parks and forests}}</ref>

==Facilities==
Camping is not permitted in the park. There are no walking tracks and no facilities for picnics.<ref name="abmnp">{{cite web |url=https://parks.desi.qld.gov.au/parks/kalkajaka/about |title=Black Mountain (Kalkajaka) National Park: About Kalkajaka |date=1 October 2021 |website=Queensland Government: Parks and forests}}</ref> There is a viewing platform that features interpretive displays.<ref name="naq"/>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Black Mountain2.jpg|Kalkajaka in the Kalkajaka National Park near Cooktown, Queensland, Australia.
File:091209 Kalkajaka01.jpg|View of one of the black mountains from Mulligan Highway
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Queensland}}
* [[Protected areas of Queensland]]
* [[Kuku Nyungkal people]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080820071031/http://www.griffith.edu.au/ins/collections/webb/img2/16-72b.jpg Photograph of the "Black Mountain" from Len Webb Ecological Images Collection]<small>Accessed 24 February 2009 </small>
* [http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/walking-on-country-with-spirits/ United Nations University's Media Studio's (2008) video brief including Kuku Nyunkal woman (Marilyn Wallace) visiting Kalkajaka] <small>Accessed 23 February 2009</small>

{{Far North Queensland}}
{{National Parks of Queensland}}

[[Category:National parks of Far North Queensland]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1967]]
[[Category:Wet Tropics of Queensland]]
[[Category:1967 establishments in Australia]]