The imposing and legendary Black Mountains are 24 kilometres south of Cooktown and form part of the Black Mountains National Park.  The traditional Aboriginal name for Black Mountains is Kalkajaka, which means Spear Place.

According to information displayed at the Black Mountains lookout, one Aboriginal story about its origins claims that two Rock Wallaby brothers wanted to marry the same Rock Python girl, and each tried to outdo the other by building a large mound from the black rocks which were laying around.  None of the three noticed the approach of a cyclone, which killed the men on their mounds and drowned the woman