Mysterious Black Mountain (1934)
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Transcript of Mysterious Black Mountain (1934)
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Sunday Mail (Brisbane) (Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 28 January 1934, page 14
National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97719605
UNSOLVED TRAGEDIES
of
Coofctown's
Mystery
Mountain
By 'WAYFARER.'
Black granite slabs on Black Moun lain, Cooktown.
THEmosl remarxaplc feature
about this mountain, which ts
about two miles long and of an
average width of approximately three
quarters of a mtte. is that it 's com
posed entirely of huge black granite
slabs, block on top of block, and de
void of any soil or vegetal'™ what
ever There is nothing growing on the
mountain, nor is tlieve any bird h.e
on it.
AlUiv.i{,h the mountatr. .s m.of.ubt
ed;y ju a freakish co-islmcV.on of
Nature, the aborigines of ihe Far
North have always asserted that it was
built in ares past by a race of giants.
The natives also have always aiiiivned
that a 'debil-debil' lives there, and no
blacks have ever been seen nearit.
Since the very first days of Cooktown
the natives have had that fear of the
mountain, and their belief in the
'debil-debil' has been Etrenijthoncfl by
the fact that grim tragedy has been
associated with the mountain ever
since it has been known by white men.
associated with the mountain ever
since it has been known by white men.
Quite a number of men have mysteri
ously disappeared there, never to be
seen or heard of again, and no satis
factory explanation of their disappear
ance has ever been arrived at.
First Disappearance
In the gloom of the evening the
Black Mountain looks forbidding to a
degree. It is an eerie spot, and the
many mysterious human disappear
ances there constitute one of the
strangest chapters in the police his
tory of the far north of Queensland.
The first mysterious disappearance
at the Black Mountain took place in
the earliest days of the Palmer River
goldfield— in the early part of July,
1872. to be precise. In those days the
road from Cooktown to the Palmer
River was thronged with carriers, with
bullock teams and pack-horse teams,
conveying provisions, tool!?, mining
conveying provisions, tool!?, mining
machinery, &c. to the goldfield, where
over twenty thousand miners from all
parts of the Commonwealth were
feverishly searching for the precious
gold.
As has been said, the road passes
within a few miles of the Black Moun
tain,
and,as the
country betweenthe
road and the mountain is well grassedand contains a permanent stream of
good water, it was usual for the car
riers to make the locality a resting
place in order to feed and water their
bullocks and horces.
The locality also had another at
traction. At this early date the blacks
were proving troublesome all along the
Palmer River road, except on thatstretch near the Black Mountain.
Almost daily attacks were made on
the carriers on other parts of the route
by the natives, frequently with dire re
sults to the white men. But never had
the natives been seen near the Black
Mountain. Accordingly the resting
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Mountain. Accordingly the restingplace there was very popular amongstall the carriers. They all knew, of
course, about the natives' story that
a 'debil-debil' lived in the forbidding
mountain, but one and all they ridi
culed the whole thing.
But soon afterwards, as a result of
Black Mountain, Cooktown, where many men have disappeared imperiously
the mysterious disappearance of one
of their clan, the locality lost its
popularity amongst the carriers, and it
was very rarely used.
No Trace Found
At this time one of the best-known
carriers engaged on the Cooktown
Palmer River route was a man named
Phillip Graynor, and one evening, dur
ing July, 1872. when on his way to
the Palmer River with a pacfe-horse
team loaded with provisions, he camped
with some other carriers near the Black
Mountain.
That night, however, three of his
horses broke loose, and galloped away
in the direction of the mountain. At
daybreak the next morning Graynor
mounted another horse and set out to
search for the missing animals. He
made straight for the mountain, and
was never seen again.
When Graynor had not returned to
the camp after three hours, the other
carriers, who were preparing to re
sume their respective .tourneys, became
alarmed, and three of them rode to
wards the mountain, cooee-ing at in
tervals. There was no response to their
calls, however, and they had barely
reached the foot of the grim pile of
granite slabs when they saw Giay
nor's saddled horse grazing content
edly nearby.
There was no sign of the man, how
ever, and despite a thorough search no
trace of him was found. The next
day police and black-trackers (the
latter much against their will)
thoroughly combed the mountain and
every inch of the surrounding country
for miles around, but absolutely no
trace of the missing man was ever
discovered. He had disappeared en
tirely, as if the earth had opened and
him The official ver
tirely, asif the earth had opened and
swallowed him up. The official ver
dict was 'disappeared at Black Moun
tain.' but the natives' verdict was
'him eaten up altogether by 'debil
debil.''
Two in a Month
Ten years passed during which few
persons went near the Black Moun
tain. The Palmer River Roldfleld
begun to peter oul and lose its population, and by tho end of 1882 there was
verylittle traffic between tlir field and
Cook 1
own. The mystery of Graynor's
disappearance had Inng been forgotlen.
but 11 speedily revived, following uponj
About 14 miles south-southwest
of Cooktown, and approximately
three miles of the road leading
from Cooktown to the Palmer
River goldfield, stands what is
probably the mosl remarkable
mountain in Queensland, if not in
Australia. This is the Black
Mountain — a unique, solitary, flat
topped landmark situated in dense
forest country.
two more remarkable disappearances
within a month of each other.
Early one Sunday morning In Novem
ber. 1882, Harold Owens, a well-known
and popular settler of the Oakey Creek
district, several miles west of Cook
town, left his farm on horseback to
search the Black Mountain country for
some horses he had lost. A few hours
later he was seen heading for the
mountain by a carrier, who was travel
mountain by a carrier, who was travel
ling along the Palmer River road, and
that was the last that was ever seen
or heard of Owens or his horse.
In this case, also, the police and
black-trackers, assisted by hundreds of
friends of the Owens family, made an
exhaustive search of the mountain and
a vast area of country in the vicinity,
but again 110 trace of the missing man
was found. Owens and his horse had
completely vanished.
The search parties had just given
up the search when yet another man
was reported to have disappeared at
the mountain! This -was George
Hawkins, a well-known identity of the
Pour-Mile district, outside Cooktown.
Popularly known as 'Bed Faced
George.' Hawkins had a club foot, and
ons fine morning in December, 1882,
he left the Four -Mile district and rode
towards the Black Mountain in order
to ascertain whether there was any
feed for cattle in the locality. He
had been talking about taking up some
land in that vicinity.
Hawkins, of course, knew all about
the mysterious disappearances, but he
took little notice of them, and declared
that the men must have got lost some
where, which was hardly feasible since
both ot the missing men were experi
enced bushmen.
Deformed Foot Found
At any rate. Hawkins proceeded along
the Palmer River road, where he met
several travellers. He spoke to one
of these near the mountain, and men
tioned that he was visiting the coun
try around the strangehill. As the
traveller continued on his way he
looked back and saw Hawkins leave the
road and ride In the direction, of the
mountain, and that was the last that
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and
mountain, and that was the last that
was ever seen or heard of Hawkins
or his horse.
Once again an exhaustive search was
made for the missing man. Settlers,
miners, carriers, and natives from all
over the district joined in the search.
Ihe disappearances had created a local
sensation— a mystery that all were de
termined to solve. But Hawkins,
like Owens, had disappeared com
pletely, and after several weeks the
search was abandoned.
The official verdict in both cases was
'disappeared at Black Mountain,' but
the natives' verdict again was 'them
eaten up altogether by 'debil-debil.''
The following year the bones of a
deformed human foot were discovered
by a hunter near the foot of the Black
Mountain. The bones were believed to
be those of Hawkins's foot, but this,
of course, could never be proved.
Case of James Wren
Another ten years passed. The
Black Mountain country remained un
touched. The Palmer River goldfield
had lost nearly all of its population,
and the district was at a standstill
until in the middle of 1892 rich tin
deposits were discovered in the coun
try south of the Black Mountain, and
there was an immediate rush of miners
to the locality.
One of the first men on the new
tinfield, which was named Rossville,
was James Wren, a veteran miner of
many years' experience in North
Queensland. During August, 1892,
after having worked on the field for
several months, Wren decided to spend
a week-end in Cooktown, and he left
his camp early one Friday morningriding a very tame horse.
After spending Saturday and Sun
day in Cooktown, Wren commenced
his return journey on Monday morn
ing in company with another miner
who was also bound for the tinfield.
Wren was a silent, taciturn man
neither .sullen nor surly but very
quiet, with never much to say. His
companion, however, was a boisterous
person, and they did not get on very
well together. As a result, when they
reached a small bush hotel along the
Palmer River road, a few miles north
of the Black Mountain country,
Wren's companion stayed there, while
Wren went on alone.
j
It was late afternoon, and about two
miles past the hotel near the old
carriers' camping pines1 at the Black
Mountain, three miners travelling to
Codktown from the Palmer River en-
countered Wren, who bade them the
time ol the day and eonlhiu'd on his
Journey.
|
That was the last that was ever seen
or heard of Wren or his horse. About
half an hour after the first party of
Palmer River miners had seen Wren
another party of miners came along
the road, but they passed nobody on
the road within 20 miles of the hotel.
The turn-off from the Palmer River
road to the tinfield was approximately
30 miles from the hotel.
When Wren's companion reached
Rossville the next day and discovered
that Wren had not arrived, a bue
and cry was immediately raised,3!id
the police, black trackers, and hun
dreds of men from all parts of the
district joined in the search, which
district joined in the search, which
was kept up for over a month. But
no trace ol James Wren or his horse
could be found.
Most Recent Disappearance
Again a man had seemingly vanishedoff the lace of the earth. The Black
Mountain, and hundreds of squaremiles of country in the vicinity, were
completely combed, but without suc
cess. Even the black trackers, thekeenest trackers known in the world,
could not find a single sign to aid
them. So the search was abandoned.
Once again the official verdict was
'disappeared near the Black Moun
tain,' and again the natives' verdict
was 'him eaten up altogether by?debil-debil'.'
Thirty-five years passed, duringwhich the Cooktown district declinedinto a 'ghost' district. All the miningfields lay abandoned, and the old
Palmer River road remained, unused.The Black Mountain country was .still
untouched, and old residents of thedistrict frequently discussed the mysterious disappearances there without
arriving at a solution of the problems.The natives, now civilised, stllr
declared that a 'debll-debll' lived In thegrim, forbidding mountain, and they
would not approach it for anything.And then suddenly, once again,- themountain was responsible for a local
sensation— another man had disappeared there!
It was early in 1928, when Q. Packer,an old prospector of the Trevethandistrict, announced his Intention i of
doing some prospecting in the vicinity
of Black Mountain. His neighbourstried to persuade him from undertak
ing such a venture, but he was deter
mined to do 50, and set out for^the
mountain one morning on foot, carry
ing his prospecting equipment :andfood supplies, together with a rifle.
When he had not returned three
weeks later his neighbours raised an
alarm, and the whole countrysidejoined In the search. The black
trackers discovered tracks at the footof the mountain, but these were bo
confused that they were valueless. For
days the mountain and country adjoining were searched
.without result,
until one of the searchers on the moun
tain, attracted by flies, looked Into a
shallow fissure between two graniteslabs, and saw there the decomposedbody of the missing man. Packer'srifle was with his body, and a bullet
wound in his head. His prospecting
equipment was discovered nearby in
the same fissure.
The official verdict in thas case was
'suicide at Black Mountain,' hut the
natives' verdict was 'him bin killed,,
altogether by 'debil-debil'.'
That is the latest known tragedy that
has occurred at this fatal mountain of
granite slabs. Officially, each of the
tragedies is finished with; but the fact
remains that not one of the mysteries
has been solved, and probably never
will be.