Mysterious Black Mountain (1934)

7/27/2019 Mysterious Black Mountain (1934)

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mysterious-black-mountain-1934 1/3

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



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



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.

Documents

Mysterious Black Mountain (1934)