Black Mountain is situated close to the central business district of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's capital city Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

. Like all major hills in Canberra it is protected from development by the Canberra Nature Park

Canberra Nature Park

The Canberra Nature Park is actually 30 separate protected areas in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, ranging from bushland hills to lowland native grassland...

. It is covered in native bushland and is a haven to native wildlife.

With its peak at 811.987m AHD

Australian Height Datum

The Australian Height Datum is a geodetic datum for altitude measurement in Australia. According to Geoscience Australia, "In 1971 the mean sea level for 1966-1968 was assigned the value of zero on the Australian Height Datum at thirty tide gauges around the coast of the Australian continent...

, Black Mountain rises 256m above the water level of Lake Burley Griffin

Lake Burley Griffin

Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed...

. Situated at close to the highest point is Black Mountain Tower, a broadcasting tower rising a further 195m above the summit.

The Australian National Botanic Gardens

Australian National Botanic Gardens

The Australian National Botanic Gardens are located in Canberra and are administered by the Australian Government's Department of the Environment and Heritage....

 and the CSIRO share the eastern base of Black Mountain, next to the Australian National University

Australian National University

The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

.

Black Mountain was originally named Black Hill at the same time as the naming of nearby Red Hill

Red Hill, Australian Capital Territory

Red Hill is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The suburb is named after the northernmost hill of the ridge to the west of the suburb. The ridge is a reserve and managed as part of the Canberra Nature Park. The hill is an element of the central Canberra design...

. The original name explains why the mountain is not now known as Mount Black like nearby Mount Majura

Mount Majura

Mount Majura, is a small mountain located in Canberra, Australia. Mount Majura lies close to the more prominent Mount Ainslie and at 888 metres is the highest point in Canberra...

 and Mount Ainslie

Mount Ainslie (Australian Capital Territory)

Mount Ainslie or Mount Ainslie-Majura is a part of Canberra Nature Park. It borders on the inner suburbs of Campbell, Ainslie and Hackett...

. The early settlers referred to the mountain formation as the Canberry Ranges

Geology

The bulk of Black Mountain consists of the white quartz Black Mountain Sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

. This was deposited in
the late early Silurian

Silurian

The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...

 Age. On the south east slopes and north west there are exposures of State Circle
Shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

.
The Black Mountain Peninsula contains mudstone

Mudstone

Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...

 in the north and greywacke

Greywacke

Greywacke or Graywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally immature sedimentary rock generally found...

 from the Ordovician

Ordovician

The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...

 age
Pittman Formation in the south.
Geology of the Australian Capital Territory covers more of the geology of the ACT.