It has deeply fissured, dark-grey to black coloured bark that appears quite scaly on older trees.

The glabrous, glossy, leathery, dark green to greyish-green phyllodes have a length of 4 to 16 cm (1.6 to 6.3 in) and a width of 6 to 30 mm (0.24 to 1.18 in) with a variable shape.

They most often have a narrowly elliptic to lanceolate shape and are straight to slightly curved and often taper near the base and have three to five prominent longitudinal veins.

[3] In its native habitat it blooms between July and December producing inflorescences that appear in groups of two to eight on an axillary raceme.

The curved, twisted or coiled pods have a biconvex shape with a length of 4 to 12 cm (1.6 to 4.7 in) and a width of 5 to 8 mm (0.20 to 0.31 in) and contain longitudinally arranged seeds.

[4] The species was first formally described by the botanist Robert Brown in 1813 as a part of the William Aiton work Hortus Kewensis.

[citation needed] Sapwood may range in colour from straw to grey-white with clear demarcation from the heartwood.

[6] The name of the wood may refer to dark stains on the hands of woodworkers, caused by the high levels of tannin in the timber.

[citation needed] Acacia melanoxylon timber has a density of approximately 660 kg/m3 and is strong in compression, resistant to impact and is moderately stiff.

[citation needed] Australian blackwood seasons easily with some possible cupping when boards are inadequately restrained.

Plain and figured Australian blackwood is used in musical instrument making (in particular guitars, drums, Hawaiian ukuleles, violin bows and organ pipes), and in recent years has become increasingly valued as a substitute for koa wood.