Dryden’s Rock, Mount Macedon, Victoria.

Colonial engraving of Dryden’s Rock, Mount Macedon.

Hanging Rock was first recorded on a map by Robert Hoddle as Diogenes’s Mount in 1844. Its remarkable geological character and beauty were recognised by William von Blandowski, Curator of Melbourne’s Natural History Museum, who described it as ‘one of the most remarkable spots in Victoria, if not in whole Australia‘ after an excursion in 1855.

By the late 1850s the formation had also become known as both Dryden’s Rock, after an early settler in the vicinity, and The Hanging Rock, after a suspended and wedged rock on the southern side of the formation. The allotment containing Hanging Rock was purchased from the Crown in 1857, and picnics and sports days were first held on land owned by William Adams immediately to the south-west of Hanging Rock from the mid-1860s. These events included horse racing. By the time Adams acquired the allotment containing Hanging Rock in 1869, organised picnic and sports days on Boxing Day and New Years Day were regularly attended by thousands of people from both the local district and Melbourne.