Mt Franklin was created by a volcanic eruption about 470,000 years ago and is a fine example of a breached scoria cone.
Lava from Mount Franklin and other volcanoes in the area filled valleys and buried the gold bearing streams that became the renowned ‘deep leads’ of the gold mining era
The indigenous clan that occupied the country around Mount Franklin were the Gunangara Gundidj who called it Lalgambook
the last eruption is thought to be ~5000 yrs ago and is apparently enshrined in local aboriginal oral histories and myths
it is a major megacryst site with some of the largest known Victorian examples of megacrysts of augite and an orthoclase.
the small parasitic mound of Lady Franklin on the western flanks adds to the geological interest of the site.
the crater of Mount Franklin was set aside as a recreation reserve, and the remainder reserved as State forest in 1866
“in 1944, a devastating bushfire destroyed most of the native vegetation on the mount. As a result, the inner and outer slopes of the crater were planted with exotic species, mainly conifers, to prevent erosion and to provide revenue through commercial harvesting. The caldera was planted with ornamentals such as silver birch, white poplar, Sycamore and Sequoia sempervirens (Californian Redwoods)”
In 1955, 145 acres was re-reserved as permanent forest under the control of the Shire of Daylesford and Glenlyon. Within the reserve, an area of eight acres was set aside for recreation, specifically for an entrance gate and access road
Coca-Cola Amatil bottled mineral water from a spring 7km to the north and renamed it Mt Franklin Mineral Water as a marketing exercise which continues but the bottling at that spring ceased in 1986 and it has been destroyed and there are no markers to indicate its existence. Current bottled mineral water is allegedly tap water which has been salted and carbonated.