In 1902 Hastings was contracted by J. C. Williamson's to play the Holmes character on stage in Melbourne and Sydney — he would sail from San Francisco on 14 August 1902.

Williamson already had Harry Plimmer, an Australian actor, playing the part to such business that his season in Perth was being extended, and Hastings could open in Melbourne in mid-September, with Sydney following a month later.

[2] He arrived in Sydney by the Sierra on 5 September, and opened in Melbourne with Sherlock Holmes — The Strange Case of Miss Faulkner by William Gillette, based on the work of Conan Doyle, who was credited as co-author.

In appearance Mr. Hastings is tall, slight, handsome, from an intellectual standard, and so dark-complexioned as to make his grave, thoughtful face extremely melancholy.

[1] By his will, executed at The Players club on 3 December 1913, he left the bulk of his estimated $25,000 estate to a half-brother George W. Hastings (a lawyer in Toronto) and a half-sister Anna Garrett Munro.