[1] A road spirals round the outside slopes covered with pine trees, into a flat 50 acre caldera, and onto the rim which hosts a fire lookout, parking area and picnic ground.

Being a prominent local landmark within Hepburn Shire, the mountain is included within the boundaries of the Mount Franklin Reserve[3] managed by Parks Victoria.

Lumps of Ordovician sedimentary and granitic bedrock also occur in the ejecta and small basalt blocks contain cores of crazed quartz.

The clan that occupied the country around Mount Franklin were the Gunangara Gundidj who called it Willambeparamal meaning home of the emus.

[6][7] Mount Franklin and the surrounding area appears to have been a place of considerable religious significance to Aboriginal people.

Reports of fertile land waiting to be claimed prompted a minor rush by squatters who called the mount "Jem Crow Hill".

[1] Charles Joseph La Trobe, superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales named the mountain after Sir John Franklin after they climbed the hill together in December 1843.

As the alluvial gold was worked out, miners turned their attention to the gold-bearing leads deep beneath the earth’s surface.

[1] During the 1870s and 80s, scenic qualities of natural bushland gained popularity as recreational venues as compared to formal parks and gardens.

In 1880, the railway network was extended to Daylesford making destinations like Mount Franklin a comfortable day-trip from Melbourne.

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).

Mineral springs were noted in 1864, when bottling began at Ballan and Hepburn,[12] and their flow rates were recorded during the mid-nineteenth-century gold mining era,[13] and subsequently in 1910.

The Mount Franklin trade name remains nationally iconic and profitable for the company, though no water has been extracted from the original site for approximately 35 years.

[15] While the ‘Mount Franklin’ brand remains under ownership of Coca Cola Amatil, the last water extraction occurred in the fiscal year 1985/1986.