The Tower Hill crater is roughly 3 kilometres (2 mi) wide and 80 metres (260 ft) high, with a gradient of between 10% and 80% at the higher points.

[2] Greenstone axe heads and other artefacts excavated from the tuff indicate that Aboriginal people were resident in the area when the volcano erupted.

[9] The painting was used as a source of information of local native vegetation when an extensive revegetation project was undertaken in the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve from 1961.

One source suggests that it arose in the 1840s owing to its resemblance to a castle, while another credits a sailor from Glasgow with "naming the site after Tower Hill in Scotland".

It was created by molten lava pushing its way up through the Earth's crust, before hitting a layer of water-bearing rock, which led to huge explosions.

[13][12] Tower Hill volcano is roughly 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) wide and 80 metres (260 ft) high, and as a giant maar (volcanic explosion crater), it is of international and national geological significance.

[citation needed] Now part of the state park system as the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve, the area had been used since European settlement for farming and stone quarrying.