Aboriginal tribes have inhabited the Hanging Rock region for many centuries. As Anglo settlers began to arrive the native population was driven from its lands. Many died from newly introduced diseases they had no resistance to. in 1863 the remaining Aboriginal population of the Macedon Ranges was deported to Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve in Healesville, Australia.
The Aboriginal name for Hanging Rock is 'Ngannelong.'
According to the Joan Lindsay biography Beyond the Rock, Lindsay, author of the Picnic at Hanging Rock novel, had told her friend Colin Caldwell in 1963 that she wanted to write a story about a place that had been a longtime fascination of hers. She showed Caldwell a print of an 1875 painting of the mountain range by William Ford.
Two crews filmed at the Hanging Rock location for five days with between 100 and 120 crew members called to the site each day for work.
According to director Larysa Kondracki, a large turntable was constructed for actor Harrison Gilbertson and the camera to stand on for the scene in which Mike stands atop a rock at the Hanging Rock site. The goal was to capture a sense of disorientation and atmospheric disturbance.