The Redemptorist Monastery at Galong N.S.W. is situated 320 km south-west of Sydney. Every year since 1943, on the first Sunday in May, people have assembled in pilgrimage from different parts of N.S.W. and Victoria, to attend the Annual Marian Procession to Grotto Hill situated in the grounds of the monastery.
The Most Reverend Bede Polding, the first Archbishop of Sydney, during his pastoral visits to south New South Wales, often stayed overnight at Galong castle (later, the Galong Monastery) and had the practice of climbing a nearby mountain and blessing the surrounding district. While visiting Galong, Archbishop Polding climbed "Bushranger Hill" and on reaching the summit, changed the name to "Rosary Hill" leaving his Rosary on a branch on a tree. Thus began a long tradition of Marian Pilgrimages to Galong.
