The first European to climb the peak was Major Thomas Mitchell on 28 September 1836 during his journey of exploration through Australia Felix. He named it Mount Byng, after John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford, a Field Marshal during the Peninsular War, but soon changed it to honour Alexander the Great, emperor of ancient Macedonia. The overlander and explorer, Edward John Eyre, camped the north-west slope of Mount Alexander on 8 February 1838