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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'It was a cloudless summer day in the year 1900. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of the secluded volcanic outcropping. Farther, higher, until at last they disappeared. They never returned. ...'
Source: Publisher's blurb (Penguin Random House, 2014).
Adaptations
-
form
y
Picnic at Hanging Rock
( dir. Peter Weir
)
Australia
Adelaide
:
McElroy and McElroy
,
1975
Z822342
1975
single work
film/TV
mystery
horror
(taught in 9 units)
On St Valentine's Day 1900, three schoolgirls and a teacher from an exclusive English-style boarding school go missing at the mysterious Hanging Rock in central Victoria. One of the girls is found alive a week later, but the others are never seen again. As morale within the school begins to disintegrate, the headmistress's increasingly incoherent anger is turned towards one student, leading to tragic consequences. Although the police suspect Michael Fitzhubert, a young English aristocrat, and his manservant Albert, who were in the area at the time the girls disappeared, the mystery is never solved. As Paul Byrnes (Australian Screen) notes, the suggested scenarios range from the 'banal and explicable (a crime of passion) to deeply mystical (a crime of nature).'
[Source: Australian Screen]
- y Lady Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock : A Full Length Play Woodstock : Dramatic Publishing Company , 1987 Z818128 1987 single work drama mystery
-
y
Picnic at Hanging Rock
2016
London
:
Nick Hern Books
,
2017
9212678
2016
single work
drama
'Australia, 1900. An ancient land becomes the site of an impossible mystery. A group of schoolgirls and their teachers venture out into the sundrenched landscape, only for four of their number to disappear forever.
'The subsequent investigation creates more questions than answers. One of the girls is found with no memory of what happened to her or her classmates, another succumbs to hysteria for no apparent reason. Those close to the missing girls begin to meet with unfortunate ends and it becomes clear that this is no ordinary disappearance.' (Production summary)
- form y Picnic at Hanging Rock ( dir. Larysa Kondracki et. al. )agent Australia : Foxtel FremantleMedia Australia , 2017 10020967 2017 series - publisher film/TV historical fiction mystery
Teaching Resources
Notes
-
Ranked #10 in ABC1's First Tuesday Book Club '10 Aussie Books to Read Before You Die' 2012 voting ballot.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Braille.
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
- Sound recording (TV Tie-In Edition)
Works about this Work
-
Deleuzian Time and the Elemental Rhythms of Nature in Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967)
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: English Studies , vol. 103 no. 1 2022; (p. 113-137)'The present article offers a Deleuzian reading of Picnic at Hanging Rock (Joan Lindsay, 1967) that does not start by analysing binary oppositions, but rather construes the space and, more specifically, its synthesis in and through time as processes of “different/ciation” and “becoming”. The article probes into Deleuze’s idea of the first synthesis of time in the novel. Time can be read as a synthesis, a contraction of differences in repetition. This resonates with the “elemental rhythms” of nature the novel overtly identifies as constitutive of the natural space. These rhythms are in turn projected onto different fictional levels, so much so that the novel reads like an organic spread of the patterns of nature into the very structure of the narrative. Victorian identities and cultures attempt to resist the spread of this pattern, albeit to no avail. Finally, the spread of the said pattern reveals the possibility of a new virtual set of relational tools for the self to encounter the other via processes of different/ciation and becoming.' (Publication abstract)
- y Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock Elsternwick : Insight Publications , 2020 24993732 2020 single work criticism
-
Leave No Trace
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Believer , 1 April no. 124 2019; -
The Embrace of Ambiguity in Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 33 no. 1 2019; (p. 8-20) 'Since Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967) was published over fifty years ago, it has captivated critics and readers alike. Peter Weir's influential 1975 cinematic adaptation brought the tale to an even wider audience, both national and international. The success of the film, however, has been double edged, for while it brought fame to the story, it has overshadowed the book, such that the novel and film tend to be erroneously spoken of in tandem or synonymously. Fifty years on, it is time to reconsider Picnic at Hanging Rock unmoored from its cinematic adaptation, especially in light of Janelle McCulloch's recent book Beyond the Rock (2017). Among McCulloch's many revelations is that Lindsay's literary imagination was significantly influenced by the works of the American novelist Henry James (1843– 1916). McCulloch discloses that "Joan particularly admired his novel The Turn of the Screw which she called 'a mysterious tale that was half-truth and half fiction'" (137). McCulloch does not, however, offer any detail or analysis of how and to what extent Lindsay's regard for James's work, written almost a century earlier, might have influenced her own. Certainly, there are some obvious parallels between Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Turn of the Screw, including the lack of a satisfying ending.' (Introduction) -
Valentine's Day 1900
i
"The pinnacles, edges of a serrated knife scratch",
2019
single work
poetry
— Appears in: Mountain Secrets 2019; (p. 117)
-
New Fiction
1968
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March vol. 7 no. 5 1968; (p. 88)
— Review of An Affair of Clowns : Short Stories and Sketches 1967 selected work short story ; Dynasty 1967 single work novel ; Picnic at Hanging Rock 1967 single work novel -
Sunlit Mystery
1967
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 9 December vol. 89 no. 4579 1967; (p. 82)
— Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock 1967 single work novel -
[Review] Picnic at Hanging Rock
1968
single work
review
— Appears in: Walkabout , vol. 34 no. 3 1968; (p. 45-46)
— Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock 1967 single work novel -
Picnicking with E. M. Forster, Joan Lindsay et.al.
1987
single work
criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 15 no. 1 1987; (p. 79-86) -
Between the Rock and a Dark Place
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 14 February 2005; (p. 4) -
True Fakes
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Eureka Street , March-April vol. 16 no. 2 2006; (p. 34-35) -
150 Years 150 Books 150 Words 600 Entries 10 Winners
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Newsletter of the Australian Centre for Youth Literature , October no. 3 2004; (p. 8-12) The aim of the Save This Book competition was to nominate a book from the last 150 years, from a list of 150 titles, and explain why (in 150 words) why it should be saved from a tidal wave. Winners' submissions are included. -
Hanging Rock, desafiante misterio
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Hontanar , March no. 84 2006; (p. 2-3)
Awards
- 1998 winner The TDK Australian Audio Book Awards — Abridged Audio Book Separate from the award for abridged fiction (awarded to Arundhati Roy).
- Mount Macedon, Gisborne - Woodend area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,
- Gisborne - Woodend area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,
- 1900