Miranda's dress donated

Aussie Film Icon Donated to ScreenSound Collection

Date: 17 May 2000

One of the enduring images of the Australian film, Picnic at Hanging Rock, sees the beautiful Miranda, golden-haired, gorgeous in white, disappearing into the distance.

Miranda may be gone forever, but the beautiful white dress, worn in the film by actor Anne Louise Lambert, will be presented to ScreenSound Australia.

The dress will be presented by her ten-year old son Harry, when he visits ScreenSound on a school visit on Wednesday 24 May.

Based on the Joan Lindsay novel, Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of Australia's most acclaimed movies. As well as a critics' favourite, it was a great box-office success, and still ranks as one of Australia's 10 most popular locally-made films. In a survey conducted by ScreenSound in 1995, it was voted Australia's greatest film of the past century.

Anne Louise Lambert shot to stardom in 1975 as the mystical Miranda who embodies the mystery of Hanging Rock. She recently visited ScreenSound Australia to introduce a special screening of the 1998 director's cut of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and has decided that her dress, which she has kept lovingly for over 25 years, should become part of the National Collection of Screen and Sound.

Since Picnic, Anne Louise Lambert has shown herself to be a multi-faceted actor. She has gone on to star in such films as Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) and with Toni Collette in Lilian's Story (1995), as well as such TV series as The Borgias (1981, as Lucrezia Borgia) and The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1986, as Lady Brackenstall).

Miranda's dress will be presented to ScreenSound Australia by Anne Louise Lambert's ten-year old son, Harry, on 24 May at 4pm.