More comments on Picnic at Hanging Rock

The story is that three schoolgirls and their teacher mysteriously disappear during an outing on a sunny morning at Hanging Rock. One girl never reappears but two come back. There's quite a bit about mysticism and Aboriginal spirits. Hanging Rock ,described as an eerie place, is part of a national park in Victoria. According to one DLer, there has been an exclusive "school for Young 'Gentlewomen'" at nearby Macedon for a very long time. Although Lindsay maintained the event actually occurred, there doesn't seem to be any documentation, and the story seems to have been part of Australian folklore before the movie or book came out.

Picnic at Hanging Rock apparently was first a movie (1975), which Leonard Maltin gives *** and which is considered a classic of Australian cinema. In Books in Print I found three citations for books (1976, 1977 paperback, and a reprint in 1986. All of these are by Joan Lindsay.

Everyone recommends both the film and the book and mention the atmosphere and other-worldly aspect.

[Note: I did some fairly heavy editing on the above.]


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