It’s one of our country’s most enduring books, a haunting tale set against the backdrop of the Australian outback that stays with you long after you turn the last page.
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a story that has entertained and enthralled generations of Australians, through both the original novel and the acclaimed film adaption.
The story, which is set in 1900, follows the mystery surrounding three girls and their teacher who go missing during an idyllic school picnic at Hanging Rock, never to be seen again.
While the story has been told and re-told in many ways over the years, one lingering question has always clung to the work like the remnants of an old dream.
Just how much of this iconic story, if any at all, is actually anchored in reality?
Or is it all just a work of complete fiction masquerading as historical fact?
This question is once again on everyone’s lips thanks to the fact that a new imagining of Picnic at Hanging Rock being on Australian screens via Showcase and Foxtel.
The six-part series broadens the story already told through Joan Lindsay’s iconic 1967 novel of the same name and Peter Weir’s 1975 film adaption of her work.
While there is no historical proof or documentation that proves the events depicted in Picnic at Hanging Rock actually happened, there are some real life elements woven into the tale.
The trailer for the new TV series Picnic at Hanging Rock is beyond haunting.
First of all, the inspiration and setting for the novel, Hanging Rock, is actually a real place.
The location is also formally known in English as Mount Diogenes and Dryden’s Rock, and to some of its traditional owners as Ngannelong. It is a distinctive geological formation located in central Victoria within the Macedon Ranges.
The rock formation plays host to a vast number of tourists each year, many who are inspired to travel there after reading the book and seeing the film, with the Macedon Ranges tourism website stating, “the unexplained disappearance of a group of schoolgirls at Hanging Rock in 1901 is just one of the legends of this mysterious area, and many visitors say they can feel the spirit of the girls as they climb the Rock.”
Which brings us to the question of whether or not a group of Australian school girls actually went missing in that area.
The idea that some of the events depicted in the novel are rooted in real life has been explored in great detail in the book Beyond The Rock: The Life Of Joan Lindsay And The Mystery Of Picnic At Hanging Rock by Janelle McCulloch.
In her book, McCulloch writes that author Joan Lindsay credited recurring dreams as the basis for the plot of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and that her friends all knew her as a “mystic”, stating that she had certain abilities and sensitivities and could “see” things that others couldn’t, especially in the bush landscape.
However, author Joan Lindsay has never explicitly stated that the events in the book are based on reality, and no documentation of a group of schoolgirls going missing in that area has ever been found, despite numerous attempts by historians to hunt it down.
In the book, McCulloch quotes Sandra Forbes, who worked as junior editor on the book before going to become the executive officer of the Australia Council's literature unit as saying, "Did I think the story was true? We did talk about this. But the truth for Joan was different to the rest of us. She was never straightforward about it. I think I decided in the end that it was a great work of the imagination."
In her research McCulloch also uncovered a number of stories that point to the idea that the story told in the book may be a little bit more than fiction, but no concrete facts ever found their way to publication.
For example, she found the final two lines of the original foreword written by Lindsay that said, “For the author, who knew Mount Macedon and the Hanging Rock very well, as a child, the story is entirely true,” had actually been deleted before the novel’s publication, according to a piece published in The Daily Telegraph.
Thanks to her extensive research, McCulloch was also able to track down an ex-student of the real school the fictional Appleyard College depicted in Picnic at Hanging Rock who told her, “we all knew about the girls who disappeared, but none of us really knew the details.”
Which again adds to the mystery, without ever confirming the existence of these fictional characters.
While the story of Picnic at Hanging Rock cannot be explained with historical fact, it remains one of Australia's best told tales and one that is sure to find a new and engaged audience via the upcoming TV series.
For more film and TV reviews, you can follow Mamamia Entertainment Editor Laura Brodnik on Facebook.
Top Comments
I climbed Hanging Rock in my late teens with friends. I called Miranda often and loudly and listened to the echoes. She didn’t come or reply.
Just like my husband in the yard.
I am astounded how many people will argue strongly that there is a grain of truth in this work of fiction.
It is entirely fictional. It was based on the authors dreams. The only reality is that Hanging Rock exists, but the setting was inspired by a painting her husband owned, although she had visited Hanging Rock in her childhood and knew it well. .
The confusion began as the novel is set in a real place, presented as if it is a true story, and even includes a 1913 'newspaper extract' in its afterword, which made it appear more real.
The author deliberately never corrected the myth that it's based on true events; she liked to encourage it. It was excellent PR in making the story a legend. She tried to be ambiguous, and would also hint at parts of it being possibly inspired by true events.
Further to this, in 2017, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the novel's publication, an Australian doctoral student named Amy Spiers began the "Miranda Must Go" campaign, criticizing the novel's propagation of itself as a true story in relationship to local tourism at Hanging Rock.
Spiers argued that the focus on the fictional narrative obscures its longer history and connection with the Aborigines:
"At Hanging Rock we've become obsessed with the myth almost to the point where we sort of tell it as though it is a true story, but we completely ignore the true losses that have happened there. Most of the Aboriginal people living in that area died of smallpox or were murdered by colonists or removed to Coranderrk [Aboriginal Reserve in Healesville] in 1836 ... It's just fascinating to me that we keep choosing to be haunted by a [fictitious] story rather than the real losses that have occurred in that place."
Spiers cited the common practice among tourists to scream "Miranda!" from atop the rock as an example of the site's strong cultural associations with the novel and its film adaptation; she also noted that the visitors' centre caters significantly to the myth of the "missing schoolgirls," with dioramas, videos, panels and soundtracks from both the novel and the film, while the real history of the monolith and its significance to the indigenous culture was less acknowledged. Supporters of the campaign held a protest on St. Valentine's Day 2017 at the rock.
In response to the campaign, Luke Spielvogel, the president of Friends of Hanging Rock, noted that the novel and particularly, the character of Miranda, captured the "ethereal, mysterious nature of the rock"; he also suggested the novel and character should remain part of the "broader tapestry" of the site:
"For 40,000 years Hanging Rock has brought people together, and Miranda and the film and the book are all part of that story. But a significant part of that story was to understand the Indigenous history and further investigate the Indigenous name ... We focus on one aspect of popular culture around Hanging Rock, and I think what Amy is trying to do is tell a broader story, and we certainly support that"
This novel was the original "Blair Witch Project"