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y separately published work icon Picnic at Hanging Rock single work   novel   historical fiction   mystery  
Issue Details: First known date: 1967... 1967 Picnic at Hanging Rock
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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 separately published work icon Picnic at Hanging Rock Cliff Green , ( 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 separately published work icon Lady Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock : A Full Length Play Laura Annawyn Shamas , Woodstock : Dramatic Publishing Company , 1987 Z818128 1987 single work drama mystery
y separately published work icon Picnic at Hanging Rock Tom Wright , 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 separately published work icon Picnic at Hanging Rock Beatrix Christian , Alice Addison , ( dir. Larysa Kondracki et. al. )agent Australia : Foxtel FremantleMedia Australia , 2017 10020967 2017 series - publisher film/TV historical fiction mystery

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teaching resources written by Anthony Shaw, published by AustLit.

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

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Cheshire , 1967 .
      image of person or book cover 2221798898811365861.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 212p.
    • Harmondsworth, Middlesex,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Ontario,
      c
      Canada,
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Penguin ,
      1970 .
      image of person or book cover 8904867474543782760.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 213p.
      Reprinted: 1975 , 1976 , 1977
    • Adelaide, South Australia,: Rigby , 1975 .
      Extent: 212p.
      ISBN: 0855583649
    • Gladesville, Ryde - Gladesville - Hunters Hill area, Northwest Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Golden Press , 1975 .
      Extent: 212p.
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Viking , 1987 .
      Extent: 204p.
      Description: illus.(some col.), map.
    • Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Cornstalk Publishing , 1992 .
      Extent: 204p.
      Description: ill., (some col.), map
      ISBN: 0670818283
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Vintage UK ,
      1998 .
      image of person or book cover 4252313708466249356.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 188p.
      ISBN: 0099750619
    • Kyneton, Kyneton area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,: Macedon Ranges Shire Council , 2002 .
      Extent: 219p.
      Limited edition info: Hardcover edition limited to 200 individually numbered copies.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • With images from the production of Peter Weir's film of the novel and excerpts from the motion picture screenplay by Cliff Green.
      • Issued with an original 16 frame trim from the editing workprint of the film Picnic at Hanging Rock.
      ISBN: 0959941037
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2009 .
      Extent: 192p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 29 June 2009.
      ISBN: 9780143202721
      Series: y separately published work icon Popular Penguins Penguin (publisher), Camberwell : Penguin , 2008- Z1605341 2008 series - publisher novel essay short story
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 2451937109971219799.jpg
      Image courtesy of Penguin Books
      Extent: 280p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 20/03/2013
      ISBN: 9780670076857
      Series: y separately published work icon Penguin Australian Children's Classics Melbourne : Penguin , 2012- 6153702 2012 series - publisher children's fiction
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 6179407750872617367.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 264p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 20 November 2013
      ISBN: 9780143569732
      Series: Penguin Classics Penguin Books (publisher), series - publisher
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 6241838756100286429.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 1vp.
      Note/s:
      • Published 30 January 2013

        Available as an ebook

      ISBN: 9781743480946
      Series: y separately published work icon Popular Penguins Penguin (publisher), Camberwell : Penguin , 2008- Z1605341 2008 series - publisher novel essay short story
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2014 .
      image of person or book cover 4577548656075940128.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 192p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 23/04/2014
      ISBN: 9780734311252
      Series: y separately published work icon Pink Popular Penguin Special McGrath Foundation Pink Edition Melbourne : Penguin , 2013-2015 5970429 2013 series - publisher novel
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Penguin Books ,
      2014 .
      image of person or book cover 7476862765095770400.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 196p.
      ISBN: 9780143126782
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2019 .
      image of person or book cover 3775030314838225601.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 244p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 3 December 2019.
      • Introduced by Romy Ash.
      ISBN: 9781922268310
Alternative title: Pique-nique à Hanging Rock
Language: French
    • Paris,
      c
      France,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Flammarion ,
      1976 .
      Extent: 246p.
      ISBN: 2080608797
    • Paris,
      c
      France,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Le Livre de Poche ,
      2016 .
      image of person or book cover 3074715151667892072.jpeg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 318p.p.
      ISBN: 9782253068976, 2253068977

Other Formats

  • Braille.
  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.
  • Sound recording (TV Tie-In Edition)

Works about this Work

Screening the Australian Novel, 1971-2020 Imelda Whelehan , Claire McCarthy , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
Deleuzian Time and the Elemental Rhythms of Nature in Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967) Eduardo Valls Oyarzun , 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 separately published work icon Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock Catriona Mills , Elsternwick : Insight Publications , 2020 24993732 2020 single work criticism
Leave No Trace Madeleine Watts , 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 Suzie Gibson , 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)
New Fiction Martha Lemming , 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 Thelma Forshaw , 1967 selected work short story ; Dynasty Tony Morphett , 1967 single work novel ; Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay , 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 Joan Lindsay , 1967 single work novel
[Review] Picnic at Hanging Rock Scrutarius , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: Walkabout , vol. 34 no. 3 1968; (p. 45-46)

— Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay , 1967 single work novel
Picnicking with E. M. Forster, Joan Lindsay et.al. Donald Barrett , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 15 no. 1 1987; (p. 79-86)
Between the Rock and a Dark Place Rachel Wells , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 14 February 2005; (p. 4)
True Fakes Simon Caterson , 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 Lili Wilkinson , 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).
Last amended 1 May 2024 13:33:47
Settings:
  • Mount Macedon, Gisborne - Woodend area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,
  • Gisborne - Woodend area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,
  • 1900
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