Picnic at Hanging Rock

infobox Book |
name = Picnic at Hanging Rock
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "Picnic at Hanging Rock" novel cover
author = Joan Lindsay
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = flagicon|AUS Australia
language = English
series =
genre = Historical novel
publisher = F. W. Cheshire
release_date = 1967
media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA & reissue ISBN 0-670-81828-3 (1987 Viking ed.)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Picnic at Hanging Rock" is a novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay. She wrote it over a four-week period [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/victoria/hanging-out-for-a-mystery/2007/01/18/1169095907672.html?page=3/taglines 'Hanging out for a mystery', "Sydney Morning Herald" (21 January 2007)] ] at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. It was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was released in paperback by Penguin in 1970.

ynopsis

"Picnic at Hanging Rock" is about a trip by a party of girls from an exclusive private school, who travel to Hanging Rock in Victoria's Mount Macedon area for a picnic on St. Valentine's Day, 1900. The excursion ends in tragedy when three girls and a teacher mysteriously vanish after climbing the rock. Only one girl is ever seen again; no reason for their disappearance is ever given, and the one girl who returned had apparently fallen and hit her head, according to a doctor who examined her, and has no memory of what had happened to the others.

The mystery

The unsolvable mystery of the disappearances was arguably the key to the success of both the book and the subsequent film. This aroused enough lasting public interest that in 1980, a book of hypothetical solutions (by Yvonne Rosseau) was published, called "The Murders at Hanging Rock". [Rousseau, Y. (1980) The "Murders at Hanging Rock". Scribe Publications, Fitzroy, Australia. ISBN 0 908011 02 4]

In fact, Lindsay's original draft included a final chapter in which the mystery was resolved. At her editor's suggestion, Lindsay removed it prior to publication. Chapter Eighteen, as it is known, was published posthumously in 1987 as "The Secret of Hanging Rock" by Angus & Robertson Publishing. [Lindsay, J. (1987) "The Secret of Hanging Rock". Angus & Robertson, Australia. ISBN 0 207 15550 X ]

The novel is written in the form of a false document, implying that it is based on a true story, and even begins and ends with a pseudo-historical prologue and epilogue, adding to the overall feeling of mystery. However, while Hanging Rock is a real geological feature near Mt Macedon, the story is entirely fictional. Lindsay has done little to dispel the myth that the story is based on truth, in many interviews either refusing to confirm it was entirely fiction, or hinting that parts of the book were fictitious, and others were not. 14 February, 1900 was, however, actually a Wednesday, not a Saturday as depicted in the story.

Appleyard College was to some extent based on Clyde Girl's Grammar School at East St Kilda, Melbourne, which Joan Lindsay attended as a day-girl while in her teens. Incidentally, this school was transferred to the town of Woodend, Victoria, in the immediate vicinity of Hanging Rock in 1919.Fact|date=January 2008

Film

The first film adaptation of the book was a short by Tony Ingram, a fourteen-year-old filmmaker, who got permission from Joan Lindsay to adapt her book as "The Day of Saint Valentine." However, only about ten minutes of footage was filmed before the rights were optioned to Peter Weir for his more famous feature-length version, and the production was permanently shelved. The completed footage is included on some DVD releases of the Weir's film. [ [http://picnicathangingrock.info/ingram/ingram.html] ]

The feature film version of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" premiered at the Hindley Cinema Complex in Adelaide on 8 August, 1975. It became an early film of the "Australian New Wave", and is arguably Australia's first international hit film. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073540/taglines accessdate=2007-08-05] ]

tage

"Picnic at Hanging Rock" was adapted by playwright Laura Annawyn Shamas in 1987 and published by Dramatic Publishing Company. Subsequently, it has had many productions in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

A dance entry based upon the story was performed at the 1992 Rock Eisteddfod Challenge.

Musical

A stage musical version has been created by Bob Tomson (director),Robert Johns (adapter) and Brian Spence (composer). It premiered at Chichester's Minerva Theatre in West Sussex. The Norfolk Youth Music Theatre and the Nicholas Chamberlaine Technolgy College, Wawickshire will both be performing the show in November 2008. The Royal Berkshire Academy, Bracknell will be performing it in July 2009. [ [http://www.spencemusic.co.uk/Picnic/picnicmusical.htm] ]

American composer, lyricist and book writer Daniel Zaitchik has also written a music-play based on the novel, which was developed in a workshop in 2007 at Lincoln Center Theatre in New York, directed by Joe Calarco. Fact|date=September 2008

References

See also

* Paranormal vanishing
* Hanging Rock, Victoria

External links

* [http://www.hangingrock.info Official website of Hanging Rock (Mt Diogenes) in Australia.]
* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=29&eid=47&section=essay Criterion Collection essay by Vincent Canby]
* [http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/rock/picnic.html Exhaustive and informative library of information about the book and * film.]
* [http://www.simplyaustralia.net/?p=70 Simply Australia interview with cast]