Mikes Film Talk

Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay, is essentially about a walkabout to nowhere. This uniquely Australian term describes perfectly what the book is about.

It is clear that book has been around for a long time when it has been published most recently by “Vintage Books.” The book was first published in 1967. It hints at the fact that it is based on a true story. Just after the cast list of characters in the front of the book Lindsay cheekily notes: “Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction my readers must decide for themselves. As the fateful picnic took place in the year nineteen hundred…” The end of the book has an extract from a Melbourne newspaper dated February 14, 1913 the anniversary of the picnic event. These two appearances in the book at the beginning and the end suggest that the book is in fact based on a true story.

“Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction my readers must decide for themselves.”

The book was made into a pretty darn good film in 1975. I guess I should review it as well. The movie by Peter Weir and the film is just this side of brilliant. It is moody, overbearing, suspenseful, foreboding ,and creepy as hell. However, having said all that, the book is ten times better. I had seen the film first and fell in love with this slow-moving intense film. Today, I actually found a copy of the original book and decided to have a look. I power read this book in one setting (it is only 181 pages long).

The Story

As noted earlier, the story takes place in 1900 and it centres on a prestigious girls boarding school. The rich young ladies number 25 and have an overbearing Mrs Appleyard as Headmistress. The remainder of the staff are divvied between groundskeepers, household staff and tutors. All the young ladies bar one; Sara Waybourne who is being punished, go to Hanging Rock. They are having a chaperoned picnic with two members of staff.

It is a St Valentine’s Day treat.

The girls arrive at the rock eat their picnic and rest. Three senior girls and one junior decide to explore the towering rocks of Hanging Rock. They pass another small group of picnickers and then start up the rock. By the end of the day, three of the girls are missing and one of the teaching staff has disappeared as well.

Literary Catalyst

The legend is that Ms Lindsay wrote this book in four weeks. There was also an additional chapter that explains what happened that day. It was removed at the editors request. This made the book into an instant classic and it became wildly popular. In 1987 the additional chapter was released. After reading the twelfth chapter, I agree with the editors initial decision. It adds to the air of mystery of the story and helped to make it seem more real.

Lindsay takes the incident at Hanging Rock as a catalyst. One that affects an entire group of people in ever-expanding waves. Like a pebble dropped in a pond that causes waves to reach the shore, regardless of its size. This event has mostly disastrous consequences for most of those caught up in its “evil.” The book is much more in-depth in dealing with the characters and their thoughts, feelings and reactions.

It also shows how the event sets in motion even more misery and tragedy. More than the actual happenings at Hanging Rock. For those that have only seen the movie, you will be surprised at how much deeper the book goes. I had pretty much fallen in love with the film and decided that it could never have been topped by the book.

I was incredibly, delightfully wrong.

Page turner

While the book does not have the same level of intensity of the film, it has its own aura of foreboding and tension. The descriptive writing style of Joan Lindsay makes you feel the oppressive summer heat; the discomfort of all the clothes the young ladies have to endure in the name of decency and the dusty miserable conditions faced in the “bush” of the Outback in Australia.

I literally could not turn the pages fast enough. I know that I have said that before, but hand on heart, it’s true. When the ending came to its inevitable conclusion I sighed the sigh of one disappointed by the tragic ending of a book I wanted to read forever.

The Verdict

This is a real 5 star book. Despite the sometimes almost archaic “couching” of its descriptive prose. This goes a long way to helping place the events in the time that they were set. The old fashioned “colloquial” terms, the book speeds on like a roadrunner on amphetamines. If you haven’t read this book, it should be at the very top of your “to read” list.

On a final note, Ms Lindsay would never say whether the book had really been based on a true story; word on the street is that it is not. But, “if it ain’t, brother it should be.”

Picnic at Hanging Rock is available at Amazon in paperback, Kindle and audio versions.