The Appleyard College is a school for girls located in Victoria, Australia. It is run by Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts). On the 14th of February in 1900, Valentine’s Day, a group of girls from the school, along with a couple teachers, were taken to an outcropping of rocks known as Hanging Rock for a fun outing, culminating in a picnic. They were all scheduled to return that night.
After relaxing for a while, a small group of girls, Amanda (Anne-Louise Lambert), Edith (Christine Schuler), Irma (Karen Robson) and Marion (Jane Vallis) ask permission from one of their teachers, Mlle. de Poitiers (Helen Morse), to take a walk. The girls go frolicking off. They are seen crossing a tiny stream by Michel Fitzhubert (Dominic Guard) and his friend Albert Crundall (John Jarratt). The girls wander around for a while and fall asleep on a rock. When they wake up three of the girls, Amanda, Irma and Marion walk over to a crevice in the rock and walk through it. They appear to be in a trance. Edith becomes alarmed and runs back to the others.
By dark everyone has returned to the school where they tell Mrs. Appleyard that the three girls, as well as one of the teachers, Miss McCraw (Vivean Gray) have disappeared. A search was done, but no one was found. A week later Michael, still haunted by the missing girls, decides to look for them himself. Albert goes with him but returns leaving Michael on the rock for the night. The next day he returns and finds Michael in a catatonic state holding a piece of material from one of the girl’s dresses. Albert gets help. He then finds Irma, conscientious. From what the police have pieced together, Edith had said that when she was running back to the group, she saw Miss McCraw from a distance running with no skirt on. When Irma was questioned, she had no memory of what happened on the rock. The other three women are never found.
“Picnic At Hanging Rock” was released in 1975 and was directed by Peter Weir. It is an Australian gothic mystery thriller. The film was based on the 1967 book by Joan Lindsay. Although the film has been touted as being a true story, it is in fact not. Author Joan Lindsay did little to dissuade that fact, which did a lot to garner interest in both the film and the book. It is a confusing film at times. A lot of what happened is never really explained.
The film itself is beautifully shot and quite artistic, although slow moving. It is also mysterious and slightly ominous. There have been a lot of suggestions concerning many of the film’s mysteries. Some of them point to the rock itself as being a magical place. People have talked about how strange magnetic activity coming from the rocks has interfered with watches and electronic devices.
Lindsay’s book had a conclusion that answered some questions but not all of them. It was removed before publishing to give the novel its ambiguous ending. The actual ending has a science fiction aspect to. The ending was published in 1987, after Lindsay’s death and was called “The Secret of Hanging Rock”.
Hanging Rock AKA Dryden’s Mount, or Ngannelong to some of the Aboriginal tribes, is an actual place in Victoria, Australia and is situated North-West of Melbourne. There have been other names given to the rocks by other explorers. The formation was created from volcanic action over six million years ago and is now part of a reserve. The book and movie are promoted by the people responsible for taking care of the reserve. The actual hanging rock itself is a giant boulder that is wedged between two other upright boulders. The entire formation is sacred to many native peoples.