Picnic at Hanging Rock

(1975) ***1/2

Circa 1900 Australia, 3 Appleyard college students and their teacher vanish while picnicking. A week later one of the girls is found but has no memory of what occurred. This story is legendary in Australia and the film is a pivotal mark in their film making history. I know this because it sat hard with me. One of those films that has you questioning, was this based on a true story? Well, I really had to do some digging.


Hanging Rock is a very real and rare volcanic formation in Victoria, Australia. The area is shrouded in mystery and urban legend. Most of which originated with this book when it was published in1967. To this day there are numerous questions about the truth of this story. Imagine that, a Blair Witch Project that has held it's urban legend status for over 40 years! Apparently the author of the book, Joan Lindsay decided to leave the 18th chapter out of the publication giving the book a more mysterious , undisclosed ending. This was a great decision since the sales soared and the rumors ran rampant. It wasn't until 1987 that Lindsay published the 18th chapter as a sequel titled The Secret of Hanging Rock that closure finally came. Still, even with the final chapter's release rumors have mounted about the missing girls. What really struck me as odd is that Appleyard college never existed. So even with fictional students from a fictional school the question of truth has persisted. That's pretty darn impressive. What an interesting film this was, I can hardly believe I never heard of it. I actually found some students who had done their college thesis on this book/film. Pretty amazing for a humble little Aussie flick.