Joan Lindsay’s 1967 Picnic at Hanging Rock is a work of fiction set in Victoria, Australia, in 1900. The novel recounts the tale of three schoolgirls and a teacher who go missing after wandering onto the dangerous Hanging Rock formation. Only one of them is recovered a week later; the rest are never heard from again, despite careful searches of the area. The trauma and horror of this incident spreads, leading to the suicide of two other characters. Lindsay’s novel can be considered a piece of Gothic fiction. It might be further classified as Female Gothic for its critique of the strict rules that dictate the lives of the female characters, who escape society for the freedom and horror of the wilderness.

This guide is based on the 1998 Vintage Random House Group edition.

Content Warning: This guide and the source text discuss suicide and violence and contain a brief reference to rape.

Plot Summary

The students at Appleyard College, a prestigious boarding school for teenage girls outside the town of Macedon, are excited to be going on a picnic on Valentine’s Day. They are accompanied by two of their teachers, their French and dance teacher, Mademoiselle de Poitiers, and their mathematics teacher, Miss McCraw. As the headmistress, Mrs. Appleyard, bids them farewell, she instructs them to keep their gloves on when they ride through town. The girls are driven to the picnic ground by Mr. Hussey on his horse-drawn buggy.

The picnic ground is eerily quiet. Mr. Hussey and Miss McCraw notice that their watches have stopped working. Seniors Marion, Miranda, and Irma ask if they can walk to the base of Hanging Rock, which looms beyond the trees. They are allowed to do so, but instructed not to take too long, as they need to leave the picnic ground at four o’clock. The unpopular Edith asks if she can tag along, and kind-hearted Miranda consents.

The girls follow the creek toward Hanging Rock, passing another group of picnickers as they do. Michael “Mike” Fitzhubert, a young aristocratic English man, and Albert Crundall, the family’s coachman, watch the girls pass. Mike notices the grace and beauty of Miranda, while Albert pays particular attention to Irma. Mike and Albert discuss the girls’ progress and talk about their respective upbringings.

Initially, the girls are attentive to the time; Miranda reminds the group that they will have to turn around shortly. However, as they ascend Hanging Rock, the senior girls start to behave erratically. They take off their shoes and stockings despite the rough surface of the rock, Marion throws her notebook and pencil into a bush, and Irma starts to dance, imagining that she is a ballerina. All four girls fall into a deep sleep. When they wake up, the three senior girls continue to walk up Hanging Rock, despite Edith’s pleas that they turn back. It is now twilight. They hear a distant beating sound, but disregard it. The sound is Mr. Hussey beating on a billy (a kettle) to attract the lost girls’ attention. Edith screams, but no one hears. She runs back to the picnic ground.

Mr. Hussey retraces the girls’ steps according to Edith but cannot find them. Meanwhile Mike and Albert’s party has departed with no idea that anything is amiss. Back at the picnic ground, the group realizes that Miss McCraw is also missing; her gloves and books are where she left them. Eventually, the group decides to return to the college despite the fact that Marion, Miranda, Irma, and Miss McCraw are still not accounted for. Mr. Hussey stops at the police station on the way back and provides a full account of the mystery.

The next day, some of the girls are attended to by a doctor; no one is hurt. Police interview Edith and Mademoiselle de Poitiers as they begin searching Hanging Rock and the surrounding area. There is no evidence of the missing persons. The police detective, Constable Bumpher, brings Edith back to the site, and she recalls seeing Miss McCraw striding up Hanging Rock without her skirt on. Mrs. Appleyard tries to manage the tide of gossip and to alert the families of the missing girls and teacher without attracting controversy or attention to the college.

A week later, Mike escapes from a party of local well-to-do families to share a beer with Albert in the boatshed; the two have become close friends. Mike confides that he can’t stop thinking about the Hanging Rock mystery. He convinces Albert to accompany him to Hanging Rock the next day, although they pretend that they are just going for a ride. They reach Hanging Rock and begin to search. Mike loses track of time and is hours late to his rendezvous with Albert. Mike insists on staying the night there; he has marked the last place he reached in his search. Albert is worried about him but concedes, returning to Lake View (the Fitzhuberts’ estate). The next morning he tells Mike’s uncle, Colonel Fitzhubert, that Mike spent the night in a pub. After a fitful sleep, Mike searches again the next morning. At one point, he falls into a deep sleep. He awakes with a gash on his head and hears the sound of girlish laughter, which he believes is coming from Miranda. He pursues her over strange and dangerous rock formations. Meanwhile, Albert is beginning to worry about Mike, and rides back to Hanging Rock. He arrives in the early afternoon and finds Mike unconscious on the ground beneath the rock. Albert runs to find a doctor; they transport Mike back to Lake View. Albert checks Mike’s pocket and finds that he has left a confusing, half-finished note about having found someone. Albert alerts the police and they go to the place indicated by Mike’s note, where they find Irma, exhausted and unconscious but alive. Irma recuperates at the gardener’s cottage at Lake View. When she finally regains consciousness, she cannot remember any of the events of Hanging Rock. Mike, too, cannot properly remember what happened, although he is haunted by the idea of Miranda. A romance seems to be developing between Irma and Mike, but Mike abruptly leaves for Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Appleyard continues trying to quash rumors about the college and to maintain a sense of decorum and normality. The girls are forced back into a regimented routine of lessons and rules. Sara Waybourne, the youngest boarder at the school, struggles especially; Miranda was her roommate and her closest friend. She is treated cruelly by her teachers, especially Mrs. Appleyard, who cancels Sara’s art lessons when her guardian’s school fees are late and dismisses the art teacher, Mrs. Vallange. Before she leaves, Mrs. Vallange leaves a note for Sara, inviting her to stay with her in Melbourne whenever she would like to. Irish Tom, the college handyman, forgets to give Mrs. Vallange’s note to Sara.

Irma visits the college before she is due to travel to Europe with her parents. She expects a warm welcome, but the girls crowd her savagely, acting like animals. After Irma leaves, the girls seem to have no memory of their behavior.

Mike briefly returns to Macedon to retrieve a letter he left at Lake View. He tells Albert that he is still haunted by Hanging Rock; he believes that he will never forget it. He invites Albert to accompany him on a trip to Queensland, but Albert doesn’t want to leave the stability of his position at Lake View. The next morning, as Albert is driving Mike back to the station to return to Melbourne, Albert receives a letter from Irma Leopold’s father, thanking him for saving his daughter’s life. A check for 1,000 pounds is included. Albert replies, thanking Mr. Leopold sincerely, then gives his notice to Colonel Fitzhubert and writes to Mike to tell him that he will come to Queensland.

At the college, Mrs. Appleyard tries to hide the fact that Sara is missing. She tells some staff members that her guardian has already collected her, while telling others that her guardian will be coming shortly. Madame de Poitiers is suspicious, and writes to Constable Bumpher about her fear that Sara is missing. Meanwhile, Mrs. Appleyard sneaks into Sara’s room looking for clues but finds none. Sara’s guardian writes to say that he will be arriving to collect her that weekend.

Mr. Whitehead, the gardener, finds Sara’s body; she has killed herself by jumping off the college’s high tower. Mr. Whitehead tells Mrs. Appleyard, who lets out an animalistic scream. She goes to town, where she instructs Mr. Hussey to drive her to Hanging Rock. She walks up Hanging Rock alone and throws herself from a precipice, killing herself.

In a newspaper article written 13 years later, the mystery of the missing persons has still not been solved. It is revealed that Appleyard College burned down in 1901.