Copy of picnic

Picnic

at

Hanging Rock

by Joan Lindsay

"Everything begins and ends at the exactly right time and place."

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• Mrs. Appleyard tells Sara that, as her guardian she has not paid her tuition, Sara must return to the orphanage. Afterwards, Mrs. Appleyard lies to Mlle. de Poitiers and claims that Sara's guardian collected her early that morning. The next morning, Sara's body is found in the greenhouse by Mr. Whitehead, the school gardener. Believing Sara committed suicide by leaping from her bedroom window, Whitehead confronts Mrs. Appleyard, who is calm in full mourning dress with her possessions packed.
• Michael tells Albert he has decided to travel north, with Albert revealing he had a dream in which his lost sister Sara visited him.
• Sgt. Bumpher states in a voice over that the body of Mrs. Appleyard was found at the base of Hanging Rock and that the search for the missing school girls and their mistress continued sporadically for several years without success.

• Driven by buggy operator Ben Hussey , the girls pass through and arrive at the Rock by mid-afternoon. After a meal, Mr. Hussey notes his watch has stopped at the stroke of twelve, as has the watch of Miss McCraw. With permission from Mlle. de Poitiers, Miranda, Marion and Irma decide to explore Hanging Rock and take measurements, with Edith allowed to follow.
• The group is spotted several minutes later by a young Englishman, Michael Fitzhubert, who is lunching at the Rock with his uncle and aunt and their valet Albert . Michael immediately falls in love with Miranda.

Albert returns to Hanging Rock and discovers Irma, unconscious but alive. The residents of Woodend become aware of the discovery and spreads the news soon spreads all over Australia. At the Fitzhubert home, Irma is treated for dehydration and exposure, and tells the police she has no memory of what happened. A servant notes that Irma's corset is missing but is advised by Mrs. Fitzhubert that it is not important.

• At the top of Hanging Rock, the girls lie down on the ground, in the warmth from the sun. Miss McCraw, still at the base of the Rock, stares up, worried as they are taking a long time.
• Miranda, Marion, and Irma awake and move, as if in a dream, and they dissapear into a gap between two rocks. Edith screams in horror and is left alone. she flees down the Rock back to the others.

• At Appleyard College, a girls' private school, near the town of Woodend, Victoria, Australia, the students are getting ready for a day trip to 'hanging rock' on St. Valentine's Day, 1900.
• The group prepares for a picnic to a local geological formation known as Hanging Rock, accompanied by the mathematics mistress Miss Greta McCraw and the young and beautiful Mlle. de Poitiers . The head mistress Ms Appleyard advises Sara that she is not allowed to attend.

• Michael becomes obsessed with finding Miranda; and, with Albert, he conducts another search of Hanging Rock. Despite Albert's protests, Michael decides to remain overnight and begins climbing again the next day, leaving a trail of paper, so he xan find his way home. When Albert follows the markers, he finds Michael, but he is very ill. Just before leaving on a buggy with a local doctor, Michael passes to Albert a fragment of lace from a dress.

• The remaining girls eventually return to the College, where Mlle. de Poitiers explains to Mrs. Appleyard that Miss McCraw has been left behind as she went looking fo rthe other girls and never returned. Sara notes the absence of Miranda; and Mr. Hussy explains to Mrs. Appleyard that Miranda, Irma, Marion, and Miss McCraw went missing.
• A search party, led by Sgt. Bumpher and the local police, finds nothing, although Edith reveals that she witnessed Miss McCraw climbing the Rock without her skirt. Michael Fitzhubert is questioned and reveals he watched the schoolgirls but can provide no clues as to their whereabouts.

Michael befriends the recovered Irma but he demands to know what happened on the Rock. Mrs. Appleyard advises Miss Lumley that several parents have withdrawn their children from the school. Before leaving for Europe, Irma visits her classmates a final time; but they become hysterical and demand to know what happened to their missing friends. Mlle. de Poitiers intervenes; and, as Irma flees, she also notices that Sara has been strapped to a wall by Mrs. Appleyard to correct her posture. That night, Miss Lumley gives notice to a drunken Mrs. Appleyard and that she is resigning.