Picnic at Hanging Rock

“The boarders at Mrs Appleyard’s College for Young Ladies had been up and scanning the bright unclouded sky since six o’clock and were now fluttering about in their holiday muslins like a flock of excited butterflies.”

This passage establishes Civilized Versus Wild Spaces as a key theme; the civilized space of Mrs. Appleyard’s College is characterized as stifling and strict, whereas the wild space of the picnic ground is associated with freedom and relaxation, as is symbolized by the girls being allowed to wear their holiday muslins. Furthermore, the metaphor that casts the girls as excited butterflies yearning to be freed aligns them with the wild space.

“Appleyard College was already, in the year nineteen hundred, an architectural anachronism in the Australian bush.”

The grand building, built in an old, austere, European style, is already outdated. This conveys the college’s allegiance to old-fashioned ways of being; the girls’ lives are governed by strict rules of decorum. Furthermore, the building is characterized as a misfit among the wildness of the Australian bush. This passage alludes to the effort of colonizers to control wild spaces—an effort that, in the college’s case, will prove futile.

“The oil lamps on the cedar staircase were held aloft by classical statues, there was a grand piano in the long drawing-room and even a square tower, reached by a narrow circular staircase, from which the Union Jack could be hosted on Queen Victoria’s birthday.”

The college further aligns itself with British Australian values and aesthetics via the decadent furnishings and the hoisting of the Union Jack. Mrs. Appleyard’s preoccupation with reputation and appearance is evident from this passage.

“With her high-piled greying pompadour and ample bosom, as rigidly controlled and disciplined as her private ambitions, the cameo portrait of her late husband flat on her respectable chest, the stately stranger looked precisely what the parents expected of an English headmistress.”

Mrs. Appleyard is the picture of restraint, modesty, and good breeding. She is secretly ambitious about Appleyard College’s profits, but disguises this carefully. The control she exerts over herself, her school, and her students is symbolically represented by her “rigidly controlled” bosom.

“Failure to recite ‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’ yesterday had condemned the child Sara Waybourne to solitary confinement upstairs. Later, she would pass the sweet summer afternoon in the empty schoolroom, committing the hated masterpiece to memory.”

The school’s strict, disciplinarian manner of education is established in Sara’s punishment for failing to learn a poem. Furthermore, this passage introduces Sara’s cruel treatment at the hands of Mrs. Appleyard and foreshadows her suicide; the headmistress is especially strict and punitive toward Sara despite her struggles as an orphan and her later grief at Miranda’s death.

“Insulated from natural contacts with earth, air and sunlight, by corsets pressing on the solar plexus, by voluminous petticoats, cotton stockings and kid boots, the drowsy well-fed girls lounging in the shade were no more a part of their environment than figures in a photograph album.”

Although they are in a wild space, the girls are insulated from the space by their layers of clothing. Female Propriety and Decorum is signaled as an important theme; the girls are expected to wear “voluminous” dresses despite the heat of the Australian afternoon. Furthermore, the theme Civilized Versus Wild Spaces is referred to; the girls are still associated with civilized spaces by their clothing. Shortly, Marion, Miranda, and Irma take off their shoes and stockings to walk on the rock, illustrating their integration with the wild space.

“What was her name, the tall pale girl with straight yellow hair, who had gone skimming over the water like one of the white swans on his Uncle’s lake?”

Mike notices Miranda, and is immediately drawn to her beauty and grace. He likens her to a swan. Later, the swan Mike sees at Lake View will symbolize how he is haunted by Miranda’s disappearance.

“The immediate impact of its soaring peaks induced a silence so impregnated with its powerful presence that even Edith was struck dumb.”

Hanging Rock is depicted as not only an immense environmental feature, but is personified as an entity with a “powerful presence.” This passage alludes to Hanging Rock’s mysterious lure and supernatural powers.

“‘We can’t go much further,’ said Miranda. ‘Remember, girls, I promised Mademoiselle we wouldn’t be long away.’ At every step the prospect ahead grew more enchanting with added detail of crenellated crags and lichen-pattered stone.”

Miranda reminds the girls that they have to turn around soon; at this stage, they are still cognizant of the passing of time and their responsibility to return to the picnic ground. However, the “enchanting” magic of Hanging Rock continues to draws them into the wilderness.

“‘When are we going home?’ Miranda was looking at her so strangely, almost as if she wasn’t seeing her. When Edith repeated the question more loudly, she simply turned her back and began walking away up the rise.”

Miranda’s strange and vague manner illustrates the entrancing and sinister magic of Hanging Rock. She ignores Edith and continues walking. It is out of character for kindly Miranda to ignore Edith’s obvious panic, and also extremely out of character for Miranda to disobey their orders to return to the picnic ground.

“I can’t understand her not being here on time—Miss McCraw is such a punctual lady.”

Miss McCraw’s disappearance is noted and commented upon. Mademoiselle de Poitiers points out that Miss McCraw is known to be punctual; as such, her disappearance and failure to return is completely out of character. This passage emphasizes Hanging Rock’s powerful influence on even the most rational figures. 

“She says, Constable, that Miss McCraw was not wearing a skirt—only les pantalons.”

The women discard many items of their clothing as they fall under Hanging Rock’s strange spell. Hanging Rock is in total opposition to the rules of the civilized or rational world; perhaps the women are in part drawn to this wild space because, though they are in danger, they are also totally free. This passage develops the themes of Female Propriety and Decorum and Civilized Versus Wild Spaces; the women abandon the societal rules of dress as they leave civilization and enter the wild realm of Hanging Rock.

“In full sunlight its jagged peaks and pinnacles even more sinister than the hideous caves of Mike’s recurring nightmares.”

The danger of Hanging Rock is emphasized through imagery of the sharp peaks and pinnacles. The reference to Mike’s nightmares develops the theme of Traumatic Stress and Existential Anxiety as Mike is forced to relive the events of Hanging Rock night after night in his dreams.

“But who would be laughing here under the sea…? He was forcing his way through those vicious dark-green water, looking for the musical box whose tinkling voice was sometimes behind, sometimes just ahead. He was wide awake and stumbling to his feet when he heard her laughing, a little way ahead. ‘Miranda! Where are you?’”

Mike transitions from a haunting dream of searching for Miranda, who remains just out of reach, to a reality that is very similar to the dream. This passage explores the dream-like spell of Hanging Rock; those who fall under its supernatural power struggle to retain their grip on reality. Mike will never know if he actually did hear Miranda, or if the Rock was just luring Mike into danger.

“The garden held no autumnal delights for the Headmistress to whom well kept beds and lawns were no more than a symbol of prestige.”

Mrs. Appleyard’s attempts to control the natural landscape around the college speaks to the theme of Civilized Versus Wild Spaces; she wishes for the grounds to conform to her ideal of British order, decorum, and prestige. Mrs. Appleyard’s efforts to control her world through strict discipline will ultimately fail, and, symbolically, the college will burn down in a bushfire after she dies by suicide on Hanging Rock. Lindsay suggests that Australian nature cannot be tamed and controlled by arrogant colonizers.

“‘They were exceptionally intelligent and well-behaved girls who would never have allowed any familiarity from strangers.’ ‘As far as that goes,’ said the detective blandly, ‘most young girls would object to being raped by a drunken seaman, if that’s what you have in mind.’”

The detective challenges Mrs. Appleyard’s absurd implication that women of a different social class would have allowed themselves to be raped; he points out that a survivor’s propriety—or lack thereof—is totally irrelevant under the circumstances. Mrs. Appleyard’s response illustrates that she values Appleyard College’s reputation more than the well-being of her students, further developing the theme of Female Propriety and Decorum.

“A portion of the delicate mechanism of the brain appeared to be irrevocably damaged. ‘Like a clock, you know,’ the doctor explained. ‘A clock that stops under a certain set of unusual conditions and refuses ever to go again beyond a particular point.’”

The motif of time serves to illustrate the unreal world of Hanging Rock, which doesn’t operate according to natural laws. As such, it is inaccessible to those like Irma who exist in the orderly space of civilization; the doctor correctly predicts that she will never recover her memories of what happened there.

“He knew her at once by the poise of the fair tilted head, and began running towards her with the sickening fear that she would be gone before he could reach her, as invariably happened in his troubled dreams. He was almost within touching distance of her muslin skirts when they became the faintly quivering wings of a white swan, attracted by the sparkling jet from the tap.”

This passage illustrates Mike’s feelings of frustration and impotence at failing to rescue Miranda. Symbolically, Mike is left at the lake’s edge, unable to reach the swan, which mirrors the way he was unable to rescue Miranda. The haunting effect of Miranda’s death on Mike leads him to abruptly cease his budding romance with Irma and to travel to remote Northern Queensland, seeking adventure as well as peace of mind, which continues to elude him.

“She was no longer afraid of the woman behind the closed door, whose hand, seized with an uncontrollable tremor, reached for the bottle of cognac under the desk.”

Mrs. Appleyard loses power and prestige as her school becomes associated with death, violence, and mystery. Her decline is detected by the staff and students at the college, who, like Irma, no longer fear Mrs. Appleyard. Mrs. Appleyard’s trembling hands and her increasing reliance on alcohol illustrate her stress and allude to her suicide.

“So the communal vision unfolds before them and Mademoiselle dare not pierce the taut gossamer veil by a spoken word. They see the walls of the gymnasium fading into an exquisite transparency, the ceiling opening up like a flower into the brilliant sky above the Hanging Rock.”

The wild space of Hanging Rock invades the civilized space of the college through a vision shared by the traumatized girls. This causes them to act out in wild, animalistic, and violent ways. The theme of Civilized Versus Wild Spaces is explored in this scene; the divide established between the spaces is crumbling. Lindsay alludes to Mrs. Appleyard’s suicide and the college’s destruction by fire.

“A little desultory conversation was indulged in, and to all appearances as far as Dianne de Poitiers could judge nothing special was amiss apart from Sara Waybourne’s absence with a migraine and Edith Horton complaining to Miss Lumley of a touch of neuralgia in the right cheek.”

Sara’s migraine was likely caused by the shock and fright of the terrifying scene at the gymnasium, and Edith’s pain in her cheek was from Mademoiselle slapping her to stop her screams. The motif of time is once again employed to demonstrate the supernatural influence of Hanging Rock, which brings characters under its spell, and causes them to lose all rationality, but then leaves them without memory or knowledge of these events.

“‘Those In Peril On The Sea’…finding and Saving, or allowing to perish, the lost school-girls on Hanging Rock. All of which and a good deal more flashed through poor Mike’s brain in a jumble of imagery impossible to digest—let alone communicate.”

Mike continues to grapple with Traumatic Stress and Existential Anxiety after the Hanging Rock incident, which affects him immensely. The whirl of distress and anxiety feels utterly uncommunicable, which isolates him further.

“An old woman with head bowed under a forest of curling pins, with pendulous breasts and sagging stomach beneath a flannel dressing-gown. No human being—no even Arthur—had ever seen her thus, without the battledress of steel and whalebone in which for eighteen hours a day the Headmistress was accustomed to face the world.”

Mrs. Appleyard’s appearance in this scene is juxtaposed with her impeccable presentation in the earlier chapters. The change signals Mrs. Appleyard’s loss of control, both of herself and of her school. Her usually impeccable presentation is metaphorically represented as her battledress, which allows her to face the challenges of life. She has shed this costume, illustrating her powerlessness to resist the tide of misfortune engulfing the school. The book alludes to Mrs. Appleyard’s suicide.