Three schoolgirls and a teacher disappear from a mysterious volcanic rock. No bodies. No explanation. And a novel so convincing that generations of Australians believed the story really happened. In this episode of The DownUnder Mystery Club, authors AJ Blythe and Ava Ness unravel the strange mystery behind Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock.
We dig into how Lindsay’s deliberately ambiguous storytelling blurred the line between fiction and history, how the novel became embedded in Australian folklore, and discuss how an unresolved fictional mystery can sometimes feel more compelling than one with a neat solution.
We also delve into the mysterious final chapter, The Secret of Hanging Rock, which was published after Lindsay’s death and offered a very different, potentially supernatural explanation for what happened to the missing girls. Finally, we turn to our Mystery Book Club segment and chat about the mystery novels this haunting story brings to mind.
Do you think Picnic at Hanging Rock works because we never discover exactly what happened—or would you rather have the mystery solved? Have you always believed the story was based on a real event? Leave a review and tell us your thoughts, or share your favourite mystery read!
[Transcript in post below]
Book Links:
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey
The Secret of Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey
Argyle by Elly Conway
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
Leave a review or drop your thoughts in the comments wherever you’re listening.
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References:
Christie, A., 1939. And Then There Were None. London: Collins Crime Club.
Clarke, S., 2020. Piranesi. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Conway, E., 2024. Argylle. London: Bantam Books.ELLE Australia, 2018. ‘The true story behind “Picnic at Hanging Rock”’, ELLE, 8 May. Available at: https://www.elle.com.au/culture/entertainment/picnic-at-hanging-rock-true-story-17477/ (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
Foley, L., 2024. The Midnight Feast. London: HarperCollins.
Hanging Rock Reserve, n.d. Hanging Rock Reserve. Parks Victoria. Available at: https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/hanging-rock-reserve (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
Lindsay, J., 1967. Picnic at Hanging Rock. Melbourne: F.W. Cheshire. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picnic_at_Hanging_Rock_(novel) (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
Lindsay, J., 1987. The Secret of Hanging Rock. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
Sten, C., 2021. The Lost Village. New York: Minotaur Books.
The Guardian, 2025. ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock at 50: how a low-budget whodunnit became a cultural juggernaut’, The Guardian, 11 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/apr/11/picnic-at-hanging-rock-at-50-how-a-low-budget-whodunnit-became-a-cultural-juggernaut (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
The Wall Street Journal, n.d. ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) cultural analysis’, The Wall Street Journal. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/picnic-at-hanging-rock-peter-weir-1975-australia-70b7a0a0 (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
University Library of Australia, n.d. Literature: Joan Lindsay – Picnic at Hanging Rock. Available at: https://www.library.gov.au/learn/digital-classroom/cultural-perspectives-literature/literature-joan-lindsay-picnic-hanging (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
VanderMeer, J., 2014. Annihilation. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Western Sydney University, n.d. Did it really happen? Picnic at Hanging Rock. Available at: https://researchers.westernsydney.edu.au/en/publications/did-it-really-happen-picnic-at-hanging-rock (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
Wikipedia, n.d. ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)’. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picnic_at_Hanging_Rock_(novel) (Accessed: 28 June 2026).
Wikipedia, n.d. ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock (film)’. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picnic_at_Hanging_Rock_(film) (Accessed: 28 June 2026).