1. As a class, study the maps above and locate these key areas referred to in the novel:

   • Woodend
   • Macedon
   • Castlemaine
   • Hanging Rock (Mount Diogenes)
   • Melbourne

   Zoomable versions:

   • George Philip & Son, cartographer, 1885, Victoria
   • Geological Survey of Victoria & Taylor, Norman & Wilkinson, J & Ross, J. L & Selwyn, Alfred R. C & Shepherd, R. (1860)

   How far are these places from each other? How far are they from Melbourne? What would this mean in terms of travel time in 1900?

1. Explain to students that Hanging Rock is officially known as Mount Diogenes and who Diogenes was. Ask students whether Joan Lindsay might have set her story at Mount Diogenes as a clue to whether the story is true or not?
2. The Australian outback is often portrayed as a scary entity that can swallow people up. Compared to the lush, green fields of the English countryside, the Australian bush was a harsh environment full of deadly animals that could kill you. It represented the unknown and could be a very real threat to anyone unfortunate enough to get lost in it. A fear of getting lost in the bush runs through many forms of art in Australia. Ask students to discuss the differences between the two environments. How would a population that hails mostly from the United Kingdom feel in this new environment?
3. Can you think of any other stories about people going missing in the bush or where the bush is portrayed as threatening? (Dot and the Kangaroo, Lost, May Gibbs' Big Bad Banksia Men)
   • What was similar about those stories? What was different?
   • Why is this topic such a persistent theme in Australian literature and film?
   • Can you think of any real life examples of people going missing in the bush? What impact did those events have on Australians?
4. Ask students to use Trove to search through newspapers and investigate a real life disappearance of children in Australia. (Perhaps Azaria Chamberlain, the Beaumont children or the Duff children). What was the public's reaction to these events?

After considering architecture, Joan studied art at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, where she was a student of painting under Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin, and went on to show some of her works in Melbourne exhibitions. She met fellow art student Daryl Lindsay at the art school. Daryl was one of five children, all artists, including author and illustrator of The Magic Pudding, Norman Lindsay.

Joan married Daryl Lindsay on Valentine's Day, 1922, in England, before they returned to Australia and took up residence at Mulberry Hill, near Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula. During the Great Depression, the couple were forced to rent out their home and take up a more affordable residence elsewhere until the financial situation improved. During this time, Joan made the move from painting to writing and completed two plays. Though neither were published, one was performed in England.

Lindsay published her first novel at the age of 40 in 1936. Through Darkest Pondelayo: An Account of the Adventures of Two English Ladies on a Cannibal Island is a satirical parody of travel books. In 1962, she published an autobiographical novel titled Time without Clocks, focussing on her wedding and early married life. It wasn't until 1967, at the age of 71, that Lindsay's most famous book - Picnic at Hanging Rock - was published.

Joan Lindsay - Trove Extended Resource List

Activity - the author's perspective

Lindsay pits the experience of white, colonial Australia and its European traditions against the extremities of the Australian landscape, in particular the Macedon Ranges, and explores the inevitable fallout.

1. With the students, examine the opening chapters of the book and the references to the boarding school.
   • From where do you think Lindsay drew inspiration for the description of the school, its location and inhabitants?
   • How would the story have been different if it had been written by someone who had never been to boarding school?
   • Our perspective on a situation can be very heavily influenced by our age and experience. How do the girls respond to the events in the novel?
   • How is this different from how the adult characters react?
   • Lindsay was in her 70s when she published Picnic at Hanging Rock. Could her age have affected the way she wrote about the girls of Appleyard College?