A large format reprint of Joan Lindsay's novel exquisitely illustrated with over 200 images from Peter Weir's film,
and containing excerpts from the motion picture screenplay by Cliff Green.
Joan Lindsay’s evocative novel Picnic at Hanging Rock has for the first time, been brought together with images from Peter Weir’s classic Australian film.
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK – LIMITED EDITION contains a selection of over 200 images reproduced directly from the original motion picture film, and also includes excerpts from the screenplay of the film by Cliff Green – all carefully positioned to complement the narrative in a special once-off edition.
Perfect for any literary or film enthusiast, or as an authentic souvenir of Hanging Rock and the Macedon Ranges. The book is of large format design (305mm high x 235mm wide); 224 pages, printed on high quality satin art-paper. Two versions of the book were produced: a softcover edition and a hardcover edition. The hardcover or 'deluxe edition' has now sold out. Copies of the softcover version are still available for sale.
The book was published completely with funds from the Hanging Rock Reserve Committee of Management. It is available for sale at the Hanging Rock Reserve, the Macedon Ranges Shire Council Visitor Information Centres, or by direct request to the Macedon Ranges Shire Council.
All proceeds from the sale of the books will be used to continue to care for the Hanging Rock Reserve for the benefit of present and future generations.
TO PURCHASE
For more details telephone (03) 5422 0333 or email awalsh@mrsc.vic.gov.au
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK – LIMITED EDITION (Softcover version)
RRP. $58.50 (AUST.) inc. GST.
Postage anywhere in Australia is an additional $11.50. inc. GST.
International Orders are welcome by phone: +61 3 5422 0333 or fax: +61 3 5422 3623.
Postage to overseas destinations is an additional $20.00. (AUST.)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE LIMITED EDITION
In 2001 the Hanging Rock Development Advisory Committee and the Macedon Ranges Shire Council commissioned a special large format reprint of Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock illustrated with images from Peter Weir's film of the narrative to continue to help promote the Hanging Rock Reserve.
It was officially launched on 29 November 2002 at the Hanging Rock Reserve by Anne Louise Lambert who was cast as Miranda in the film. The first 10 copies of the hardcover 'Deluxe Edition' were auctioned at the launch and contained a selection of cast signatures. Book No. 1 travelled around the world and was signed by nearly all surviving principal members of the cast and crew.
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The sequence that started it all —
The narrative of Picnic at Hanging Rock concludes sharply after the Headmistress of Appleyard College – Mrs Appleyard – departs the college in a hurry and visits the Hanging Rock for the first time over a month after the ill-fated school picnic excursion on Saint Valentine's Day in 1900.
A sequence was filmed to depict this – but a decision was made early in post-production to leave it out of the final film.
It was the reported existence of this sequence that began the search to locate the 'rushes' or daily processed results of the film's production – which in turn then led to the creation of this book.
A reduced crew went back to Hanging Rock at the end of the production to film this ending – only to find that part of the reserve had been burnt by wildfire while they had been filming at Martindale Hall and other locations in South Australia.
On the day they shot this sequence, a bushfire was burning on Mount Macedon (you can see this in the background of the image of Mrs Appleyard approaching the monolith published in the book) while simultaneously they worked quickly to complete the scenes before a thunderstorm broke overhead.
Fittingly, at the narrative's end – Joan Lindsay speaks of a bushfire raging through the district shortly after the events in the story, and in early drafts of the screenplay, a spectacular conclusion was originally written where Mrs Appleyard ascended the Rock as the vegetation around it rapidly ignited in a roaring fire.
The version presented in the book, was not the only ending filmed on the day, but is the one that best matches the text, and hence the one that was included in the book.
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The Author's Page —
The primary image chosen for the author's page in the book of Joan Lindsay standing by a sundial in the front garden at Mulberry Hill is particularly special.
Joan Lindsay did not wear a watch, nor did she keep any clocks at her home – as readers of her autobiographical memoir "Time without Clocks" will be aware. Watches and clocks always had a strange habit of stopping around her.
Apparently the sundial in the picture was not exempt from this – as it too mysteriously broke soon after its delivery and installation in the garden – something that amused her greatly.
The photo was taken by a friend of Joan's – Professor Richard R. Andrew, and while its existence was early known during the production of the book from a photocopy of it in a file, tracing down the original almost became a story in itself – with a trip to the National Library in Canberra, and an exhaustive search through the Mulberry Hill archives held by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) before it was eventually located, re-photographed and included in the book.
The other photos of Joan on the author's page are from the Mulberry Hill archives, and are of Joan while she was a student (of similar age to the girls she writes of in Picnic at Hanging Rock) at Clyde Girls School when it was situated in East St. Kilda.
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Stills & Rushes —
Typically books on motion pictures use still images photographed during the film's production. This book is illustrated with reproductions of frames from the motion picture film.
The guiding design behind this limited edition was that the images should always be in sequence with, or support the text. For this reason images from sections of the film where the screenplay condensed or reconfigured situations and characters from the novel in a major way were generally left out of the work. Exceptions were made to this rule, and the opening sequence of the film depicting the girls waking and dressing – is one such example.
An image of Irma Leopold arriving back at Appleyard College to say goodbye was one of only three production stills (by David Kynoch) used in the book. It was included because it appears to be the only surviving record of a scene that was not found in the rushes and is described in the narrative of the book.
The production of Picnic generated over 491 slates, or 491 different camera set-ups, each of which typically included anything between 1 - 8 'takes'. The vast majority of these shots were examined during the image selection process for the book.
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Restoration & Re-grading —
The images from this book were reproduced from the original motion picture work-print that was used during the editing of the film. With the exception of only a few, all of the images were scanned from either brother and sister 'takes' (alternative shots), or from sections from the head or tail of those shots used in the completed film.
This means if you study the film closely, you will notice that the majority of the images in the book do not appear in the film, or are subtle variations on what were actually used!
Over a month was spent purely on the task of cleaning off the scratches, grit, and marks that were on the frames chosen from the work-print and scanned for inclusion in the book.
After this work was complete many of the images had to be colour corrected or re-graded to compensate for their degradation in quality over time.
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Spiralling around the Rock —
Many images chosen for inclusion in the book depict scenes that were ultimately dropped from the final cut of the film.
A distinctive rock found halfway up to the peaks became an unusual recurring marker that the characters always passed in their ascents of the Rock in the film.
Miranda, Marion, Irma and Edith spiral around it - in a scene where Marion teases Edith - before they pass through the crevices and catacombs on their way to the monolith.
Later, Michael walks around it before setting on a direction to pursue his solitary search for Miranda and the other lost girls on the Rock.
Finally, in a particularly striking shot – Mrs Appleyard – in near exhaustion, deliriously paces out a circle around it before leaving her cloak and umbrella behind and ascending higher.
Images from these three deleted scenes are included in the book.
