The Secret of Hanging Rock: With Commentaries by John Taylor, Yvonne Rousseau and Mudrooroo

Hanging Rock #1.5

by Joan Lindsay

Joan Lindsay's classic novel Picnic at Hanging Rock is a subtle blend of mysterious and sinister events set in a period of Australian social life drawn with loving nostalgia. The final chapter of the novel was removed at the request of her publishers, creating a mystery to which thousands have begged to know the solution.

The missing chapter reveals what did happen to the schoolgirls who vanished from the Rock after a St Valentine's Day picnic in 1900, and holds commentaries by John Taylor, Yvonne Rousseau and Mudrooroo.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Australia, Short Stories, Literary Fiction

37 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Joan Lindsay, Lady Lindsay was an Australian author, best known for her "ambiguous and intriguing" novel Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘The Secret of Hanging Rock’ – not to be confused with ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ (Joan Lindsay) is reputedly the lost or excised final chapter from that novel.

Whilst seemingly left to Lindsay’s literary agent for publication after her death (for the purpose of explaining the mystery and answering questions previously raised by the original novel) there still seems some question regarding a: Why this apparently key last chapter was left out of the original publication and b: The authenticity of this alleged missing chapter.

The chapter provided here is somewhat metaphysical, fantastical and verges on the surreal – not merely with the blurring of fact and fiction, truth and imagination, life and death, dreams and reality but by also apparently alluding to the concept of aboriginal dream-time.

Ultimately, this ‘missing’ chapter doesn’t really explain the mystery of the ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ nor answer the questions raised therein. As to its authenticity – who knows? It doesn’t read as though written by the same author and wouldn’t comfortably sit with the rest of the original novel. Neither do the accompanying commentaries provided with this publication give us much of interest.

What ‘The Secret of Hanging Rock’ does do is to add to the mythology and mystery surrounding the ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ and its author.
The original novel undoubtedly benefits from the exclusion of this final chapter (if indeed that is what it is?) and would almost definitely not have been the literary or critical success that it is had the missing chapter never been excised – the air of mystery giving the novel its success would have been compromised, very much to the story’s detriment.

Whoever the author – this ‘missing’ final chapter provides at best an interesting literary curio adding to the ‘Hanging Rock’ mythologisation
industry.

[Michael Fuery · Rating 3 out of 5]

The so-called 'secret' eighteenth chapter started its life as something fairly innocuous: a by-product of the editorial process. One of Joan Lindsay's editors, Sandra Forbes, recalled twenty years after the book's release in 1967 that "Joan was always doubtful about that final chapter...Its eventual exclusion was a literary decision, reached mutually by author and publisher."

And the evidence for Lindsay's doubt appears in a 1974 interview she gave for the Arts Australia Council in which her view of what happened in her story was quite different to the imagery of the discarded chapter:

"...it was like dropping a stone into the water...I felt that...the thing that happened on St. Valentine's Day went on spreading, out and out and out, in circles, from that first thing that happened. And it went on, and it affected so many lives, and so many people, and so many generations ahead, and before and after..."

While Lindsay gave the copyright of the discarded chapter to John Taylor to be used at his discretion after her death, it's release in 1987 as 'the secret' did little to reconcile her thoughts of 1974 and perhaps left her legacy open to ridicule.

Without it, the book's factual basis remained superficially ambiguous, generating impressive public interest. With it, the chapter betrays the book as fiction. But even with this realisation, 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' remains a most marvellous fiction, having stirred the imaginations of millions since its release and continues to inspire today.

Timekeeping was antithetical to Joan Lindsay and her relationship to time was unconventional yet elegant. Despite a self-criticism that her concept of it was "unscientific" it today appears that she was well-ahead of her era and her views might be considered aligned to some of those ideas being expressed in cosmology. From the same interview:

"...I've been terribly interested in time...I always felt that it was something that was all around one. Not just in a long line in a calendar. I feel that one's in the middle of time and that the past, present and future is all around and I'm in the middle of it..."

If the excluded chapter is read with the expectation of providing a resolution to 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' the reader may well be disappointed. But perhaps the best context for approaching it would be as a background to Lindsay's thinking at the time, along with her autobiography, 'Time Without Clocks'.

And then, for those fortunate to be visiting Australia or residing here, Lindsay's home, 'Mulberry Hill', in Victoria, will provide a delightful canvas on which to appreciate a small but rich fragment of her life and creative spirit.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This final chapter was apparently left off the original book by agreement between Lindsay and the publisher. It’s still under interpretation as to what she was getting at as the commentary included here states. It was good to revisit this 70s aussie classic.

[Cass · Rating 1 out of 5]

The 'official' ending is really rubbish. So contrasting to the book that I honestly refuse to be convinced that it was written by the same author.

Rubbish.

[Orient · Rating 4 out of 5]

The missing chapter of "Picnic at a Hanging Rock". A nice addition to the spooky story.

[James Hold · Rating 1 out of 5]

Minus 10 stars would be more apt.

There is a term for the stuff that passes through a cow's intestines. Which is the the only thing I can come up with for this. Supposedly it's the 'missing' 18th chapter of Lindsey's book. It is also a steamy pony loaf. Apparently in writing her final chapter, the author chose to adopt a prose style completely foreign to the rest of the book. To be honest it does present an interesting idea of everyone being turned into crabs. HP Lovecraft, I'm sure, could have had a field day with the concept. Only Lindsey is *not* HPL and the result (assuming she actually wrote it) is ridiculous. More ridiculous though is Yvonne Rousseau's 'commentary' where she attempts to explain everything. It left me wondering what she was smoking, drinking, or shooting at the time

Although I did not care for the original story, no author deserves this sort of mistreatment. I thought it was a crime when Philip Jose Farmer wrote Tarzan and Doc Savage novels. Bad as those were, this is material for lining your birdcage.

You can find this in a free PDF online but my recommendation would be to skip it. Whatever your opinion of the original, this is nothing anyone should want to read.

[Cheyenne Blue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly, it's pointless reading this if you haven't read Joan Lindsay's "Picnic at Hanging Rock".

This is the final chapter written by Lindsay that was chopped in a mutual decision made by Lindsay and her editor. This teeny-tiny "book" is a few pages of Chapter 18, and some rather more interesting notes from her editor, and by Yvette Rouseau, who wrote "The Murders at Hanging Rock", a book offering up various takes on What Actually Happened.

Personally, I find the ending of "Secret" a cop out, and I prefer the book without this final chapter. It's all a bit wibbley wobbley timey whimey, as Dr Who would say, and offers up an "explanation" without actually giving an explanation.

You better stop reading here if you don't want spoilers...

Still here?

Really... last chance.

Basically, they get sucked into a place outside of time and space. Their bloomers that they throw off the rock hang suspended in mid air. Miranda, Marion and The McCabe crawl into a cave in the rock, leaving a bewildered Irma behind, and *poof* they disappear into the wormhole. Or the Q continuum. Or the TARDIS. Or aboriginal dreamtime something (I'm not exactly sure what) if you will. Thing is, this final chapter is all very Deus ex Machina, because apart from a reference to drums and some creeping Aussie wildlife curling up alongside the girls when they are overcome by tiredness, there's really nothing to foreshadow this. It springs up in Chapter 18.

I don't need carefully worded exposes at the end of a book. I like to work it out for myself, I like to ponder on the meaning, and what actually happened. But this? It's pointless.

3 stars for sentimentality and because I adore Picnic and Lindsay's writing. It's probably closer to 1 or 2 stars.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, a history of this elusive final chapter. Lindsay had originally had this chapter in her novel but was urged by her publishers to take it out of the novel for various reasons. Years later this chapter was released to the general public & from everyone I've heard that's read this, the reactions are mixed. Some like it, some love it & some are just downright disappointed. I have to say that I'm not quite sure where I stand on this.

If you've read the book 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' then you need no description of the tale & if you haven't then you should read that first. I can't really say anything about this chapter, although I will say that there are various pages that have a summary of the contents. The actual chapter isn't very long, with most of the pages being taken up by writings by two other people.

Am I glad to have read it? Yes, I am. Do I think it's worth the money it's being charged for? That depends on how desperate you are to read it & how much of a collector you are. If you aren't a collector then I really do recommend reading the summaries on other pages on the net to see if you really do want to buy it. Do I think it should merit more or less than 3 stars? I don't really know, to be honest. While I did like the ending I did feel slightly let down, but then I have to think that more than likely any solution would've been a bit anticlimatic.

If you can get this cheap or if you are a collector, go for it. Otherwise, go look it up elsewhere.

[Steven Godin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor, added nothing to impact the main novel at all.

[Malin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5
Det artonde kapitlet samt dess förord adderar helt klart till läsupplevelsen av Utflykt till Hanging Rock.

[AR · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the face of it, The Secret of Hanging Rock seems like a load of hogwash. One of things that made The Picnic at Hanging Rock so famous was the integral mystery of what happened to the young women and the school teacher who disappeared. Where did they go? What really transpired on Hanging Rock? How can three individuals simply vanish without a trace? What are the consequences of their disappearance?

Anyone who's read the original book or heard of the story knows what it feels like to read about a mystery that doesn't get a satisfactory resolution. And the Secret of Hanging Rock is not a satisfactory resolution by a long shot. On the contrary, it makes even less sense than the original mystery, and it leaves the readers with more questions than answers, and an increasingly frustrating notion that perhaps they've been had.

Unlike a lot of other reviewers, I do in fact think that this is the original conclusion that Joan Lindsay wrote and later excised when the book went to publication. I'm sure that there are other people out there who will be able to compellingly and perhaps smugly explain why they think this was written by someone with an intention to profit off of the original story and that it isn't the author's work at all. I'm sure their evidence is quite solid. But I still tend towards the belief that the Chapter 18 that was published was in fact what Joan Lindsay herself had written and intended as the conclusion.

One of the main reasons I think this is because of what the author has said about the origins of her story. She stated multiple times over the years that the story came to her in a series of dreams, and she'd wake up and write her novel. Reading the chapter in the book, it struck me just how dreamlike the quality of it all was. It's the exact sort of thing that someone would have a particularly vivid dream of, wake up feeling weird about it, and then feel compelled to write a story about it. It's weird, and its weirdness is what makes it so compelling. If I had to wager a fully unsubstantiated guess, I'd say that the ending was what Joan Lindsay dreamed of first. The parts about them taking off their corsets and then throwing them over the cliff, only to find that they've frozen in midair. The "hole in time." The three of them turning into creatures and disappearing into the hole. The sounds of the distant drumming, the pink cloud in the air. The image of Ms. McGraw on her way up the hill, while Edith runs down it, shrieking. All of it has this peculiar quality that I think is entirely in keeping with the peculiarity of the original book and its mystery.

The second reason is, why would anyone OTHER than Joan Lindsay write such an ending to the story, with a solution to the mystery that makes even less sense than the mystery itself? What would be the point? Countless people have speculated about what the answer might have been. Why would any author in the quest to make it all up write such a patently unsatisfying end when they had so many other options for what could have happened? If you're going to make it all up anyway, why make this in particular?

At any rate, scoffing that this couldn't have possibly been written by the author does a disservice to Joan Lindsay herself, as well as the ideas that she held about how the world, particularly how time, works. She was a peculiar woman, and remarkable for it. She always struck me very much as the sort of lady who lives down the street from you--perfectly friendly, always happy to have you in for some tea and cookies, all while telling you at depth about that one time she saw a space ship when she was in the Florida Keys. You want to roll your eyes, and yet she's so compelling, and so very lucid and normal in her recollection, that you can't help but wonder anyway.

I don't think that there could have ever been a satisfying conclusion to The Picnic at Hanging Rock. Perhaps this is controversial to say, but I don't want there to be. I don't want there to be a proper conclusion for it at all. I don't want there to be some mundane-yet-plausible explanation where they were covered up by a rock slide, or were kidnapped, or just got lost and starved to death. Any conclusion that could have been offered up, no matter how sensible, would have fallen short. The mystery itself is the point. The foreboding sense of awe and horror, the way you stay up late after reading the book, just thinking about the wtfery of it all. That's the whole point. I have no doubt that Joan Lindsay herself knew exactly what happened to those girls at Hanging Rock. I also have no doubt that she told us exactly what happened to those girls at Hanging Rock, both in her original work, and in this follow up. And if you're still left unsatisfied, with a gnawing sense of unease and apprehension about it all, then perhaps that's the point, and both works have accomplished what they intended.

[David Corleto-Bales · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the "missing" chapter 18, which was left out of the original 1967 novel that "explains" what happened to the missing girls from "The Picnic at Hanging Rock". Lindsay submitted this chapter to her editor in 1972 with the stipulation that it not be published until five years after her death in 1984. Strangely unappealing as an ending, it is clear as mud and seems to (sort of?) incorporate aboriginal "dream timing." I was disappointed, and the novel is not enhanced by providing a sort of explanation to a very good and enigmatic novel. Generally, when scenes are added to a movie--for instance--(that were originally left on the cutting room floor) the movie is almost never improved. The cut scenes were taken out because, well, they sucked. This chapter sucked. The book did not suck. Let's pretend Chapter 18 never existed and we'll all be better off.

[Malvina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last chapter of Picnic at Hanging Rock was removed from Joan Linsday's manuscript and only published after her death - and here it is. But not before many people had speculated as to what actually happened. And because it's published separately to the book I imagine a lot of people still never know it's available. All I will say is that Joan Lindsay enjoyed playing with the concept of 'time'. I feel complete having read it now, but in some ways the mystery and the secrets still linger on. I enjoyed the introduction here by John Taylor and commentary by Yvonne Rousseau, who herself wrote The Murders at Hanging Rock. Make of all this what you will.

[Debbie Robson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will probably be the shortest book I’ll read all year. It is actually merely Chapter Eighteen, the famous last chapter of Picnic at Hanging Rock which was held back from original publication until after Joan Lindsay’s death. It is a pity that this chapter didn’t receive as much polishing as the rest of the book and evidently there was some mixup with the laying out of the manuscript. All this is explained along with Yvette Rouseau’s interesting analysis of the last chapter. One for the devotees.

[Laura Morrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the chapter and commentaries. I liked the anecdotes about Lindsay and her life. I would have liked to be her friend, we both see the world a little differently to most.

I liked the chapter, it was fairly similar to what I would have thought was implied by the book and movie. And I found it much spookier than a silly rational explanation.

[Sharni · Rating 1 out of 5]

I still don't really GET where Joan Lindsay was going with this chapter... and still believe that the book is all the better without it. I did really enjoy the introduction and commentary by John Taylor (her literary agent) and the insight into how Joan Lindsay felt about the request to remove the chapter and how annoyed she was by persistent questioning from readers who wanted to know the "facts" of the story that it is allegedly based on. The "final" chapter is followed by interpretations by Yvonne Rousseau (author of "The Murders at Hanging Rock" which comes up with multiple solutions to the mystery and was published before this final chapter was) and Mudrooroo. Of the two, I prefer Mudrooroo's interpretation of it possibly being 'the first account of the abduction of humans by aliens in Australia?'

[Eustachio · Rating 3 out of 5]

La soluzione del mistero di Hanging Rock non è di fatto una soluzione definitiva. Forse è più interessante la storia editoriale che il capitolo finale in sé. L'interpretazione finale mi sembra un po' tirata.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wise to have removed this before publication, I think, though I bet Peter Weir would have done a fine job of realizing all its weirdness in his film. I suppose it's only a matter of time till there's another remake that takes us all the way down the rabbit, or snake, hole. As much as I usually enjoy esotericism, I found the commentary by Yvonne Rousseau inane.

[Rebecca Causley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a good reason the publishers kept this seperate, but interesting nonetheless

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this was short, I needed time to drink it in, let it soak, and allow the haziness of Lindsay’s world to sing to me. How mad her editor must have been to make her remove such a chapter—one filled with such clarity of message, purity of image, and ingenuity of creation. I understand it was in the best interest of readers—leaving the mystery unsolved and trusting and respecting the reader enough to let them solve it for themselves; or, as I think readers should respond to it, to be content with the unknown and not go searching for logical answers. But I think Lindsay does respect us, even in this final chapter where the case appears to be closed. I still don’t think it is closed, and that, I think, is how it is intended to remain. There are questions ample for pondering, and many of them are unanswerable. Just the way Lindsay knew how to write it from the very beginning, on a day just perfect for a picnic.

[Riccardo Mainetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

In questo breve volumetto è contenuto, con tanto di commenti a supporto, l'ultimo capitolo del romanzo di Joan Lindsay intitolato "Picnic a Hanging Rock.
Il capitolo fu eliminato, su consiglio e spinta da parte dell'editore, dalla versione pubblicata del romanzo. L'autrice però lasciò, tra le sue ultime volontà, l'indicazione di pubblicare il capitolo dopo la sua morte. Si tratta, come ho detto, di un agile volumetto (disponibile, per il momento, esclusivamente in lingua inglese) che fornisce alcuni chiarimenti su quanto accaduto alle studentesse e all'insegnante scomparse. Se volete saperne di più non dovrete fare altro che leggervi "The Secret of Hanging Rock".

[Just · Rating 3 out of 5]

I googled the final chapter after reading a reminder of this story today being Valentines Day. I have never read the final chapter prior to this and am really unsure how to take it. I feel that the author and publishers did the right thing by not including it in the original publishing of the story. I truly believe this chapter would have detracted from how good the rest of the book is. I enjoyed the commentary following the chapter but really think I will stick to the novel as it was originally presented to the world.

[Rhonda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Supposedly this is the missing chapter that was never to be published until the author passed - which made no sense- because there is no proof that Lindsey even wrote this ending. The original manuscript had been burned.

Then I read the ending- and it made no sense. It was so far off in the left field - it literally read like someone had just taken the main characters and thrown them in a completely different story.

Waste of brief time reading it but huge waste of money because this ending was way overpriced.

[Nick Traynor · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a load of malarkey. As if the missing chapter wasn't brief and underwhelming enough, the accompanying commentary was obsequiously fawning over goodness knows what. The woman who wrote The Murders at Hanging Rock seemed to have it all figured out but it required a phenomenal stretch of credulity. The Aboriginal man seemed to think it was about UFOs, which was ridiculous. The book as it was originally published was appreciably better without this esoteric mumbo-jumbo.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final chapter of Picnic at Hanging Rock. The original book definitely works best without it, though of course it's an interesting read.

[Justin Fraxi · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part of this is the wonderful commentary by Yvonne Rousseau.

[Iveth Martínez · Rating 2 out of 5]

El final de la novela Picnic en Hanging Rock fue algo insatisfactorio. (Y aquí van ciertos spoilers de la novela principal). Como todos leímos, el gran misterio de la desaparición de las alumnas y la maestra quedó sin resolverse: si bien era para destacar que el la novela no se centraba en las desaparecidas, sino cómo lo enfrentan quienes quedan atrás, me quedó la espinita de saber qué ocurrió. Y déjenme decirles que la decisión del editor de dejar fuera este último capítulo fue sumamente sabia: pues ese final se siente anticlimático. Personalmente, no me gustó el aire metafísico y surrealista que adquiere: no me pareció ver continuidad con la narrativa que fue planteando la autora a lo largo del libro. Si bien entiendo ligeramente el final, me parece que deja demasiados cabos sueltos y contiene incoherencias.

[Irka · Rating 3 out of 5]

English version below.
Muszę przyznać, że jestem rozczarowana zakończeniem Pikniku. Prawdę mówiąc zgadzam się nawet z wydawcami, którzy nie chcieli publikować ostatniego rozdziału - mieli rację. Masło maślane, tak wiem. Do rzeczy, zakończenie dla mnie nie rozwiązuje ani tematu różowej mgły, ani bębnów słyszanych w oddali... nie wspominając już o tym, że mamy do czynienia albo z zakrzywieniem czaso-przestrzeni albo z porwaniem przez obcych. Kompletnie bez sensu, już wolę wersję gdzie nic nie jest wyjaśnione od rozdziału osiemnastego wprowadzającego jeszcze większe zamieszanie.
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I'm honestly disappointed with chapter eighteen of Picnic. Not only it does not give you answers as to "pink fog" origin but it leaves you with more questions then answers : was it an alien abduction or a space-time bending? I prefer "Picnic at Hanging Rock" without it's last chapter, sorry.

[Monica Go]

I did some research and found out that a final chapter of the novel existed, one that 'explained' what happened on the rock and that was supposed to be there.

Although, the mystery still remains, in my opinion, it was nice to have that little something that was missing. It was also very interesting to read about how they decided to publish it solo and some other stuff about interpretations on what really happened and time dimensions.

I won't give it a vote, because I consider this a completion of the actual novel, so maybe together it would be a 4 stars read.

[alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

the final chapter felt like a scene from alice’s adventures in wonderland— the dialogue inventive, mathematical, and lurid. i kept rereading descriptions to fully flesh them out in my mind and though the scene reads chaotic and terrifying, there is an underlying calm amidst the drama. a dreadfully wonderful hypothetical for a true mystery! the introduction, foundation, and commentary cemented the theory behind lindsay’s world and i appreciated all the explanations.