Hanging Rock · Three Who Went Up and Never Came Down

Hanging Rock is a mass of rock that rises abruptly out of the Victorian plain, shaped like a tipped saddle. On Valentine’s Day 1900 a teacher from a girls’ school brought her students here for a picnic, and three of them climbed onto the rock and never came back.

The search went on for days; no bodies were found and nothing was heard of them again. The case was later made into a novel and a film and became Australia’s most famous disappearance; locals also say it was as if the rock took them in.

Climbing the rock is not allowed. In the early morning the mist lies against it, and it looks taller than in the photographs.

Folklore / Victoria · Australia / 1900