Ford’s painting At Hanging Rock of sightseers picnicking is an inspiration to Lindsay’s novel Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967). The picnickers are middle class and dressed in everyday clothing that is ill-suited to the country locale. They walk, converse, read, and climb among the rocks and trees; there is no sign of food or drink.
William Ford’s painting was the inspiration for Joan Lindsay’s novel Picnic at Hanging Rock.
See William Ford. At Hanging Rock (1875), oil on canvas. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne