Miranda Must Go
Donation protected
Hanging Rock is located one hour's drive from Melbourne in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria, Australia and is renowned for its distinctive geological formations. Hanging Rock is also a site frequently associated with mystery and foreboding due to Joan Lindsay’s renowned novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock, which describes the inexplicable disappearance of a group of schoolgirls and their teacher at the site in 1900.
The campaign entitled "Miranda Must Go" is inspired by decolonial and anti-racist campaigns, such as Rhodes Must Fall, and seeks to challenge the habitual retelling of Picnic at Hanging Rock at Hanging Rock . The goal in removing pervasive associations to Lindsay’s story, and its main character Miranda, is to prompt questions about the dominant culture's obsession with the fictional vanishing of white schoolgirls while actively ignoring the removal and displacement of Aboriginal people and culture which actually took place.
Hanging Rock is effectively haunted by a convenient fiction rather than an uncomfortable fact.
This campaign has been initiated by artist and researcher Amy Spiers, along with local partners and community groups, in order to bring visibility to these issues: specifically the fact that the myth of white vanishing matters more at Hanging Rock than real Aboriginal traumas and losses.
For more information about the campaign go to: www.mirandamustgo.info
This year is the 50th Anniversary of Picnic At Hanging Rock's publication so this campaign is timely. Over the coming months, we will be working to roll out the Miranda Must Go campaign. We will distribute posters and leaflets throughout the regional towns surrounding Hanging Rock and take out ads promoting the campaign in local newspapers. We are also seeking the campaign's endorsement from public figures and intellectuals, such as Elspeth Tilley, the theorist who wrote White Vanishing: Rethinking Australia's Lost-in-the-Bush Myth. An event will also be held at Hanging Rock on 14 February (the date the schoolgirls go missing in Lindsay’s novel) to bring attention to the campaign’s concerns.
Help us achieve Miranda Must Go's goals
The Miranda Must Go campaign to date has been self-funded, however, we now need help to ensure the campaign gains visibility and captures the public imagination.
Your donations will help support:
1. The printing and distribution of campaign materials including posters, flyers, t-shirts, newspaper advertisements and roadside signage. The aim is to raise awareness about the campaign and provoke public debate about the persistence of the white vanishing myth.
2. The promotion and presentation of a public event at Hanging Rock on 14 February 2017 aimed at providing the space for public discussion of the concerns raised by the campaign. The event will include the debut reading of a new satirical play, “How it Goes”, by Elspeth Tilley. Tilley has expressly written the play for the Miranda Must Go campaign and the reading will be performed by guest actors and local people. We will also hold critical walking tours, talks and discussions at Hanging Rock on this day.
3. A video documentary about the campaign and its impact on perceptions of Hanging Rock, produced by Amy Spiers and filmed by artist Zoe Scoglio.
The campaign entitled "Miranda Must Go" is inspired by decolonial and anti-racist campaigns, such as Rhodes Must Fall, and seeks to challenge the habitual retelling of Picnic at Hanging Rock at Hanging Rock . The goal in removing pervasive associations to Lindsay’s story, and its main character Miranda, is to prompt questions about the dominant culture's obsession with the fictional vanishing of white schoolgirls while actively ignoring the removal and displacement of Aboriginal people and culture which actually took place.
Hanging Rock is effectively haunted by a convenient fiction rather than an uncomfortable fact.
This campaign has been initiated by artist and researcher Amy Spiers, along with local partners and community groups, in order to bring visibility to these issues: specifically the fact that the myth of white vanishing matters more at Hanging Rock than real Aboriginal traumas and losses.
For more information about the campaign go to: www.mirandamustgo.info
This year is the 50th Anniversary of Picnic At Hanging Rock's publication so this campaign is timely. Over the coming months, we will be working to roll out the Miranda Must Go campaign. We will distribute posters and leaflets throughout the regional towns surrounding Hanging Rock and take out ads promoting the campaign in local newspapers. We are also seeking the campaign's endorsement from public figures and intellectuals, such as Elspeth Tilley, the theorist who wrote White Vanishing: Rethinking Australia's Lost-in-the-Bush Myth. An event will also be held at Hanging Rock on 14 February (the date the schoolgirls go missing in Lindsay’s novel) to bring attention to the campaign’s concerns.
Help us achieve Miranda Must Go's goals
The Miranda Must Go campaign to date has been self-funded, however, we now need help to ensure the campaign gains visibility and captures the public imagination.
Your donations will help support:
1. The printing and distribution of campaign materials including posters, flyers, t-shirts, newspaper advertisements and roadside signage. The aim is to raise awareness about the campaign and provoke public debate about the persistence of the white vanishing myth.
2. The promotion and presentation of a public event at Hanging Rock on 14 February 2017 aimed at providing the space for public discussion of the concerns raised by the campaign. The event will include the debut reading of a new satirical play, “How it Goes”, by Elspeth Tilley. Tilley has expressly written the play for the Miranda Must Go campaign and the reading will be performed by guest actors and local people. We will also hold critical walking tours, talks and discussions at Hanging Rock on this day.
3. A video documentary about the campaign and its impact on perceptions of Hanging Rock, produced by Amy Spiers and filmed by artist Zoe Scoglio.
Organizer
Amy Spiers
Organizer
Brunswick VIC
