Martindale Hall

Martindale Hall is located in the Clare Valley, an area famous for its many vineyards in South Australia. It was built in 1879, in a classic Georgian style. Built out of sandstone in an Italianate style, it is an opulent mansion boasting 32 rooms. These include a billiard room and smoking room, exhibiting interesting artifacts from the previous owners’ travels around the world.

The surrounding grounds used to host a racecourse, boating lake, and cricket field, where the English international side practiced at least once. The house hosted 14 servants at a time, to host the needs of just two people. It is yet another example of the extravagance boasted by the upper class at the time. 

While the hall deserves to be a major attraction in its own right, for some its main claim to fame will be that it was the set for Appleyard Girls School in the 1975 classic film Picnic at Hanging Rock. The house features heavily in the film, with shots taken of both the outside garden and frontage, as well as interior shots within the building. Keen viewers will be able to identify many of the features within the hall from the film.