My link to Mary Poppins…

is that I was born in the same town as P.L. Travers (born Helen Lyndon Goff in 1899) – the author of Mary Poppins. Yes, she was Australian! She moved to England at the age of 24. I learnt of this when I was a teenager and was thrilled that she also came from my little country town.

Sadly, Maryborough didn’t embrace its literary heritage until after I had left town, but now it celebrates it. On the 5th July (yesterday here in Oz) was the annual Mary Poppins Festival (which is free and features fun events like the chimney sweep dash). There is also a statue of Mary Poppins in town, outside the building that was the former Australian Joint Stock Bank building, on the corner of Kent and Richmond Streets—where Travers’ father was manager and she was born. It also now houses the Story Bank, an interactive museum where you can explore the author’s early life and the magical world of her stories.

Maryborough is a heritage town; one of the countries oldest and most historic cities. It was settled in 1847 and has beautiful colonial architecture, and a rich industrial and immigration port history. The town celebrates this heritage with the Town Crier and his companion, Mary Heritage. They dress in colonial costume and are famous at the Thursday weekly markets, welcoming visitors and performing the ceremonial firing of the historic Time Cannon.

This celebration of our heritage city was well and truly established while I lived there. I do love the history of my birthplace, but being P.L. Travers birth place pips that for me.

Does your home town have any history that excites you?