On Sunday 8th December 2013, Mary Poppins was welcomed back to her “birthplace” in the Australian town of Bowral where the author P.L. Travers lived as a child and teenager and a century after the character of the famous flying nanny first emerged in her imagination and storytelling.

The recently released Disney movie “Saving Mr Banks” starring Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney highlights the Australian origins of the creator of fictional character Mary Poppins.

Melissa and I recently saw the new Disney film Saving Mr Banks and there is much to like, especially the performance of Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers. The story of Disney’s campaign to gain the movie rights to the Mary Poppins character is one worth telling.

Radio presenter Joshua Hewitt interviewed the father-daughter team, Paul & Melissa McShane, who have created the Mary Poppins Birthplace campaign in Bowral.

Regional Fairfax newspaper the Southern Highlands News has a front page story yesterday on a mystery that has been quietly under investigation these past few weeks. But it couldn’t stay secret for much longer.

The most entertaining explanation received so far for the mysterious transformation of the Mary Poppins Birthplace Statue from facing west to facing east was published in the Southern Highlands News. It was offered by sisters Gabrielle and Rosanna Smyth.

$26,400 towards the Mary Poppins Birthplace Statue as part of the Federal Government’s Tourism Quality Program. Not.