Travel: Maryborough – All Things Mary Poppins!

There are places that hold a sense of intrigue, where history is woven into the culture, nature and architecture.  Like a spring undercurrent, there’s a deep significance, and that depth produces an interesting beauty. It makes you want to know more.

This past weekend, our family visited the Fraser Coast. On our way to Hervey Bay, we stopped in at intriguing and beautiful Maryborough.  We almost skipped this part of our itinerary due to timings but I’m so glad we didn’t because we had a wonderful afternoon, you can see it in the pictures.  

Home of Mary Poppins

Maryborough is the birth place of P. L. Travers, the creator of the beloved character Mary Poppins.  A statue of her most famous literary character now stands on the corner of Richmond and Kent streets in front of the house in which she was born.  

Continuing down Richmond street, and leading to Queens Park, are various excerpts from Travers’ stories of Poppins, inscribed in steel, many of the designs created by local children.

Queens Park

We could have spent hours and hours here, amoungst one of the biggest fig trees I have ever seen. As soon as the kids spotted it, they were up there in a flash.  The park opens out onto the Mary River and contains many historical items and monuments, and also an awesome minature railway which runs on the last Sunday of every month.

Mary Poppins Festival & Chalk Drawings

Every year in July, Maryborough celebrates its connection with Pamela Lyndon Travers by holding the Mary Poppins Festival.  Chalk drawings are a well known motif in the world of Mary Poppins, and the elaborate chalk creations produced during the festival have been sealed to prevent them from fading away.

Afternoon Tea with Mary

We stopped at ‘Mary Delicious‘, a lolly shop, milk bar and ice creamery with a 1950s American feel, that serves a beautiful Devonshire Tea.  Maryborough’s Mary Poppins shared a spot of tea with us, while she told stories and sang songs. Now that’s not something you do every day!

Architecture

Maryborough is a beautiful city with classic architecture, much of this was funded through the prominence of its port, as well as the gold rush in nearby Gympie in 1867.  It is not difficult to imagine that the park and beautiful public buildings (which were built before Travers’ birth in 1899) gave rise to Cherry Tree lane, and with other subtle details such as the local ‘time canon’ and her own father’s work as a banker, well, you have the beginnings of a good story…

Explore Museums & History

We explored more of Maryborough’s history at the Militrary & Colonial Museum and Old Warehouse Gallery. The kids helped Mary Poppins with the time cannon. What a finale! 

What I Wore

Easy travel wear that looks good for going out too. Straight from a 2 and a half hour car trip and into sightseeing for the afternoon.

Jeans: Liz Jordan

Top: Mix Apparel (from Coles)

Boots: Bared Raven boots in Burgundy

Accessories: A splash of aqua, because aqua goes with everything

Creating Our Own Family Heritage

The moments pictured below, reinforces to me the importance of fostering experiences together as a family. It’s a part of creating your own heritage, like a spring undercurrent, that forms part of your identity and carries through to generations to come. 

My husband snapped the picture below…I think one of my favourite pictures of myself: I’m holding 2 of my precious girls while my other daughter in the corner races to join in. Motherhood. Family. Love.

Got to keep creating understated significance.

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Disclaimer: This famil was organised by Tourism & Events Queensland.  I was not contracted to write this particular post but we loved the area so much and I just wanted to share because if you’re heading up to the Fraser Coast, it’s certainly worth a stop through!