Where am I today? ...Maryborough, Qld, birthplace of Mary Poppins creator PL Travers
October 23rd 2006 01:59
'Maryborough, Hip and Happy, the Happiest place in Queensland' proclaimed the giant signboard on the way into town. It featured an old dude in a headset rockin out.
Maryborough is where the author of "Mary Poppins", PL Travers (real name Helen Lyndon Goff), was born and lived till the death of her father when she was aged seven. The information centre has a potted history of her life and the Proud Marys of Maryborough have erected a statue of Mary Poppins on Richmond Street.
"Jeez, that Mary Poppins looks like a midget," I said to my boyfriend only to discover when looking at this picture that I am no taller!
Whoever does the tourism marketing for Maryborough should be commended. The Maryborough magazine makes the town sound like the most happening place between Surfers and Cairns and I had been looking forward to getting there for days.
Unfortunately, we arrived in Maryborough on a wet and windy Sunday when all those happy people were behind closed doors. You could have fired a cannon down the main street and not hit anyone.
(In fact, that's apparently just what they do on a Thursday at 1pm in commemoration of the time when they used to shoot an old VOC bronze gun everyday at 1pm so the townspeople could set their clocks. The mid-18th century gun can still be seen outside the Town Hall.)
"You'll be back said the proprietor of the pub on the way into town."
'Huh!' thought I. 'I don't think so, I don't want to drink my coffee at the pub.' Yet back I came ten minutes later after a visit to the information centre revealed that getting a coffee on a Sunday was a choice between the pub and McDonalds.
The proprietor of the caravan park put it nicely when he told me; "Maryborough is traditional, people like to have Sundays off." Down the road, a shopowner was a little more blunt. He's named his shop the "Inconvenience Store".
Maryborough is where the author of "Mary Poppins", PL Travers (real name Helen Lyndon Goff), was born and lived till the death of her father when she was aged seven. The information centre has a potted history of her life and the Proud Marys of Maryborough have erected a statue of Mary Poppins on Richmond Street.
"Jeez, that Mary Poppins looks like a midget," I said to my boyfriend only to discover when looking at this picture that I am no taller!
A pair of midgets, Claire and Mary Poppins in Maryborough, Queensland
Whoever does the tourism marketing for Maryborough should be commended. The Maryborough magazine makes the town sound like the most happening place between Surfers and Cairns and I had been looking forward to getting there for days.
Unfortunately, we arrived in Maryborough on a wet and windy Sunday when all those happy people were behind closed doors. You could have fired a cannon down the main street and not hit anyone.
(In fact, that's apparently just what they do on a Thursday at 1pm in commemoration of the time when they used to shoot an old VOC bronze gun everyday at 1pm so the townspeople could set their clocks. The mid-18th century gun can still be seen outside the Town Hall.)
Hip and Happy Maryborough in Qld
"You'll be back said the proprietor of the pub on the way into town."
'Huh!' thought I. 'I don't think so, I don't want to drink my coffee at the pub.' Yet back I came ten minutes later after a visit to the information centre revealed that getting a coffee on a Sunday was a choice between the pub and McDonalds.
The proprietor of the caravan park put it nicely when he told me; "Maryborough is traditional, people like to have Sundays off." Down the road, a shopowner was a little more blunt. He's named his shop the "Inconvenience Store".
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