Children in 'birthplace' of Mary Poppins mark coming-of-age ritual

'Birthplace' statue of Mary Poppins moves in Bowral's change-of-season ceremony Each spring, children in the NSW Southern Highlands take part in an aging ritual that preserves their town's unique connection with one of the world's most beloved literary characters. Australia-born author Helen Lyndon Goff, also known as PL Travers, spent her formative years in the town of Bowral. Her experiences as a child, as well as the town's local characters, became the inspiration she would later draw on when creating the magical nanny Mary Poppins. On Bowral Street, in Glebe Park, stands a 5-metre bronze statue of Mary Poppins, erected in 2012. On the equinox, when the day is as long as the night, year 6 students turn the statue 180 degrees, the coming-of-age ritual reflecting their transition into high school. Allana Winn, president of the Southern Highlands Youth Art Council, conducted the ceremony. "Our year 6 students are here today and have been invited to the spring equinox turning to mark not just the changing of a season, but the new phase in their lives," she said. Ms Winn reminded the children that everything changes with the wind, including visits from Mary Poppins, and that waiting periods and change are two of the hardest things for us to understand. "Transitions are difficult, but change is exciting and inevitable. Embrace this rite of passage and be brave just like PL Travers and follow your dreams," she said. 'Birthplace' statue honours author Paul McShane, with his daughter Melissa, initiated the concept of honouring the author's connection to Bowral with a "birthplace statue" and he continues to be involved in the change-of-season ceremonies. "In March we're talking about the coming winter, but in spring we're talking about the coming summer, which is when the Mary Poppins stories are set," he said. "This park was opened in 1908, a year after they moved here, this was probably one of their very first experiences of a park, which is a central motif in the Mary Poppins stories." An about-face for equinox With eight books in the series, the nanny flies in on the east wind and out on the west wind, a feature the statue-turning ceremony replicates. At the start of spring, year 6 children preparing for high school assist by turning the statue about face, using the built-in turntable. "We invite children and leaders from the school to turn the statue around to celebrate, not just the coming summer but them going from primary school to high school," Mr McShane said. "They all think it's pretty special." Annalese Morris has five daughters and as one gets ready for university next year her middle child is preparing for high school, so changes are flying in all directions. "I feel like when Mary Poppins says I'll go when the wind turns, it doesn't mean that life is predictable, it means you have to go with whatever comes," 12-year-old Maddie said. "It's something special we get to do, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing but there's always something new that will happen." The Neleus Guild Inspired by a moving statue included in the fourth book, Mary Poppins in the Park (1952), Mr McShane and friends spent five years causing a little mystery and hubbub of their own on the equinox. "We don't know how exactly, but that statue got up and moved around the park," he said. "We called ourselves the Neleus Guild, and we would come out here in the middle of the night and turn the statue. "In fact, the deputy mayor, Gary Turland, phoned me one day and said, 'We're infuriated about this at upper council. "'We're going to get to the bottom of this. We want these vandals caught'. "And I had to explain, in a roundabout way, there was nothing to worry about," Mr McShane laughed. By 2016, a turntable was erected in the park and the location of the statue changed again. "She went on a jolly holiday and when she returned, there was this beautiful turntable built that she now sits on," Mr McShane said. From one park to another Loading...Australian sculptor Tanya Bartlett created the statue from a sketch proposed and modelled for by Travers herself. "She wanted to see a statue of Mary Poppins in Central Park New York, but it never happened," Mr McShane said. "In 1966, she talked to sculptor Sean Crampton in England, who sketched her holding the umbrella." Mr McShane tracked down the sculptor's widow, who "remembered it all like it was yesterday". "We got permission from her to use that design for our statue," he said. "So, we built the statue that New York should have but never did."