The Australian: There's something about Mary [April 10, 2004]
Highly recommended - detailed biographical article about the Australian background of P. L. Travers:
"[Mary Poppins] is one of the most popular characters in children's fiction, yet few readers know that her creator, Travers, was Queensland-born Helen Lyndon Goff. "I think I was born saying, 'Get me out of here,"' Travers once said of Australia. Perhaps because of her unhappy childhood, she obscured her heritage.
Now, whether she'd like it or not, Australia is reclaiming Travers and 2004 looks set to be the year of Mary Poppins. A memorial to Travers was erected in Sydney's Ashfield near her former home last month; Mary Poppins the stage musical, a Cameron Mackintosh-Disney production, premieres in London in December; and the ABC is screening a new documentary on Travers, The Shadow of Mary Poppins, later this month... ..."
