GUNNEDAH’S famous sculptor Tanya Bartlett has put the Southern Highlands town of Bowral on the map again with the unveiling of her life-sized statue of Mary Poppins by NSW Governor Marie Bashir.
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The five-metre-tall statue of the fictional character was revealed with the assistance of three groups of supporters plus schoolchildren all pulling ‘tug-o-war’ ropes to remove the drapes.
Tanya told the crowd that she had tried to incorporate author PL Travers’ disdain for the magical Nanny’s portrayal in Hollywood productions, in preference for a no-nonsense, nanny-like character.
She said the commissioning committee had wanted a figure that would appeal to tourists and above all to children of all ages.
Based on a series of children’s books written by Australian author, Helen Lyndon Goff, who was born in Maryborough, Queensland, the daughter of an unsuccessful bank manager named Travers Robert Goff.
Helen Goff began publishing her poems while still a teenager and wrote for The Bulletin and Triad while also gaining a reputation as an actress – she soon adopted the stage name Pamela Lyndon Travers.
Following the death of their father, in 1907, Helen Goff and her sisters moved to the Southern Highlands town of Bowral with their mother, and lived there until 1917.
It is believed that Helen Goff came up with the idea for the book character while living in Bowral, which has now adopt the popular Mary Poppins creator as its own.
Celebrating both the Bowral sesquicentenary and the century since the author lived in the town, Tanya’s design was a combination of 1966 sketches, modelled by PL Travers, and designed by Sean Crampton, a former Professor of Sculpture at the Anglo-French Art Centre in St John’s Wood, London.
The design was originally proposed for a statue in Central Park, New York but it never went ahead, much to the disappointment of PL Travers, who had donated funds towards its construction.
Bowral, as “birthplace” of Mary Poppins, has now built the statue New York should have, but never did.
The federal government awarded a $26,000 grant to the Southern Highlands Youth Arts Council to help fund the statue.
Mary Poppins has joined another Australian icon in Bowral, cricketer Don Bradman, who lived a block from Travers in Holly Street, Bowral, at the same time as the young author.
Tanya completed “The Don” statue for Bowral in 2002, following her success with boxer Les Darcy (2000) for Maitland.
IN 2011 Bowral created a world-record size human mosaic as part of fund-raising for the Mary Poppins statue in the town where Mary Poppins was “born,” with 2115 umbrellas raised Poppins-like.
Tanya’s statue of Slim Dusty and his wife Joy McKean will be unveiled on Friday January 24, as part of the 2014 Tamworth Country Music Festival activities.
Slim and Joy will have pride of place on the western side of Peel Street near the central pedestrian crossing between
Fitzroy and Brisbane streets.
The Slim Dusty and Joy Statue Appeal Committee has worked tirelessly to raise $183,000 for the project. Tamworth Council donated $50, 000 to assist in the funding.
