Ashfield Park: Mary Poppins

Did you know that the author of the Mary Poppins books, P.L.Travers was born in Australia. Born Helen Lyndon Goff (she later changed her name to Pamela, as a stage name, and Travers was her father's first name), in Maryborough, Queensland, she lived with her sisters and mother in a house overlooking Ashfield Park between 1918 and 1924. She then went to Engalnd, where she lived, along with the US and Ireland, until her death in 1996. She tended to hide her Australian origins, and only returned once, for two weeks in 1966. She reportedly said she didn't think it was "my place."

Ashfield resident, thirteen year old Gracie Drew lobbied for a statue to be erected. It is based on the original book illustrations by Mary Shepard. It was unveiled 0n 13March 2004.

Below: The house Goff and her sisters and mother lived in


Read about how Gracie Drew thought of the statue idea here.

Read more about PL Travers in an interview with her biographer, Valerie Lawson, here. In particular, about her off-beat spiritual views.

Read more about Travers here.

Ashfield Park - International Mother Language Day Monument

This monument in Ashfield Park is an intriguing one. On December 17, 1999, UNESCO declared February 21st to be International Mother Langauge Day. day is celebrated to promote mother tongues and encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education.

It originated as the international recognition of Language Movement Day, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) since 1952, when a number of Dhaka university students were killed by the Pakistani police and army in Dhaka during the Bengali Language Movement.

The monument was promoted by the Ekushe Academy Australia, a Bangladeshi orgsanisation. It was unveiled on 19 February 2006 by H.E. Ashraf UdDoula, High Commissioner for Bangladesh.

The UNESCO site for IMLD.

Wikipedia entry.

Ashfield Park Dr Jose P Rizal

This plaque on this statue reads:

DR. JOSE P. RIZAL
June 19 1861 - Dec 30, 1896
National Hero of the Philippines
Pambansang Bayani ng Pilipinas
This plaque was unveiled by
DAME SALVE MARTINEZ-GIL. President A.P.A.
KOR - Damas de Rizal 1962
on 19th June 1988
on behalf of the
Australian Philippine Association
as a tribute to the Australian Bicentennial
Special thanks to Transfield Pty Ltd
Ashfield Municipal Council

I had never heard of Jose Rizal, so Google, as usual, became my friend.

"...a Filipino polymath: a poet, writer, artist, intellectual, and educator. He was a nationalist and the pre-eminent advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. Rizal's 1896 court-martial and execution made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution. He is widely considered the most prominent Filipino and a national hero.Since Philippine Independence, the anniversary of Rizal's death has been commemorated as a national holiday." (Wikipedia)

Ashfield Park palms

Ashfield Park is one of Sydney's traditionally laid out parks, commonly taking up space where two streets would normally be. When these suburbs were laid out in the 19th century, a park was usually provided.

For the next few days we'll see what we can discover in this park. First stop will be along the avenue at that sculpture just visible on the left in the middle distance.

I've already shown some scenes from this park in earlier days, so let's linger a little longer.

Things to do on a long weekend 5....

...have a picnic.

On the day I visited, the picnic pavilion was being used by a group of Chinese. One of the large flags said "Universitas Amoiensis". So, off to Google again, and I discovered that this is the Latin name for the first university in China founded by overseas Chinese, now part of the mainstream Chinese university system. So I am assuming this was a picnic day for former alumni and families living in Sydney. There were young families enjoying the playground, and exuberant young men playing a very lively and good-natured game of socccer.

Things to do on a long weekend 4....

...practise Tai Chi in the park

Things to do on a long weekend 2 . . .

Climb a tree.

Things to do on a long weekend 1 . . .

...play bowls at the Ashfield Bowling Club in Ashfield Park.

Today was a public holiday (Labor Day). I went out 'n' about taking some photos, and will bring you them over the next few days.