Park Keeper Comes Home | Stories From The Story Bank

Story: Ian Brown, The Maryborough Storyteller (after P.L. travers). Illustration: Jane Estelle Bailey, Lavaworx Art Studio

At first, Fred Smith felt lost. 

Fortunately, the man with a more interesting job than name had learned something from his nemesis – Mary Poppins – that always helped when he became bamboozled: “All that is lost is somewhere.”

He knew he was Down Under – upside-down at the bottom of the world – to take up his rightful post as the Park Keeper of Mary’s Garden, but nothing else stood to reason. He’d visited earlier, when the garden was first made, and met more Marys than should rightly be collected anywhere, and even the Lord Mayor, whom almost everybody called George. It was all highly irregular, even though there had been tea and cakes for everyone. Now he felt he should set an example.

“Observe the rules! Remember the by-laws!” he barked, to remind himself of his old job in Cherry Tree Lane. Here, he would have to single-handedly foil all that magic Mary Poppins made wherever she went, especially when she had the Banks children with her. Why, he still had the kite he had confiscated from their father – of all people to be flouting the rules!

“Keep off the grass! Don’t feed the Pigeons!”

For Fred Smith knew that was his mother’s job, the Bird Woman, lately retired from her perch on the steps of St. Paul’s to the portico here at the Story Bank. At least now, thought Fred Smith, I can permanently bask in a mother’s love – and some hot-buttered toast for my tea!

You can now find the Park Keeper residing in Mary's Garden at The Story Bank, Maryborough.

Watch The Maryborough Storyteller read the full story in the video below: