Mrs Patricia Feltham met students Melissa McShane, Charlotte Midson and Sarah Elias this week to discuss the girls' proposals to create a local tribute to P.L. Travers, centred on Corbett Plaza.

Mrs Feltham is visiting family in the Southern Highlands while in Australia to attend the unveiling of a statue of Mary Poppins in Maryborough, Queensland, the birthplace of P.L. Travers.

P.L. Travers moved to Bowral with her mother and two sisters from Allora, Queensland, after the death of her father, and lived here from the age of seven to 17.

A friend of P.L. Travers for 35 years in London, Mrs Feltham was unaware of the author's Australian connection until she was planning to visit Bowral in 1991.

"After my sister moved (to Bowral), I said to Pamela, 'I won't be seeing you for three or four months because I'm going to Australia," said Mrs Feltham. "She asked where and when I said 'Bowral', she said 'The Gib!'

"It was the first time she had told me she was from Australia."

In Australia, Mrs Feltham found that her friend was not included on the writers' walk at Sydney's Circular Quay. An approach to Premier Bob Carr to rectify this met with the response "it's too late".

Mrs Feltham later offered P.L. Travers memorabilia to Wingecarribee Shire Council, but received no response. As a result, the memorabilia went to Maryborough.

Mrs Feltham said Melissa, Charlotte and Sarah's proposal to rejuvenate Corbett Plaza with a Mary Poppins theme was "an absolutely brilliant idea."