There is a wispy veil between reality and magic—and thanks to the imagination of writer Pamela Lyndon Travers (1899–1996), with just a change in the wind, a passage to enchantment is possible.

Born in Australia on this day, P. L. Travers created Mary Poppins in 1934, the “practically perfect” nanny who brought magic and joy to the Banks family in turn-of-the-century London.

Walt Disney’s 1964 film adaptation featured the unforgettable screen debut of actress Julie Andrews.

A poet, dancer, and actress, Travers once said she never wrote for children; she simply wrote from the wellspring of her experience—and her readers found her.

“I think the idea of Mary Poppins has been blowing in and out of me, like a curtain at a window, all my life,” she once said.