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Jean Batten- Part 1

© Philippa Jane Ballantine

Hard for the modern New Zealand woman to imagine not being able to pursue her dream, but in the early decades of the last century it took determination and strength to do so. Only these types of individuals were able to break out of the mould and achieve things that would forever mark them apart. One of those was the aviatrix Jean Gardner Batten. An enigma who single mindedly, and sometimes in ways that others did not approve of, set out to get her place in the history books. Her end may not have been heroic, but remained true to her nature.

On the 15th September 1909 Jean was born in Rotorua. Her parents Frederick and Ellen already had two boys, but had lost another in infancy. They named her Jane after a grandmother, but eventually she became Jean. A tiny and ill baby, Jean received more than her fair share of attention from her mother, something that was to last throughout their time together. Ellen herself was a fascinating woman, a committed feminist, with strong views on many things including nutrition and healthy living. It was also she that pinned a picture of French aviatrix Louis Blériot next to her daughters bed. It was immediately apparent she was committed to seeing Jean reach her potential- if she knew it or not.

The family moved to Auckland when Jean was four, but with the outbreak of war came the departure of Frederick to fight at the front. With the fall of the family's fortunes Jean had to change schools, and they had to subsist in a succession of doss houses.

But all was not rosy again with her father's return. Ellen it seemed had enjoyed having no one to answer to but herself. They only lasted together a year, before splitting up permanently. Jean of course chose to live with her mother, but Frederick funded her enrollment into a proper 'ladies college'. Jean was an excellent student, driven by her mother, and won many prizes at school. And she was not only intelligent, like her mother she was becoming beautiful. However she was not someone that socialised easily, and throughout her life many said she was difficult to know, and capable of being quite cold.

With the end of school Jean seemed about to become a secretary, like many of her era, but in May 1927 Charles Lindbergh's solo crossing of the Atlantic fired her imagination. She suddenly knew what she wanted to do- fly.

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