1982: Jean Batten: Bit by a dog with a rabid tooth

November 20, 2020

By AHNZ

By the age of 57 Jean Batten (died 22 November, 1982) had lived with her mother all her life. Like Rapunzel in ‘Tangled,’ Jean failed to launch as an independent adult because her mother kept her locked up for herself- warding off would-be suitors. Unlike the fairytale version, Batten never did escape.

There were plenty of men and they were used to advance Batten’s career but no marriage. Even in death, I wouldn’t presume to know enough about someone to tell them what they should do. However, the point of playing musical chairs (with men for chairs) is to be seated when the music stops.

Reminder: You are reading Anarchist history here. State history will only emphasise ‘how wonderful this famous New Zealander was, especially for a girl’. It’s the ‘Colgate Smile, Whiter Than White’ version of sanatised history that keeps away from deeper, darker, truths. This also allows Batten’s life, and pain, to be used and re-used as a pretence for countless government projects using your money.

“It was a life dominated, few people knew, by the shadowy, some said Svengali, figure of her mother Ellen, a thwarted actress who lived out her own adventure fantasies through her daughter, pushing her to make one dangerous flight after another.”- Jean Batten: The Garbo of the Skies, Ian Mackersey (1991); Ref. ianmackersey.com

“By now, Ellen’s domination of Jean’s life was almost complete. The mother would live her unfulfilled dreams through the daughter.”- New Zealand Geographic

Jean appears to have distanced herself or even disowned the famous name¹ and the country that keeps suffocating her memory under a pile of memorials…

“How many Jean Batten memorials does Rotorua need?…The sculpture will be another of many tributes in Rotorua, including a street, a square, an aviation scholarship, a mural, a plaque and a small sculpture honouring her achievements.”- $100,000 Jean Batten sculpture for Rotorua; NZ Herald (2003)

“Why didn’t she cash in while her sexual market value was through the roof? Never mind internationally, she could have had any man in New Zealand.”- 1977: Jean Batten Came Home; AHNZ

“What Jean ruthlessly kept secret was that her rise to aviation celebrity was mostly funded by a series of men who wanted to marry her”- MOTAT display panel

If someone who loved Jean didn’t chase the dog away that bit her they would certainly have insisted on treatment. Instead, Batten died from advanced rabies among Spanish peasants who lacked the influence or just didn’t care enough to save the Kiwi woman’s life.

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1 Jean was buried in a pauper’s grave under the name she was known by in Spain. It was her middle name, Gardner, not Batten.

Note: I’m betting the dog reminded Jean of her mother; “In 1982 she was bitten by a dog on the island of Majorca. She refused treatment and the wound became infected”- Wiki

Note: The dog that bit Jean, leading to her death, was not technically rabid. I just like Nirvana.

Ref. Also: Jean Batten – The Garbo of the Skies (1988); NZ on Screen

Image ref. The very well-dressed and well-financed mother Ellen Batten standing with her meal ticket, Jean; NZ Geographic

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