Hi
My name is Peter Bell and I’m a writer and director currently doing some research on the NZ Aviatrix Jean Batten, who made several historical flights in the 1930s. In mid Oct 1936 she stayed at the Hotel Australia in Sydney for two nights during her record flight from England to Australia to New Zealand.
I am very interested in the couple of days Jean Batten spent in Sydney as this was a very dramatic time in her life. She was being urged by not to attempt the trans-tasman flight and also offered huge money by Frank Packer to abandon the flight and do a lecture tour of Australia. She was engaged to Australian commercial pilot Beverly Shepherd at this time. (Who tragically died in 1937)
I’m keen to find out if there were any people who were inspired by meeting Jean Batten at this time -while these people will probably have passed away if they later wrote about her or talked about meeting her I would like to hear from you. This person may have been a relative or a friend of yours. They might be young women pilots or people who worked at the Australia Hotel where she stayed. As well as the regular hotel staff – the Hotel Manager apparently organised a team of secretaries for her to deal with the multitude of requests made on her while she was in Sydney and also to deal with the 1700 telegrams that were sent to her at the Hotel.
Any leads gratefully received.
My contact is
[email protected]
Thank you.