12 Aug 2021

Jean Batten portrait found after decades in storage

From Morning Report, 8:57 am on 12 August 2021

A rare portrait of Jean Batten has been uncovered after three decades in storage.

The famed New Zealand aviator made record-breaking solo flights across the world in the 1930s. She was called the "Garbo of the Skies" or Hine-o-te-Rangi (Daughter of the Skies).

ANZ bank found the painting in their archives, where it's been since at least the early 1990s, and they've gifted it to Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).

Museum library and archive manager Simon Wetherill spoke to Susie Ferguson