Friday Shootout: Heros

I celebrate the lives of New Zealand's two favourite daughters. Kate Sheppard and Jean Batten. They are the heros of every girl here. They lived before their time.





I am very proud of Kate Sheppard. Her image appears on our ten dollar note. She is mainly responsible for New Zealand to be the first country to give women the vote in modern times.

Katherine Wilson Sheppard (10 March 1847 – 13 July 1934) was the most prominent member of New Zealand's women's suffrage movement, and is the country's most famous suffragette. Because New Zealand was the first country to introduce universal suffrage, Sheppard's work had a considerable impact on women's suffrage movements in other countries. During one of the protest movement, she led a whole group of ladies to lie down on the road and the police couldn't do anything.

Sheppard played a considerable part in getting the women's suffrage bill was successfully passed, granting women full voting rights. Sheppard herself was widely acknowledged as the leader of the women's suffrage movement.

An elderly friend in her 80s told me that when she was growing up, the girls wanted to be like Kate.

Sheppard is considered to be an important figure in New Zealand's history. A memorial to her exists in Christchurch and a bust in the Auckland Town hall.


In October 1936 New Zealand born pilot Jean Batten made the first direct flight from England to New Zealand.

The famous aviator, Jean Batten, died an infamously obscure death in Palma 27 years ago. Tuesday is the centenary of her birth in Rotorua on September 15, 1909.

Last year, the women of New Zealand celebrate the birthday of their most famous sister. Many women took to the skies, unfortunately I was too poor to ever get a pilot's license.

I went to Rotorua, her home town and saw the memorial for her, a park by the information center. In Auckland, a building is named after her and so is the international terminal of the airport.

She is a great inspiration especially to New Zealand girls. She was a very beautiful woman and called Garbo of the skies.


http://mytownshootout.blogspot.com/

http://mytownmrlinky.blogspot.com/

May 28 – Memorial Day - Honor your town's heroes - by the TownBlogger Team

Every town has a hero. From the past, in the here and now, or someone we know will make us proud in the future.

If out of ideas it always helps me to look up the definition of related words – so here is a list of definitions gotten from an online search -

Definitions of Hero on the Web:

* a man (or woman) distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength;