A rare gift spread across the whole news industry

Jan Corbett. Photo / NZ Herald

Jan Corbett only ever wanted to be a journalist.

At 22, she was on her way. Warwick Roger at Metro hired the young English graduate - rescued her, he liked to claim, from behind the counter at a Rotorua chemist shop.

In truth he was getting an emerging talent, a woman whose reporting skills were instinctive rather than learned, an evolving writer who could stretch herself over pages and not just paragraphs, a recruit with an ear for gossip and a taste for Auckland's best gin and tonics.

Within three years, Corbett was writing features which bore the stamp of her personality: attention to detail, courage and fairness, with a dash of humour and humanity in the mix.

Those qualities were recalled yesterday at the funeral for the 47-year-old, who died last Thursday after a battle with cancer.

The youngest of five girls, Corbett grew up in Rotorua but seemed certain that the career she craved lay north in Auckland.

She worked across the industry: after cutting her teeth at the monthly Metro and taking on some of New Zealand's most sacred cows, she signed on with Warren Berryman's feisty Independent weekly, then joined the Herald in 1997.

She was a star signing. Behind her were the singular story successes of the capture of serial rapist Joseph Thompson - which she expanded into a crime book, the hugely contentious Second Thoughts on the National Women's 'Experiment', which continues to make waves in print, and an investigation into the merchant bank Fay, Richwhite, which displayed her hallmark meticulous research.

At the Herald, Corbett's skills were harnessed with a new investigative unit, in a windowless office cheerfully called the "dungeon". She emerged to write features and then to work with Carroll du Chateau on canvas magazine in the Weekend Herald.

It was a change for her, from reporting to editing, with restaurant reviews on the side, but still time to turn out memorable pieces.

Corbett is survived by her mother, Rosemary, and her sisters Raewyn, Erin, Maree and Gabrielle.