Sir Edmund Hillary

“Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain” – Sir Edmund Hillary.

Sir Edmund Hillary is probably one of the most

famous Kiwis of all time.  It was his

adventurous spirit and his impressive philanthropy work in combination with his

hardy determination and exploratory gifts that made Sir Edmund Hillary one of

the greatest explorers of the 20th century.

Sir Edmund Hillary was born in Auckland, New

Zealand on 20 July 1919. His father had served in the 15th (North

Auckland) Regiment at Gallipoli during World War I and when he returned home,

he was allotted land south of Auckland, a benefit which was given by New Zealand’s

government to returning soldiers. Edmund was sent to a good grammar school as

was the wish of his mother, but he had to travel for 1-hour and 40-minutes by train

each way to do so.

Edmund’s time at grammar school was not

something he remembered with fondness as his school commute meant that he

couldn’t take part in after-school activities. He was quite short for his age

although he would eventually grow to be over six feet tall. He was also quite shy

but gained confidence after taking up boxing. However, it was not boxing that sparked

Edmund’s imagination; this would come in his later teenage years when he

discovered what would become one of his lifelong passions, a love of climbing

and all things mountaineering.

Despite his father having served in World War

I, the Hillary family were generally pacifists and Sir Edmund Hillary’s older

brother even spent time in jail during World War II as a conscientious

objector. Sir Edmund himself, on the other hand, desired to participate

believing it to be his patriotic duty. 

His pacifist, and occasionally meddlesome, father utilised a loophole in

the law which allowed certain occupations to be exempt from service. One of

those occupations just so happened to be the family trade of beekeeping.

Despite this, and as the war entered its

fourth year, Sir Edmund Hillary eventually joined up in 1943, learning to

become a navigator. His military career was cut short though, and he never saw

combat, as a plane accident left him badly burned. He was hospitalised for

several weeks before eventually being discharged to recover at home.

After the war, Sir Edmund Hillary continued

his lifelong love of mountaineering and climbing, scaling a variety of peaks

both in Europe and New Zealand.  However,

the chance of a lifetime came his way in 1951 when the British were presented

with a chance to attempt an ascent of Mount Everest. The Nepalese government

only permitted one or two expeditions per year and so the chances to make an

attempt on the summit of the highest mountain in the world were few and far

between with many different countries bidding for the opportunity every year.

New Zealand joined forces with the British team

led by John Hunt to form a joint expedition which in 1951 extensively explored

the mountain during the 1951 season in order to find a route that would lead to

the summit. This approach paid off when in 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary joined the group

that would try to make the formal ascent.

After several setbacks, including being

delayed by two days due to snow and wind, Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa

friend Tenzing Norgay set out with the support of three others, reaching 27,900

feet on 28 May. With their support crew turning back and their oxygen supply running

low,