The legendary mountaineer, adventurer and philanthropist – whose familiar, craggy face beams out from the $5 note – is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. His ascent of Mt Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953 brought him worldwide fame – literally overnight.
On 29 May – four days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – Hillary and the experienced Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mt Everest and became the first men to stand on the ‘roof of the world’.
Through the 1960s and 1970s Ed Hillary’s life followed a familiar pattern of international travel, lecture tours and fund-raising for Sherpa projects, interspersed with expeditions in the Himalayas, Pacific, Antarctica and New Zealand.
One of the first New Zealand schools of Radiant Living was established in Auckland. Its secretary was Gertrude Hillary who reported progress early in 1939. Her son, Edmund, was an early student
In 1987 Ed Hillary was among the first 20 people selected as members of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), this country’s highest honour. He has been the recipient of numerous honours during his lifetime.
The Auckland School of Radiant Living was founded in 1938, and this was
one of the first of these schools established in New Zealand. Everyone in the Hillary
family was a member.
The New Zealand section of the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Edmund Hillary, sails in the Endeavour from N.Z. to the Ross Sea.
