Edmund Hillary
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Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988 he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal.
Hillary became interested in mountaineering while in secondary school. He made his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during World War II and was wounded in an accident. Prior to the Everest expedition, Hillary had been part of the British reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 as well as an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952.
As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition he reached the South Pole overland in 1958. He subsequently reached the North Pole, making him the first person to reach both poles and summit Everest. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Beginning in 1960, Hillary devoted himself to assisting the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he established. His efforts are credited with the construction of many schools and hospitals in Nepal. Hillary had numerous honours conferred upon him, including the Order of the Garter in 1995. Upon his death in 2008, he was given a state funeral in New Zealand.
Early lifeEdit
Hillary was born to Percival Augustus "Percy" (1885–1965) and Gertrude (née Clark) (1892–1965) Hillary in Auckland, New Zealand, on 20 July 1919.<ref name="Christchurch">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NZHistory">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His father Percy had served at Gallipoli with the 15th (North Auckland) Regiment, and was discharged "medically unfit" from the Army in 1916; he had married Gertrude after his return to New Zealand. His grandfather Edmund Raymond Hillary (b. 1836) from Lancashire, England was a watchmaker, who immigrated to the northern Wairoa region in the mid-19th century. He married Annie "Ida" Fleming from Ireland having four children. His maternal great-grandparents, the Clarks, were both from Yorkshire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10349189">Template:Cite news</ref>
His family moved to Tuakau, south of Auckland, in 1920, after Percy was allocated Template:Convert of land there as a returned soldier.<ref name="NZHistory" /> Percy had been a journalist prewar, and soon became founding editor of the weekly Tuakau District News as well as an apiarist. Ed had a sister June (born 1917) and a brother Rexford Fleming "Rex" (born 1920).Template:Sfn
Hillary was educated at Tuakau Primary School and then Auckland Grammar School.<ref name="NZHistory" /> He finished primary school aged 11 or two years early, and at "Grammar" achieved average marks.<ref name="Time obit">Template:Cite news</ref> His mother wanted him to go to a "good school" and he commuted by train, cycling to Tuakau station before 7 am and returning after 6 pm for Template:Frac years (a one-hour and 40 minutes journey each way) until the family moved to Remuera, Auckland in 1935, his last of four years at "Grammar".Template:Sfn
He was initially smaller than his peers and shy, and did not enjoy "Grammar", where commuting barred him from after-school activities. He grew to be Template:Convert<ref name="'We knocked the bastard off'">Template:Cite news</ref> and gained confidence after taking up boxing.
He became interested in climbing when he was 16 following a 1935 school trip to Mount Ruapehu, after which he showed more interest in tramping than in studying and said he "wanted to see the world".Template:Sfn He then attended Auckland University College, and joined the Tramping Club there. But in 1938, "after two notably unsuccessful years studying mathematics and science" he gave up on formal education.Template:Sfn
He then became an apiarist with his father and brother Rex; with 1600 hives to attend, thousands of Template:Convert boxes of honey comb to handle, and 12 to 100 bee-stings daily.Template:Sfn<ref name="Christchurch" /><ref name="Sullivan"/> He kept bees in summer, and concentrated on climbing in winter.<ref name="natlgeo" /> His father also edited the journal "The N.Z. Honeybee" and his mother Gertrude was famous for breeding and selling queen bees.Template:Sfn<ref>Hillary, Sir Edmund (Percival). (2017). In Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Chicago, IL: Britannica Digital Learning. Retrieved from https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ebconcise/hillary_sir_edmund_percival/0?institutionId=292</ref><ref name="Britannica">"Sir Edmund Hillary". Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 5 September 2012. academic-eb-com/levels/collegiate/article/Sir-Edmund-Hillary/40469. Accessed 14 March 2018.</ref>
In 1938, he went to hear Herbert Sutcliffe, the proponent of a life philosophy called "Radiant Living", with his family. The family all became foundation members, and his mother became its secretary in 1939. He went to Gisborne as Sutcliff's assistant, and in 1941 sat examinations to become a teacher of Radiant Living, getting a 100% pass mark. His test lecture was on "Inferiority – cause and cure". He said of his five-year association with the movement that "I learned to speak confidently from the platform; to think more freely on important topics; to mix more readily with a wide variety of people". Tenets included healthy eating (the salads that June took to university for lunch) and pacificism. He joined the Radiant Living Tramping Club, and further developed his love of the outdoors in the Waitākere Ranges.Template:Sfn<ref name="DNZB Early mountaineering">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1939, he completed his first major climb, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier, near Aoraki / Mount Cook in the Southern Alps.<ref name="NZHistory" /> Climbing brought new friends; Harry Ayres and George Lowe became "the first real friends I'd ever had".Template:Sfn
World War IIEdit
At the outbreak of World War II, Hillary applied to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) but quickly withdrew the application, later writing that he was "harassed by [his] religious conscience".<ref name="nzheraldlife">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1943, with the Japanese threat in the Pacific and the arrival of conscription, he joined the RNZAF as a navigator in No. 6 Squadron RNZAF and later No. 5 Squadron RNZAF on Catalina flying boats.<ref name="nzheraldlife" /><ref name="Cenotaph"/> In 1945, he was sent to Fiji and to the Solomon Islands, where he was badly burnt in an accident.<ref name="nzheraldlife" />
ExpeditionsEdit
In January 1948, Hillary and others ascended the south ridge of Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest peak.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He took part in an arduous rescue on La Perouse in 1948, befriending fellow climber Norman Hardie.
In 1951 he was part of a British reconnaissance expedition to Everest led by Eric Shipton,<ref name="FallenGiants">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn before joining the successful British attempt of 1953. In 1952, Hillary and George Lowe were part of the British team led by Shipton, that attempted Cho Oyu.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> After that attempt failed due to the lack of a route from the Nepal side, Hillary and Lowe crossed the Nup La pass into Tibet and reached the old Camp II, on the northern side, where all the previous expeditions had camped.<ref>Gordon, Harry (12 January 2008). "Hillary, deity of the high country", The Australian. Retrieved 19 June 2010.</ref>
1953 Everest expeditionEdit
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In 1949, the long-standing climbing route to the summit of Everest was closed by Chinese-controlled Tibet. For the next several years, Nepal allowed only one or two expeditions per year.<ref name="FallenGiants2">Template:Cite book</ref> A Swiss expedition (in which Tenzing took part) attempted to reach the summit in 1952, but was forced back by bad weather and problems with oxygen sets Template:Convert below the summit.Template:Sfn
Template:External media In 1952, Hillary learned that he and Lowe had been invited by the Joint Himalayan Committee for the 1953 British attempt and immediately accepted.Template:Sfn Shipton had been named as leader but was replaced by Hunt. Hillary objected but was immediately impressed by Hunt's energy and determination.Template:Sfn Hunt asked Charles Evans and Hillary to form with him a small three-man planning group on the expedition.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunt wrote that:Template:Sfn
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Hillary's testing in the Himalayas had shown that he would be a very strong contender, not only for Everest, but for an eventual summit party. When I met Shipton last autumn I well remember his prophesying this – and how right he was. Quite exceptionally strong and abounding in a restless energy, possessed of a thrusting mind which swept away all unproven obstacles, Ed Hillary's personality had made an imprint on my mind, through his Cho Oyu and Reconnaissance friends and through his letters to me.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Hillary had hoped to climb with Lowe, but Hunt named two teams for the ascent: Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans; and Hillary and Tenzing.<ref name="FallenGiants3">Template:Cite book</ref> Hillary, therefore, made a concerted effort to forge a working friendship with Tenzing.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hillary wrote, "Tenzing had substantially greater personal ambition than any Sherpa I had met."Template:Sfn
The Hunt expedition totalled over 400 people, including 362 porters, 20 Sherpa guides, and Template:Convert of baggage.<ref name=guard1>"Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing reach the top", Reuter (in The Guardian, 2 June 1953)</ref><ref name=rgs/> Lowe supervised the preparation of the Lhotse Face, a huge and steep ice face, for climbing. Hillary forged a route through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Cameraman Tom Stobart was Hillary's room-mate in Kathmandu. He described Hillary as:Template:Sfn
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
a skeleton as tall as I was ... a hatchet-thin face, and seemed tied together with steel ... I had just got a rubber torch to pieces and couldn't get it together again. This human machine took charge. 'Let's give it a go' he said, using an expression we came to know so well in the following months. It may have meant that he would try to fix it, but did not. Actually it meant he would fix it, a subtle but important difference so far as Ed and his fellow countryman George Lowe, were concerned.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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The expedition set up base camp in March 1953 and, working slowly, set up its final camp at the South Col at Template:Convert. On 26 May, Bourdillon and Evans attempted the climb but turned back when Evans's oxygen system failed. The pair had reached the South Summit, coming within 300 vertical feet (91 m) of the summit.<ref name=rgs>Reaching The Top Template:Webarchive Royal Geographical Society. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref><ref name="nzedge" /> Hunt then directed Hillary and Tenzing to attempt the summit.<ref name="nzedge" />
Snow and wind delayed them at the South Col for two days. They set out on 28 May with the support of Lowe, Alfred Gregory, and Ang Nyima.Template:Sfn The two pitched a tent at Template:Convert on 28 May, while their support group returned down the mountain.<ref name="FallenGiants4">Template:Cite book</ref> On the following morning Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen solid outside the tent. He spent two hours warming them over a stove before he and Tenzing, wearing Template:Convert packs, attempted the final ascent.Template:Sfn The final obstacle was the Template:Convert rock face later called "Hillary Step"; Hillary later wrote:
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I noticed a crack between the rock and the snow sticking to the East Face. I crawled inside and wriggled and jammed my way to the topTemplate:Nbsp... Tenzing slowly joined me and we moved on. I chopped steps over bump after bump, wondering a little desperately where the top could be. Then I saw the ridge ahead dropped away to the north and above me on the right was a rounded snow dome. A few more whacks with my ice-axe and Tenzing and I stood on top of Everest.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Tenzing wrote in his 1955 autobiography that Hillary took the first step onto the summit and he followed. They reached Everest's Template:Convert summitTemplate:Sndthe highest point on earthTemplate:Sndat 11:30 am.<ref name="Christchurch" /><ref>"Everest not as tall as thought". Agence France-Presse (on abc.net.au), 10 October 2005</ref>
They spent about 15 minutes at the summit. Hillary took a photo of Tenzing posing with his ice-axe, but there is no photo of Hillary; Tenzing's autobiography says that Hillary simply declined to have his picture taken. They also took photos looking down the mountain.<ref name="photos">Joanna Wright (2003). "The Photographs", in Everest, Summit of Achievement, by the Royal Geographical Society. Simon & Schuster, New York. Template:ISBN. Retrieved 11 January 2008. Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Tenzing left chocolates at the summit as an offering, and Hillary left a cross given to him by John Hunt.Template:Sfn Their descent was complicated by drifting snow that had covered their tracks. The first person they met was Lowe; Hillary said, "Well, George, we knocked the bastard off."<ref name="'We knocked the bastard off'"/>
They returned to Kathmandu a few days later and learned that Hillary had already been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Hunt a Knight Bachelor.<ref name="Gazette2">Template:Cite news</ref> News reached Britain on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, and the press called it a coronation gift.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The 37 members of the party later received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal with Template:Small caps engraved along the rim.Template:Sfn In addition to the knighting of Hillary and Hunt, TenzingTemplate:Sndineligible for knighthood as a Nepalese citizenTemplate:Sndreceived the George Medal.<ref>"George Medal for Tensing – Award Approved by the Queen" in The Times (London), issue 52663 dated Thursday 2 July 1953, p. 6</ref><ref name=NorgayODNB>Template:Cite ODNB</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Tenzing also received the Star of Nepal from King Tribhuvan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
After EverestEdit
Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960–1961, and 1963–1965. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, for which he led the New Zealand section, on 4 January 1958. His party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1960, Hillary organised the 1960–61 Silver Hut expedition,Template:Sfn with Griffith Pugh; and Pugh showed that Mount Everest could be climbed without oxygen, with a long period of acclimatisation by living at Template:Convert for six months. An assault on Makalu, the world's fifth-highest mountain, was unsuccessful. Hillary was with the expedition for five months, although it lasted for ten.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The expedition also searched for the fabled abominable snowman.<ref name="Columbia" /> No evidence of Yetis was found, instead footprints and tracks were proven to be from other causes. During the expedition, Hillary travelled to remote temples which contained "Yeti scalps"; however after bringing back three relics, two were shown to be from bears and one from a goat antelope.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hillary said after the expedition: "The yeti is not a strange, superhuman creature as has been imagined. We have found rational explanations for most yeti phenomena".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1962, he was a guest on the television game show What's My Line?; he stumped the panel, comprising Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, and Merv Griffin.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> In 1977, he led a jetboat expedition, titled "Ocean to Sky", from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From 1977 to 1979 he commentated aboard Antarctic sightseeing flights operated by Air New Zealand, and was scheduled to act as the guide for the fatal Flight 901, but had to cancel owing to other commitments.<ref>"The Antarctic experience – Erebus disaster" New Zealand History online; retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> In 1985, he accompanied Neil Armstrong in a small twin-engined ski plane over the Arctic Ocean and landed at the North Pole. Hillary thus became the first man to stand at both poles and on the summit of Everest.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref name="Sullivan">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>March 2003 interview with Hillary in The Guardian</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This accomplishment inspired generations of explorers to compete over what later was defined as Three Poles Challenge. In January 2007, Hillary travelled to Antarctica as part of a delegation commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of Scott Base.<ref>NDTV, "Sir Edmund Hillary revisits Antarctica", 20 January 2007. Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10419569">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Radio Network, "PM and Sir Edmund Hillary off to Scott Base", 15 January 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2007. Template:Webarchive</ref>
Public recognitionEdit
On 6 June 1953, Hillary was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal the same year.<ref name=gazetteKnighthood>Template:London Gazette</ref> On 6 February 1987, he was the fourth appointee to the Order of New Zealand.<ref name=induction01>"The Order of New Zealand" (12 February 1987) 20 New Zealand Gazette 705 at 709.</ref> He was also awarded the Polar Medal in 1958 for his part in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the class of commander of the Order of Sports Merit of France in about 1960,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu, 1st Class of the Kingdom of Nepal in 1953 and the Coronation Medal in 1975.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 22 April 1995, Hillary was appointed Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.<ref name="Gazette">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>"The Most Noble Order of the Garter-K.G." (4 May 1995) 42 1071 at 1088.</ref> On 17 June 2004, Hillary was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Government of India conferred on him its second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, posthumously, in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
To mark the 50th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest, the Nepalese government conferred honorary citizenship upon Hillary at a special Golden Jubilee celebration in Kathmandu, Nepal. He was the first foreign national to receive that honour.<ref>Mountaineering Great Edmund Hillary passes away 12 January 2008 The Rising Nepal Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="Britannica" />
Since 1992, New Zealand's $5 note has featured Hillary's portrait, making him the only living person not a current head of state ever to appear on a New Zealand banknote. In giving his permission, Hillary insisted that Aoraki / Mount Cook rather than Mount Everest be used as the backdrop.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Annual Reader's Digest polls from 2005 to 2007 named Hillary as "New Zealand's most trusted individual".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Hillary's favoured New Zealand charity was the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre, of which he was patron for 35 years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was particularly keen on how this organisation introduced young New Zealanders to the outdoors in a very similar way to his first experience of a school trip to Mt Ruapehu at the age of 16. A Template:Convert bronze statue of Hillary was erected outside The Hermitage Hotel at Mount Cook Village; it was unveiled by Hillary himself in 2003.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Various streets, institutions and organisations around New Zealand and abroad are named after him – for example, the Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate in Ōtara, which was established by Hillary in 2001.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Two Antarctic features are named after Hillary. The Hillary Coast is a section of coastline south of Ross Island and north of the Shackleton Coast.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Hillary Canyon, an undersea feature in the Ross Sea, appears on the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, published by the International Hydrographic Organization.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Hillary married Louise Mary Rose (1930Template:Ndash1975) on 3 September 1953, soon after the ascent of Everest; he admitted he was terrified of proposing to her and relied on her mother to propose on his behalf.<ref name="Sullivan"/><ref name="natlgeo" /><ref>Famous New Zealanders. Retrieved 22 January 2007.</ref> They had three children: Peter (born 1954), Sarah (born 1956) and Belinda (1959Template:Ndash1975).<ref name="NZ History">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Christchurch" /><ref name="nzedge">The New Zealand Edge, "Sir Edmund Hillary—King Of The World" Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 22 January 2007.</ref> On 31 March 1975, while en route to join Hillary in the village of Phaphlu, where he was helping to build a hospital, Louise and Belinda were killed in a plane crash<ref name="Stuff">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> near Kathmandu airport shortly after take-off.<ref name="Sullivan"/>
In 1989 he married June Mulgrew, the widow of his close friend Peter Mulgrew, who died on Air New Zealand Flight 901 in 1979.<ref name="natlgeo">National Geographic, "Everest: 50 Years and Counting". Retrieved 22 January 2007.</ref><ref>Sailing Source, "Sir Edmund Hillary to Start Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race" Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 22 January 2007.</ref> June, Lady Hillary, died in Auckland on 1 June 2024.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
His son Peter Hillary also became a climber, summiting Everest in 1990. In May 2002 Peter climbed Everest as part of a 50th anniversary celebration; Jamling Tenzing Norgay (son of Tenzing who had died in 1986) was also part of the expedition.<ref>National Geographic 50th Anniversary Everest Expedition Reaches Summit Template:Webarchive, National Geographic News, 25 May 2002. Retrieved 5 May 2011.</ref>
Hillary's home for most of his life was a property on Remuera Road in Auckland City,<ref name="HOUSE">Template:Cite news</ref> where he enjoyed reading adventure and science fiction novels in his retirement.<ref name="HOUSE"/> He also built a bach at Whites Beach,<ref name="HillaryBach">Template:Cite news</ref> one of Auckland's west coast beaches in West Auckland, between Anawhata and North Piha. A friend called it Hillary's place of solace, where he could escape media attention.<ref name="HillaryBach"/>
The Hillary family has had a connection with the west coast of Auckland since 1925, when Louise's father built a bach at Anawhata.<ref name="HillaryTrailConnection">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The family donated land at Whites Beach that is now crossed by trampers on the Hillary Trail, named for Edmund.<ref name="HillaryTrailPressRelease">Template:Cite press release</ref> Hillary said of the area: "That is the thing that international travel brings home to me – it's always good to be going home. This is the only place I want to live in; this is the place I want to see out my days."<ref name="Dye2008">Template:Cite news</ref>
PhilanthropyEdit
Following his ascent of Everest he devoted himself to assisting the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he established in 1960<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and led until his death in 2008. His efforts are credited with the construction of many schools and hospitals in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas. He was also the Honorary President of Mountain Wilderness, an international NGO dedicated to the worldwide protection of mountains.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Political involvementEdit
Hillary supported the Labour Party in the 1975 New Zealand general election, as a member of the "Citizens for Rowling" campaign. His involvement in this campaign was seen as precluding his nomination as governor-general;<ref>Rowling: The Man and the Myth by John Henderson, Australia New Zealand Press, 1980.</ref> the position was offered to Keith Holyoake in 1977. In 1985, Hillary was appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to India (concurrently High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Ambassador to Nepal) and spent four and a half years based in New Delhi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1975, Hillary served as a vice president for the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand,<ref name="ALRANZ">Template:Cite journal</ref> a national pro-choice advocacy group.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was also a patron of REPEAL, an organisation seeking repeal of the restrictive Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977.<ref name="ALRANZ"/>
DeathEdit
On 22 April 2007, while on a trip to Kathmandu, Hillary suffered a fall, and was hospitalised after returning to New Zealand.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10435883">Template:Cite news</ref>
On 11 January 2008, he died of heart failure at Auckland City Hospital, at the age of 88.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10482156">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Flags were lowered to half-mast on New Zealand public buildings and at Scott Base in Antarctica,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, called Hillary's death a "profound loss to New Zealand".<ref>"Clark statement on Hillary death". CNN.com. Retrieved 11 January 2008.</ref>
On 21 January, Hillary's casket was taken into Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, to lie in state.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A state funeral was held on 22 January 2008,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> after which his body was cremated. On 29 February 2008, most of his ashes were scattered in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf per his desire.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10495373">Template:Cite news</ref> The remainder went to a Nepalese monastery near Everest; a plan to scatter them on the summit was cancelled in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Posthumous tributesEdit
In January 2008, Lukla Airport, in Lukla, Nepal, was renamed to Tenzing–Hillary Airport in recognition of their promotion of its construction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 2 April 2008, a service of thanksgiving in Hillary's honour at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle was attended by Queen Elizabeth II, New Zealand dignitaries including Prime Minister Helen Clark, and members of Hillary's and Norgay's families; Gurkha soldiers from Nepal stood guard outside the ceremony.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In October 2008, it was announced that future rugby test matches between England and New Zealand would be played for the Hillary Shield.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2009 the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in New ZealandTemplate:Sndformerly the Young New Zealanders' ChallengeTemplate:Sndwas renamed "The Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 5 November 2008, a commemorative set of five stamps was issued by New Zealand Post.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
There have been many calls for lasting tributes to Hillary. The first major public tribute has been by way of the "Summits for Ed" tribute tour organised by the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation.<ref>Summits for Ed tribute tour Template:Webarchive, Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation and Outdoor Pursuits Centre.</ref> This tribute tour went from Bluff at the bottom of the South Island to Cape Reinga at the tip of the North Island, visiting 39 towns and cities along the way. In each venue, school children and members of the public were invited to join to climb a significant hill or site in their area to show their respect for Hillary. The public were also invited to bring small rocks or pebbles that had special significance to them, that would be included in a memorial to Hillary at the base of Mt Ruapehu, in the grounds of the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre. Funds donated during the tour are used by the foundation to sponsor young New Zealanders on outdoor courses. Over 8,000 persons attended these "Summit" climbs between March and May 2008.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The tribute song "Hillary 88", by the New Zealand duo The Kiwis, is the official world memorial song for Hillary, with the endorsement of Lady Hillary.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A four-day track in the Waitākere Ranges, along Auckland's west coast, is named the Hillary Trail,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in honour of Hillary.<ref name="HillaryTrailPressRelease"/> Hillary's father-in-law, Jim Rose, who had built a bach at Anawhata in 1925, wrote in his 1982 history of Anawhata Beach, "My family look forward to the time when we will be able to walk from Huia to Muriwai on public walking tracks like the old-time Maori could do".<ref name="HillaryTrailConnection"/><ref name="Wade2010">Template:Cite news</ref> Hillary loved the area, and had his own bach near Anawhata. The track was opened on 11 January 2010, the second anniversary of Hillary's death.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10482156"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rose Track, descending from Anawhata Road to Whites Beach, is named after the Rose family.<ref name="Dye2008"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The South Ridge of Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, was renamed Hillary Ridge on 18 August 2011. Hillary and three other climbers were the first party to successfully climb the ridge in 1948.<ref name="Stuff.co.nz_5422211">Template:Cite news</ref> In September 2013 the Government of Nepal proposed naming a Template:Convert mountain in Nepal Hillary Peak in his honour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the New Horizons mission discovered a mountain range on Pluto on 14 July 2015, it was officially named Hillary Montes (Hillary Mountains) by International Astronomical Union.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal, awarded by the Nepalese NGO Mountain Legacy "for remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions" was inaugurated in 2003, with the approval of Sir Edmund Hillary. A bronze bust of Hillary (circa 1953) by Ophelia Gordon Bell is in the Te Papa museum in Wellington, New Zealand.<ref name="TePapa">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Sir Edmund Hillary Archive was added to the UNESCO Memory of the world archive in 2013,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> it is currently held by Auckland War Memorial Museum.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
From 2016 to 2020, a pilot immigration programme to New Zealand awarded Edmund Hillary Fellowships, the benefits of which included a three-year Global Impact Visa to create, support, and incubate ventures and models that result in positive global impact, from New Zealand.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After three years, migrants could qualify for permanent residency. The Edmund Hillary Foundation, which operated the pilot, claims that more than 250 of the allocated 400 visas were awarded before the pilot closed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ArmsEdit
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PublicationsEdit
| Title | Year | Publisher | ISBN/ASIN | Co-author | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High AdventureTemplate:Efn | 1955 | Template:Nobr | Template:ISBNTemplate:Efn | n/a | <ref name="Chambers Bio">Hillary, Sir Edmund Percival. (2011). In L. Rodger, & J. Bakewell, Chambers Biographical Dictionary (9th ed.). London, UK: Chambers Harrap. Retrieved from https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/chambbd/hillary_sir_edmund_percival/1?institutionId=292</ref><ref name="Columbia">Hillary, Sir Edmund Percival. (2017). In P. Lagasse, & Columbia University, The Columbia encyclopedia (7th ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. Retrieved from https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/columency/hillary_sir_edmund_percival/0?institutionId=292</ref> |
| East of Everest – An Account of the New Zealand Alpine Club Himalayan Expedition to the Barun Valley in 1954 | 1956 | E. P. Dutton | Template:ASIN | George Lowe | <ref name="Chambers Bio" /> |
| No Latitude for Error | 1961 | Hodder & Stoughton. | Template:ASIN | n/a | <ref name="Chambers Bio" /><ref name="Columbia" /> |
| The New Zealand Antarctic Expedition | 1959 | R.W. Stiles, printers. | Template:ASIN | n/a | |
| The Crossing of Antarctica: The Commonwealth Transantarctic Expedition, 1955–1958 | 1958 | Cassell | Template:ASIN | Vivian Fuchs | <ref name="Chambers Bio" /> |
| High in the Thin Cold AirTemplate:Efn | 1962 | Doubleday | Template:ASIN | Template:Nobr | <ref name="Chambers Bio" /> |
| Schoolhouse in the Clouds | 1965 | Hodder & Stoughton | Template:ASIN | n/a | <ref name="Chambers Bio" /> |
| Nothing Venture, Nothing Win | 1975 | Hodder & Stoughton | Template:ISBN | n/a | <ref name="Chambers Bio" /> |
| From the Ocean to the Sky: Jet Boating Up the Ganges | 1979 | Viking | Template:ISBN | n/a | <ref name="Chambers Bio" /> |
| Two GenerationsTemplate:Efn | 1984 | Hodder & Stoughton | Template:ISBN | Peter Hillary | Template:Efn<ref name="Chambers Bio" /> |
| View from the Summit: The Remarkable Memoir by the First Person to Conquer Everest | 2000 | Template:ISBN | n/a |
NotesEdit
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ReferencesEdit
CitationsEdit
See alsoEdit
SourcesEdit
- Template:Cite book (The Summit (Chapter 16, pp 197–209) is by Hillary)
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External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Commons and category
- Template:DNZB from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
- Template:New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame
- On top of the world: Ed Hillary at nzhistory.net.nz
- Videos (10) at the New Zealand National Film Unit
- Obituary of Edmund Hillary at tributes.com
- "Interview with Sir Edmund Hillary: Mountain Climbing" at Smithsonian Folkways
- Edmund Hillary on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, 17 April 1979
- Edmund Hillary's collection at Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
- Edmund Hillary addressing The New York Herald Tribune Book and Author Luncheon, February 10, 1954 broadcast by WNYC
- Template:Cite journalTemplate:Cbignore
- Template:Internet Archive author
Template:Polar exploration Template:Order of New Zealand Template:Padma Vibhushan Awards Template:Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century Template:Authority control