Edmund Percival Hillary was born on July 20, 1919, in Auckland, New Zealand. He was the second of three children to Percival Augustus Hillary, a journalist and beekeeper, and Gertrude Hillary. The family lived in the small town of Tuakau, south of Auckland. From a young age, Edmund exhibited a fascination with the natural world, spending his childhood exploring the New Zealand countryside.
Like so many incredible people today, he came from humble beginnings.
To be able to say, as he said, " I have had much good fortune, a fair amount of success and a share of sorrow, too. Ever since I reached the summit of Everest … the media have classified me as a hero, but I have always recognised myself as being a person of modest abilities. My achievements have resulted from a goodly share of imagination and plenty of energy."
In many respects, to live a life well and know that we have scaled metaphoric mountains to arrive at the pinnacle of our personal mountain, is no small feat.
His 1953 ascent of Mt Everest, the planet’s highest peak, with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay brought him worldwide fame – literally overnight. Dozens of daring adventures followed, including the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1957–58 and a 1977 jet-boat journey up the Ganges River. International lecture tours, books and television documentaries cemented Hillary’s status as a global celebrity.
Of greater significance, perhaps, was his humanitarian contribution to the Sherpa people of the Himalayas. For decades from the 1960s Hillary and supporters raised funds and built schools, hospitals and other facilities in the mountains. He also enjoyed a successful spell as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India in the 1980s. Despite his remarkable achievements, and moments of personal tragedy, Ed Hillary is also remembered for his humility and generosity. The quiet Auckland bee-keeper who had stood on ‘the roof of the world’, as well as the North and South poles, seemed to be the quintessential down-to-earth Kiwi.
Hillary attended Tuakau Primary School and later Auckland Grammar School. Though initially an average student, he discovered a passion for reading while on the long train trips to and from school in Auckland as a teenager. His particularly love was books about adventure and exploration. His interest in climbing began during a school trip to Mount Ruapehu, where he experienced his first encounter with snow and ice.
After high school, Hillary studied mathematics and science at Auckland University College, but he soon found himself drawn more to outdoor activities. He joined the New Zealand Alpine Club and began honing his climbing skills in the Southern Alps. Hillary's dedication to mountaineering grew, and by 1939, he had made several significant climbs in New Zealand.
He loved tramping much more than studying, and after two years he joined his brother Rex to help his father with bee-keeping. In 1939 he climbed his first peak, Mt Ollivier, near Mt Cook. The family became followers of Herbert Sutcliffe, the founder of a liberal Christian philosophy of physical, psychological and spiritual health, Radiant Living. Though he eventually lost interest, his involvement with Radiant Living gave young Ed confidence in public speaking and widened his intellectual horizons.
Pacifism was one of Sutcliffe’s key teachings. When the Second World War broke out Ed initially gained exemption from conscription because bee-keeping was a reserved occupation, but Rex spent four years in a detention camp as a conscientious objector. Ed eventually persuaded his father that he should be released for war service, and in 1944 he was called up for the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Edmund Hillary, photographed at Delta Camp, near Blenheim, during his Second World War service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force
Hillary served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator in Catalina flying boats. His service took him to the Solomon Islands and Fiji, where he developed a keen sense of discipline and perseverance, qualities that would later prove invaluable in his mountaineering pursuits. However, his service ended abruptly when he was severely burnt in a motor boat accident. He convalesced in the Southern Alps, finding a mentor in Harry Ayres, New Zealand’s outstanding climber of the period.
In 1948 Hillary made his first ascent of Mt Cook. Soon afterwards he took part in an epic five-day journey across the main divide, helping carry an injured climber to safety on the West Coast. In 1949 he accompanied his parents to England to attend his sister June’s wedding, and he found time to climb the 4158-metre-high Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps. In 1951 he took part in a New Zealand expedition to the Garhwal Himalaya, which climbed five peaks over 6000 metres high. The reward was two places in Eric Shipton’s British Everest Reconnaissance Expedition. When Ed and Earle Riddiford proved their worth, they were joined by George Lowe on the 1952 British Cho Oyu Expedition.
Hillary and Lowe were then invited to join John Hunt’s 1953 British Everest Expedition. On 29 May – four days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – the final pair, Hillary and the experienced Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of Mt Everest via the south face. They were the first men to stand on the ‘roof of the world’.
Following his triumph on Everest, Hillary continued to climb and explore.
Hillary led the New Zealand component of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1957–58, which was under the overall command of the British explorer Vivian Fuchs. The New Zealanders first set up Scott Base on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. In October 1957, driving modified Ferguson farm tractors, they headed south to establish food and fuel depots for the British crossing party. 
Then, against the instructions of the British Ross Sea Committee, they went 'hell-bent for the Pole – God willing and crevasses permitting'. On 4 January 1958, Hillary’s party became the first to reach the South Pole overland since Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated journey in 1912. Despite this success, he faced some criticism for allegedly putting adventure ahead of the expedition's scientific aims.
In 1985, he joined astronaut Neil Armstrong on a flight to the North Pole, making him the first person to reach both poles and the summit of Everest.
Sir Edmund Hillary received numerous accolades for his achievements. In 1953, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He also received the Order of the Garter, the highest order of knighthood in Britain, and the Polar Medal. In New Zealand, he was appointed to the Order of New Zealand, the country's highest civilian honor.
Hillary married Louise Mary Rose in 1953, and they had three children: Peter, Sarah, and Belinda. Tragically, Louise and Belinda died in a plane crash in Nepal in 1975. Hillary later married June Mulgrew in 1989. June was a close family friend of the Hillarys, and she and her husband, Peter Mulgrew, shared a deep bond with Sir Edmund Hillary and his first wife, Louise. Peter Mulgrew was also an accomplished mountaineer and a member of several of Hillary’s expeditions.
The relationship between June and Edmund Hillary deepened following a series of tragic events. On March 31, 1975, Hillary’s first wife, Louise, and their youngest daughter, Belinda, died in a plane crash near Kathmandu, Nepal. This devastating loss profoundly affected Hillary.
In 1977, emerging from several years of despair, Hillary led Ocean to the Sky, an expedition to the source of India’s sacred Ganges River. Ed, his son, Peter, Graeme Dingle and others used New Zealand-made Hamilton jet boats to travel from the mouth of the river high up into the Himalayas through deep gorges and thunderous rapids.
And don't worry, Bruce - there is an article coming up about the marvellous jet boat.
Just a few years later, in 1979, Peter Mulgrew died in the Air New Zealand Flight 901 disaster, which crashed into Mount Erebus in Antarctica during a sightseeing flight. This tragic event further bonded June and Edmund through their shared grief and loss.When June and Edmund Hillary married in 1989, they brought companionship and support to each other.Their marriage was marked by mutual respect and understanding, and June became a steadfast partner in Hillary's ongoing philanthropic efforts and public engagements.
Hillary's accomplishments extended beyond mountaineering. Deeply moved by the plight of the Sherpa people in Nepal, he founded the Himalayan Trust in 1960, which focused on building schools, hospitals, and infrastructure in the remote regions of the Himalayas. His humanitarian efforts significantly improved the quality of life for many Nepalese communities.The work of the Himalayan Trust, established in 1964, became Hillary's greatest contribution to the region he loved. Over the next 30 years, with the help of hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers from New Zealand and other countries, the Trust built more than a dozen schools, two airfields, two hospitals and several medical clinics, as well as repairing monasteries, replacing bridges, installing water pipelines and undertaking numerous other projects. These efforts helped earn Hillary the title ‘Burra Sahib’ (big in heart) among the Sherpa people.
Sir Edmund Hillary passed away on January 11, 2008, at the age of 88.
Despite his remarkable achievements as a mountaineer, adventurer, diplomat and philanthropist, Ed Hillary is perhaps best remembered for his humility and generosity. His own assessment of his life on his 85th birthday was typically modest:
‘What a fortunate person I have been!’
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/edmund-hillary
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6h1/hillary-edmund-percival
