Story: The New Zealanders

Portrait of Edmund Hillary

Portrait of Edmund Hillary

In 1953 New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay climbed Mt Everest, on the eve of the coronation of England’s Queen Elizabeth II. The achievement was seen as a British triumph, but Hillary came to personify the brave, self-deprecating New Zealander. In this portrait by John Cecil Hill he is the strong, good-looking Anglo-Saxon hero.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: G-463
Oil painting by John Cecil Hill

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Jock Phillips, 'The New Zealanders - Post-war New Zealanders', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/1976/portrait-of-edmund-hillary (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Jock Phillips, published 8 Feb 2005, updated 1 May 2015