Story: The New Zealanders
In 1953 New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tensing 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.
About 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 Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.