Helen Clark's eulogy to Sir Edmund Hillary
Original source: New Zealand Herald
On 29 May 1953 a young New Zealander stood on top of Mt Everest with his climbing companion Tenzing Norgay.
That young man was Edmund Hillary, soon to be knighted, and to become the most famous New Zealander of our time. Sir Ed's achievement on that day cannot be underestimated. He went to a height and a place no man had gone before. He went there with 1950s, not 21st Century, technology. He went there with well honed climbing skills, developed in New Zealand, Europe, and Nepal itself.
But above all, he went there with attitude with a clear goal, with courage, and with a determination to succeed. That attitude, Sir Ed's "can do" pragmatism, and his humility as the praise flowed for him over the decades, endeared Sir Ed to our nation and made him an inspiration and a role model for generations of New Zealanders.