The recent issue celebrating the life of Sir Edmund Hillary got us thinking about this man and his achievements. Allan & Mary knew of some other stamps issued featuring this famous New Zealander and so we decided there might be a possible thematic collection. With their advice, I did some digging. The page below is what I found.
Note - All stamps are New Zealand unless stated otherwise.
1954 Health Issue.
Health stamps were issued with two values, the primary one for postage and a secondary value for funds to support children's Health Camps.
Health Stamps - Part Two.
1954 Tramper - 1½d + ½d. 1954 Tramper - 2d + 1d.
A young tramper, with a map in hand, is depicted gazing across Lake Wanaka with a snow-clad Mount Aspiring rising in the distant background. Since Edmond Hillary had just climbed Mt Everest, a view of this mountain was included in the upper left-hand corner.
Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit of the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest on 29 May 1953. It would be over 12 months before this feat was recognised on a New Zealand stamp. Even then it appears to be an afterthought with the view of Mount Everest being printed using lithograph printing on each recess-printed stamp. Edmund Hillary is not mentioned on the stamps.
1994 - Second Heritage Series - Emerging Years 1950s.
One of a series of four issues looking at four important decades that shaped New Zealand from a British colony into a nation.
1994 - Second Heritage Series - Emerging Years 1950s.
In the 1950s, a decade which saw New Zealand find its feet as a nation, perhaps the biggest single event was that Edmund Hillary conquered the mighty Mount Everest at 11.30am on 29 May 1953. Amidst intense emotions, Hillary, the New Zealander, was thrust into the international limelight as a celebrity with courage and fortitude.
This was a big achievement for this little country but its true success came in the encouragement it gave others to achieve in a wide range of sports and careers. New Zealand was developing a can-do attitude. A love for doing the impossible, taking on the big guy and winning. This love continues today with this little country competing and winning far about its size.
1999 Millennium V - Leading the Way.
This was the last of a series of five issues leading up to the year 2000.
1999 Millennium V - Leading the Way.
$1.50 - Conquest of Mount Everest.
Edmund Percival Hillary the man who would become New Zealand’s most famous and celebrated mountaineer was born in Auckland on 20 July 1919. Educated at Auckland Grammar School, he left school to become an apiarist. He returned to the profession after the War in partnership with his brother. Edmund Hillary’s overriding passion, however, was mountaineering and, having gained considerable experience climbing in his own land, he led the New Zealand Gawhal Expedition in 1951. Later the same year, he joined the British Everest Reconnaissance Expedition and, in 1952, the British Cho Oyu Expedition. In 1953, as a member of Sir John Hunt’s British Everest Expedition, he reached the summit of Mount Everest with Tenzing Norkay on 29 May.
At just 33 years of age, Hillary was on top of the world – literally. He broke the news of the achievement with a famous one-liner issued to another New Zealander on the expedition, George Lowe. "Well George, we knocked the bastard off," he said.
2003 Conquest Of Everest.
"Well George, we knocked the bastard off!" With those now-famous words, New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary announced the conquest of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953. On the 50th anniversary of this event, NZ Post issued this pair of stamps
2003 Conquest of Everest.
Have a close look at these photos. Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary together achieved what no man had ever done before - reached the summit of the world's tallest mountain: the roof of the world.
2005 Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1957-58.
Antarctic Post.
Local Post, Antarctic Post issued this stamp to mark 50 years since this great expedition took place. While the team Hillary lead didn't complete a full crossing of Antarctica, they provided important support and supplies for the team that did make the crossing.
2005 Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1957-58.
$1.00 - Hillary & NZ Flag.
The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland for 46 years, preceded only by Amundsen's and Scott's respective parties in 1911 and 1912.
2007 Conquest of Everest 1953 - Commemorative.
New Zealand Wine Post.
The Wine Post, also known as New Zealand Wine Post, is a privately owned postal service in New Zealand. It is operated by Weston Winery New Zealand, which is the World's Most Southern Winery and acts as its only post office. It began issuing stamps for its own postage in 1990. It is one of the many independent posts of New Zealand which has a deregulated postal environment. The Wine Post stamps are for their domestic and international postage for their own winery.
$3.00 - Hillary & Tenzing Last steps to the top.
Mount Everest, also known in Nepal as Sagarmāthā and in Tibet as Chomolungma, is Earth's highest mountain. It is located in the Mahalangur mountain range in Nepal and Tibet. Its peak is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level.
In 1953, a British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt to reach the summit. The first pair (Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans) came within 100 m (330 ft) of the summit on 26 May 1953 but turned back after running into oxygen problems. Two days later, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with its second climbing pair, the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali sherpa climber from Darjeeling, India. They reached the summit at 11:30 am local time on 29 May 1953 via the South Col Route. At the time, both acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit first. They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.
2008 Sir Edmund Hillary.
Edmund Hillary passed away on 11 January 2008. NZ Post issued this five stamp set featuring some of the highlights of his life.
2008 - Sir Edmund Hillary.
50c - Sir Edmund Hillary.
In November 2008, New Zealand Post released five stamps, a first day cover and a presentation pack as a tribute to ‘our’ Sir Ed – an ordinary man who achieved extraordinary things, who tackled everything from aircraft navigation to beekeeping, mountain climbing to jet-boating, and international diplomacy to becoming the only living New Zealander to appear on our $5 note.
$1.00 - Conquest of Mount Everest (1953).
It was the climb to the top of Mt Everest that earned Sir Ed his title – Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. On 29 May 1953, he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first in the world to achieve this feat, the only two of that British expedition to reach the summit.
$1.50 - British Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1958).
Sir Ed’s explorations didn’t end with Everest. He climbed 10 other peaks in the Himalayas between 1956 and 1965, and in 1958 led a New Zealand group taking part in the British Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Sir Edmund Hillary’s group was the first to reach the South Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912 and the first to use motor vehicles.
$2.00 - Himalayan Trust (1960 - ).
Sir Ed’s work in Nepal was perhaps his greatest achievement. In 1960 he established the Himalayan Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the conditions and lives of the Nepalese, a people in desperate need of schools and medical services. In four decades he helped to establish more than 30 schools, two hospitals and 12 medical clinics, as well as two airstrips to make it easier to bring in supplies.
In 1995, Sir Ed was appointed to the Order of the Garter, the highest possible achievement in the United Kingdom honours system. He also received a number of other honours, including the Indian Government’s second-highest civilian honour, the Polar Medal (for his part in the Trans-Antarctic Expedition) and the Order of New Zealand. He also became an honorary citizen of Nepal, the first foreign national to receive such an honour from the Nepalese Government.
2008 Edmund Hillary.
Antarctica Post.
This stamp marked two events in Hillary's life.
The first was 50 years since the completion of the transpolar expedition in which Hillary an important role by leading the second team based in what is now the Ross Dependency.
The second event was the death of Hillary on 11 January 2008.
2008 Edmund Hillary (Antarctica Post)
Hillary became interested in mountaineering while in secondary school. He made his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during World War II. Prior to the 1953 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.
2019 Sir Edmund Hillary 1919-2008.
In 2019 New Zealand commemorates 100 years since the birth of Sir Edmund Hillary. These stamps celebrate key moments in the remarkable life of one of our greatest heroes.
2019 Sir Edmund Hillary 1919-2008.
$1.30 - Hillary Ridge, Aoraki/Mount Cook.
The ascent of Aoraki/Mount Cook’s South Ridge, now named Hillary Ridge, contributed to Sir Ed’s preparedness for the climb on Mount Everest four years later.
$1.30 - Mount Everest
Making the first ascent of the world’s highest mountain not only made Sir Edmund Hillary a famous name, but it helped to put New Zealand on the map in the minds of people around the world.
$1.30 - South Pole Expedition.
As well as leading the Ross Sea party in 1957/1958 and conducting scientific research for the International Geophysical Year, Sir Ed led the first vehicular crossing to the South Pole.
$1.30 - Himalayan Trust
Over half a century, Sir Ed built schools, hospitals, airstrips, water systems and bridges, and provided thousands of educational scholarships to the people of the villages around Mount Everest in Nepal.
Led by Sir Ed, the Indo-New Zealand Ganges Expedition in 1977 took three New Zealand HamiltonJet boats from the Bay of Bengal across the Gangetic Plains and ended with the ascent of a 6,000-metre Himalayan peak.
Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/
Information & images for this post came from.
An interesting read. Lots of information about this famous New Zealander.
ReplyDeleteTom
Thanks Tom. I didn't write a lot of the captions, instead getting it from other pages in this blog. The main purpose of this page is to collect all the stamps on Sir Edmund Hillary together. By adding in those captions it just becomes that little bit better. Even if some information was repeated a bit too.
DeleteKim