KEY POINTS:
Tomorrow it is a year since Sir Edmund Hillary died. Yet we seem no closer to achieving a permanent, prominent and inspirational memorial to such a great New Zealander. In the immediate aftermath of his death, members of the public and figures from politics and the mountaineering community
nominated and debated various tributes to Sir Ed. Suggestions ranged from the renaming of Aoraki-Mt
Cook or a lesser southern peak, Mt Ollivier, to the creation of the Hillary Highway on the route of the present SH1. The only tangible memorial, however, appears to be the Hillary Shield in rugby for tests between New Zealand and England, a sport not previously associated with the adult Hillary. It is also a memorial only fleetingly in the public eye, perhaps once every year or two. There is, plainly, still room for something more fitting to the memory of Sir
Ed and accessible to New Zealanders and visitors to this land.
What could that be? The lack of an agreed proposal in the past 12 months would tend to suggest renaming existing landmarks is not something on which it is possible to win consensus. Indeed, the clamour in early 2002 to memorialise Sir Peter Blake by naming an island or establishing a spectacular waterfront structure has faded in the past seven years to nothing. Those close to both knights probably think that static man-made tributes would fail to capture
the essence of the men's lives and spirits. Sir Ed is reported to have spoken against memorials in favour of his Himalayan work being supported. That may be so. But a society yearns to celebrate its most successful, particularly after they are gone, and memorials as unfashionable as sculptures and statues seem to provide the place, the space for people to focus on an extraordinary countryman or woman.
The last government achieved much through the willpower of the former prime minister to foster national identity. It is a less obvious passion of the new administration, but National would surely give nothing away in honouring great New Zealanders and may be inclined to invest in a lasting memorial to Sir Ed before proceeding with a variety of dubious arts and broadcasting initiatives. The city and regional councils should consider offering a site for the Auckland tribute.
Given the difficulties in reinstating a tree, any tree, on One Tree Hill since the lone pine's demise in the 1990s, it might seem reckless to suggest a volcanic cone as home to the Hillary memorial. But the summit of Mt Hobson (Remuwera) subs crrct, a few hundred metres from his home of so many years on Remuera Rd, and overlooking the suburb, harbour, Gulf, city centre and the Southern Motorway, provides a prominence and easy accessibility worth considering. It would take goodwill and sensitivity but that cannot be too much to ask for honouring Auckland's favourite son.
Of course Sir Ed's associations were nationwide, following much time spent in the Southern Alps and elsewhere. A second memorial could be built on the mainland. Here is a chance to make that link with Mt Cook or Mt Ollivier. The memorials should reflect in their way his values of determination, understatement, humility, charity and hospitality. There is no need for the flashy or the grand, just tangible expressions of a big-hearted man who stood with Tenzing Norgay where none had walked before and deserves to stand again, in this country as well as Nepal.
Someone, perhaps the local MP, Rodney Hide, and Auckland Mayor John Banks should now take up the challenge of honouring Hillary. Solutions more appropriate than the twin memorials described above may well be found but there is a sense right now that no one is looking for them. The public and the Hillary legend deserve more.
