Sir Ed's house begins trek to new base

The former home of Sir Edmund Hillary was removed from its Remuera site yesterday. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A small stencil used by Sir Edmund Hillary to mark crates for one of his expeditions is likely to go on show in the Hillary family home when the Remuera house is moved to a new site in South Auckland.

The home, built by Sir Ed and his wife Louise in 1956, was lifted on to the back of a truck in Remuera yesterday and will be stored before it is resited at an Otara school where it will be known as the Sir Edmund Hillary Leadership Centre.

The stencil was found after the house was gifted to the Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, a decile one school.

Sir Ed, the first man to reach the top of Mt Everest, in 1953, and who features on the New Zealand $5 note, went on several expeditions after his historic climb with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

The stencil was used by Sir Ed to mark crates of gear before they left New Zealand and would be among Hillary memorabilia on display in the house when the leadership centre was established, said Robin Houlker, an education consultant to the project.

Sir Ed and his second wife Lady June Hillary lived in the house until shortly before he died two years ago.

His first wife, Lady Louise Hillary, was killed in an air crash in Nepal in 1975 which also killed his daughter Belinda, 16, and the Christchurch pilot, Pete Shand.

The house was given to the school by Auckland businessman Terry Jarvis, who bought the property for $1.5 million in March last year.

Students from the school were at the site when the top section of the house was lifted off the foundations and blessed before it was taken to a removal company yard. It was likely to be there for six months before the new foundations were laid and the estimated $400,000 cost of the relocation was raised, said Ms Houlker.

Part of the fundraising would include a "Buy a Hillary Brick Day" in June which Ms Houlker said would give people the chance to own their own "small but unique part of the house from where so many expeditions were subsequently planned. At the same time they will be contributing to the ongoing legacy and inspiration left by Sir Edmund".

Much of the concrete block basement of the house will not be moved but Ms Houlker said the rest would be an ideal building for the new leadership centre and would be something Sir Ed would have loved to see happen.

She said the study in the home where Sir Ed planned so many expeditions and worked on the Himalayan Trust would become a library.

She said Sir Ed's neighbours had told them he would have loved the thought of the home being used as a leadership centre for school students and the community. It was also expected to become a place where students from around New Zealand could visit to learn about Sir Ed's work and achievements.

- NZPA