New Zealanders say farewell to heroic Sir Ed

HUNDREDS of people queued yesterday to pay their last respects to Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Mount Everest, whose body lay in state in New Zealand ahead of his funeral today.

The flag-draped coffin of the first man to climb the world’s highest peak was carried into Auckland’s cathedral by members of the armed forces, as local Maori stood in light rain and delivered a traditional welcome.

Hillary, 88, who died after a heart attack on January 11, was to lie in state for 24 hours to allow the public to bid farewell to New Zealand’s greatest hero — a former beekeeper who became one of the 20th century’s most admired adventurers and humanitarians.

Hillary, along with Nepal’s Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, scaled Everest in 1953, telling companions after the climb: “We knocked the bastard off“.

Inside the cathedral, Hillary’s coffin was covered with flowers and a mountain axe, as members of the local Nepali community placed cream-coloured prayer scarves over one end of the coffin and representatives of the Indian community adorned a large oil painting of Sir Ed with a long garland of flowers.

“People have been stopped in their tracks since they learned of Sir Ed’s passing,” Prime Minister Helen Clark said outside the cathedral. “New Zealand has lost its greatest hero.”

Hundreds filed past the coffin, some uttering quiet prayers, others pausing momentarily with bowed heads.