by Michael Gill
Ever yours, Eric.3
Another consequence of Ed’s achievement was a KBE, bestowed by the Queen on 6 June and accepted by the New Zealand prime minister on his behalf. The first Ed heard of it was a letter addressed to ‘Sir Edmund Hillary, KBE’ while on the trail halfway back to Kathmandu. ‘My God!’ he said. ‘I’ll have to get a new pair of overalls.’4
It was the sort of mock-heroic response that became a Hillary trademark, but he came to like his knighthood and he was impressed by the occasion on which it was bestowed:
Our most important invitation was to a Buckingham Palace garden party. Dressed in unfamiliar morning suit with long tails and top hat, the expedition members mixed with hundreds of dignitaries as though to the manner born – well, almost! At the conclusion of the garden party we were conducted deep inside the palace to quite a small but very pleasantly decorated room. There we waited rather nervously until an official entered and announced in stentorian tones, ‘Her Majesty the Queen.’ The Queen came in, followed by most of the royal family, and we were all greeted in a very relaxed fashion. The Queen was tiny and charming and behaved just as we expected a Queen to do in those days. Then for me came the most important moment. A small stool was placed in front of the Queen, I knelt on it, a short bejeweled sword was put in her hand, she touched me lightly on each shoulder and said, ‘Arise, Sir Edmund.’ … It was quite a change from early days as a bee farmer in New Zealand.5
Louise Rose
Ed was now famous – and an eligible bachelor. In August he flew back to New Zealand, but made an unexplained three-day stopover in Sydney where the press caught rumour of a romance, though without tracking it to its source. On 8 August he and George Lowe received an ecstatic reception when they arrived back in Auckland. They also found that the news of a romance had crossed the Tasman: ‘Sir Edmund, in a Press interview, said a cabled reference to his “girlfriend” had been in error. It was a misunderstanding. He had no “girlfriend” though he had three direct mail invitations from young women to “name the date”.’6 A week after this denial, however, came the announcement that Sir Edmund Hillary would be marrying Louise Mary Rose at the chapel of the Diocesan School for Girls on 3 September, only a fortnight away.
Louise Rose was the 22-year-old daughter of an Auckland lawyer, Jim Rose, also president of the New Zealand Alpine Club. More to the point, he was chairman of the Auckland section of the club in whose small firmament Ed had been a shining star even before the Everest reconnaissance of 1951. During the late 1940s Ed would visit Jim in his comfortable house at 278 Remuera Road, with its spacious view of harbour, hills and islands, and talk about his climbs and news from down south.
Jim Rose was one of the many great-grandchildren of Archibald Rose, a founding father of the fledgling city of Auckland. Archibald emigrated from Scotland in 1849 and started a drapery business, both importing and exporting, which eventually employed 500 people. He was active in public affairs as the first mayor of Auckland in 1851, and between 1860 and 1874 was intermittently a Member of Parliament. He married three times and had nine children. Jim Rose studied law and had a brief first marriage before, on a passage to Australia, he met and fell in love with Phyllis Joske whose large Jewish family lived in Melbourne. In their long and successful marriage they had two daughters, the second of whom was Louise Mary Rose, born on 3 September 1930. Her writing at the age of six gives glimpses of the style she will use 30 years later in her books:
Hulloe Daddy, I hope you are very much better. Mummy has been very kind to me, she bought me a string for the violin and some stuff called Roslyn it is like a piece of kari gum you just rub it on. The violin makes a lovely sound, nice and loud and squealy, it is a great success, I think I can play it quite well.
With love from Weasle
Good-bye
She ends with a pencil sketch of herself in a new frock.7
Louise had a gift for music. She started on the violin but at some time a tutor suggested her forthright approach might be more suited to the viola. By the time she entered Auckland University’s School of Music, the viola was her preferred instrument and the one she played in local orchestras and taught to pupils. She also played the piano and sang in the university’s madrigal group.
An acquaintance of those years, Graeme Gummer, son of the architect who built the Hillary house in 1955, remembered social occasions at the Roses’ house:
The Rose home was like a mansion really, with a lawn tennis court of fine English grasses. Phyl Rose was a good organizer. Louise’s presence at these functions was always rewarding. She was neither shy nor forward but accepted each person for themselves. Her straightforward common sense and pleasant nature put everyone at their ease.8
If music was one thread in Louise’s life, the outdoors was the other. In the Ruapehu Club hut book for 4 January 1940 appears the entry: ‘Louise Rose 9 years old. Got within 75ft of top of highest peak, and then went down Gliding Gladys.’ At university, Louise joined the tramping club as Ed had 12 years earlier. Weekends were often spent in the Waitakere Ranges. The Roses also had a bach on the lip of a line of cliffs between Piha and Anawhata, another favourite haunt.
On long weekends, the destination might be Mt Ruapehu. There was snow and rock climbing on the ring of peaks around the crater, a dip in the hot crater lake for the risk-takers, and skiing on the glaciers in winter. Transport to Ruapehu was variously by train, bus, car or truck. Graeme Gummer remembered travelling in the train by night, singing tramping songs and chatting. If the moon was full they looked out on ‘a somber landscape of farms being broken in from the forest with burnt-out stumps, steep hillsides and bush. Many of the train stops were at timber-milling communities with drying kilns spouting steam, smoke and wood smells … Louise was always a natural leader. She got us going seemingly without any effort on her part.’9
In 1951 Ed Hillary and George Lowe make their appearance in Louise’s diary, competing, from a distance, for her attention. In December 1951, the Garhwal climbers gave a talk on their expedition. Ed and Earle Riddiford, who had been christened ‘The Tigers’, had just arrived back from the Everest Reconnaissance on the Wanganella. Louise’s account of the occasion gives a glimpse into the social customs of the early 1950s:
Well, we went over to the Odells and I found to my relief that I was dressed properly. We all had an Uncle Jack which is a rather strong type of sherry made by Hetti Harre’s uncle. Ed was taking a girl he met on the Wanganella. We went roaming to the Gummers with my feet in a box of bottles. We all got well stoked up and at about 8.30 went to the Road House. We had the most marvellous dinner and the six of us had a lot of fun. George and Ed talked Hindustani and clapped their hands for waiters. They also said they would take me climbing and mentioned a traverse of Tasman. We got home at 2am. Going down our steps George slipped and I stopped him so now I can say I held George Lowe when he fell on a rock climb.
The boys gave us a terrifically interesting talk at Alpine Club section meeting held in our house with 55 people there. The two Ed’s and George evidently got on very well together – Earle was the worker. The poor Odells have got George for an unknown period. He’s a bit of a devilish fellow.10
In 1952 after the Cho Oyu expedition Ed, Louise and George travelled down to Ruapehu for skiing. Louise continued her diary:
All Sunday was spent doing orchestra but thinking about going skiing. Ed arrived at 11.30pm in his Austrian trousers and Everest down jacket with a devilish twinkle in his eye. Everyone muddled round in the dark packing the truck. We got to Taumarunui about 6.30 am in dense fog and got hot pies. From there until National Park the road was terribly twisty and bumpy but when the fog lifted there were wonderful views.
We got out of the truck and were just getting our belongings together when Pa came bouncing down the mountain looking marvellous and his eyes were twinkling. It was hot so I took off my woollen shirt much to the surprise of some garrulous schoolboys who were convinced I would have only a singlet or less underneath. People
were asking us when Ed Hillary was coming, so we said he was just behind and we were the Sherpas. After we’d reached the upper hut George arrived in high spirits and Ed had all the boys out step-cutting which pleased them immensely.
Soon after that I went out on my skis and found that I was completely hopeless. Ed then took George and me in hand and led us down the ski tow run. I soon got left behind but learnt a lot in spite of that. When I got in, dinner was being prepared and I made fruit salad and jelly and then George found the AUC song book and we started singing right on through dinner until bedtime. George is very good at leading singing. I played the ukulele.
Next morning we made breakfast using the private Hillary coffee. George took Aileen and me step-cutting. Then he did a great big glissade and got out of control for a while and hurt his hands but the tourists were thrilled. I had just finished eating an orange at about 2 o’clock when I was told that Ed had dislocated his knee. Poor Ed, I think it hurt him a lot and he just got into his bag. He lent me his down jacket, they are the most marvellous things.
Next morning no one budged – everyone was waiting for someone else to get the breakfast.
Aileen and I started on Ed’s leg which was very stiff and painful. We gave it baths in hot water and then snow-cold water. Poor fellow, he nearly hit the roof. He’s very calm to have put up with what we did.
She finished on a wistful note thinking about her future: ‘I only wish I knew what I wanted to do with my music. These good solid mountaineers are so much more fun and better friends than musicians …’11
Ed starts a campaign
By the beginning of 1953, there was a greater sense of purpose in the lives of Louise Rose and Ed Hillary, at least in the short term. Louise had won a scholarship to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to continue her study of the viola, while Ed had his position as a leading climber on the Everest expedition. This gave him a new confidence and he was writing letters that he hoped would be persuasive. He called it his ‘campaign’.
31 January
My Dear Louise, I suppose you are well out on the Tasman with a calm sea and a bright moon. I wish I were there too! … You know Whizz, this early departure of yours is really most unsatisfactory. I’m just about the most backward wolf that ever lived but I’d really summoned up my courage and planned a strong attack on your depressingly formidable defenses and then you have to pack your bags and depart. My only chance now is on my passage through Sydney … I’ve finalised my booking. I’ll cross to Sydney on Saturday Feb 28th and then leave on Monday night for Calcutta. I hope you will spare me some time, Whizz, as the thought that I won’t be seeing you again for about five months doesn’t appeal to me very much …
Look after yourself, Whizz, drop me a line if you can find time. Love from, Ed.
18 February
My Dear Louise, It’s not long now before I step aboard the plane. I’ve been invited to stay with friends but that would be too restricting so I’ve booked in at the Wentworth Hotel which is meant to be frightfully posh and expensive. I’ve made no arrangements at all so am free until I leave on Monday.
What are you going to do Whizz? I can just see you shaking your head and saying, ‘Well, I have ten minutes to spare on Saturday afternoon but I’m frightfully busy on Sunday, and I strum the old viola on Monday mornings, so what about a cup of tea on Monday afternoon?’ What a depressing thought! I think it would be a jolly good idea if you came and had dinner with me at the Wentworth on Saturday night and we went to a show afterwards …
The other night I did a bit of work on my new book ‘Battle against Boredom.’ Have I told you that I’m trying to write a book? Eric Shipton gave me some encouragement … Imagine it – me trying to be an author! For some people I know it would be the joke of the season …
This is a frightful lot of bilge Whizz, but summed up it means that I’m hoping I’ll see a lot of you, that I have no engagements and if you would like to do anything at all from symphony concerts to Luna Park I’ll be very happy if you arrange it. I’m looking forward to hearing all your experiences and seeing you again … love from, Ed.
22 February
My Dear Louise, I was very pleased to hear that you’ll be down to meet me at Rose Bay on Saturday. I don’t know whether I’ll have the usual band of reporters …
I was interested to hear of Fleur’s efforts with you in the cause of Christian Science … I used to be pretty interested in a lot of so-called ‘advanced’ religions such as Theosophy and Anthroposophy … I even used to give lectures at one organisation and I conducted a radio session over 1ZB every Sunday morning … I still sometimes think about these things and harbour the hope that life has a real meaning and that all our trivial efforts and aspirations are not entirely wasted. It’s a depressing thought that we are born, live and die all for nothing and I still prefer to think there’s some reason behind it all …
Love from, Ed.
PS. My one extravagance this year has been a new dinner suit – tailor made at 30 guineas – and it really looks extremely smart I must say …12
A short paragraph in Ed’s 1999 autobiography describes his weekend in Sydney with Louise on his way to Everest 1953:
I spent two days with Louise and they were possibly the two happiest days of my life. We sat on the grass in the Sydney domain and listened with great pleasure to outdoor musical concerts. We walked hand in hand across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and halfway across I kissed Louise for the first time … by the end of those two days we had developed an understanding that we would see a good deal more of each other in future.13
There is greater intimacy in the letters that follow the Sydney visit, a belief that Louise will accept him. Getting to the top of Everest, has become part of his courtship of Louise Rose.
2 March
Well Whizz, I’d been really looking forward to my few days in Sydney but I never really thought I’d have so much fun. Everything went perfectly, right from the time I landed at Rose Bay. I really arrived all set to conduct some sort of campaign, not that I had much idea what a campaign of that nature demanded. But from the start everything seemed to flow along as we’d drift from one thing to the next. I really enjoyed myself enormously and you really are a darling Whizz. I’m going to be looking forward to my return the whole time I’m away so don’t you go and forget all about me in the interim. I’d hate to have to come back and beat half a dozen musicians over the head with my ice axe … It’s now about an hour out so I expect you’re home in bed and fast asleep but the plane is just settling down to the usual routine. Everybody has removed their coats and ties and I’ve already had a glass of orange from the steward. Look after yourself – I really am terribly fond of you. Love from, Ed14
3 March
Hello Whizz Darling, Here I am parked in a luxurious room in the famous Raffles Hotel and all I can do is feel lonely and think of you … At least there’s the consolation that once I get on the job the time should pass quickly and it won’t be long before I’ll be back in Sydney … I wonder what my chances are? … You know, Whizz, human nature is a funny thing. Here I am on a trip that I suppose any NZ climber would be most keen to go on and I spend all my time thinking of something quite different – in fact you! Mind you I’m determined to do well on this trip because my ambition has always been to get really high and also I know that if I can be really successful I might be able to do reasonably well with my book …
All my love. Ed.15
4 March
Hello Darling, When I come back to Sydney I won’t stay in a hotel as it is really a waste of money seeing I don’t expect to stay inside much. I’ll try and get a bed and breakfast place in the Cross and save my money for more important things.
One of my pleasantest memories is sitting in your comfortable chair watching you practice. You really did look sweet Whizz, you have such graceful and attractive arms. I wished I’d arrived half an hour earlier and had the full session.
Do write to me as often as you can, Whizz, as your
letters will be the things I most look forward to on this trip. Look after yourself. All my love, Ed16
In a revealing letter of 8 March, Louise responds to Ed’s declaration of his ‘campaign’.
Dear Ed, Heaven knows when you’ll get this letter or where you’ll be or how uncivilised you’ll look. Anyhow I suppose you know all the new climbers by now and are really getting going and have your mind on the great task ahead without me getting in the way.
You really don’t need to worry about me you know and the long range campaign, as you actually won the campaign quite a long while ago …
Tons of love from, Louise.17
Ed responded quickly:
21 March
It was a terrific thrill yesterday to get two letters from you … John Hunt noticed my enthusiasm on receiving your letters and asked me if they were from someone I was keen on and I replied ‘Too right!’ … Love from Ed.18
19 April
My darling Louise, The morning was still windy with light drifting snow but we set off in an endeavour to get to the top of the icefall. The ice above us was fantastic. Great crumbling seracs surrounded by piles of fallen ice. We were pretty scared most of the time but after a lot of false leads we finally reached the last line of ice-cliffs. There was no easy route but I managed to give my well known impersonation of Harry Ayres, cut up the lower section and then wedged myself into a narrow crack in the ice and wriggled and jammed my way up to the top. It was quite a moment as we are now at the entrance to the Cwm.