Laying an Icon to rest
Craig Little takes us behind the funeral of a great New Zealander.
Almost 314,000 people aged five and over tuned in to TV One on Tuesday January 22 to watch four hours of live coverage of Sir Edmund’s funeral, while another 55,000 watched TV 3’s coverage.
For all its grandness and international circumstance, all the military shoeshine and recitation of honours, Sir Edmund Hillary’s funeral was, more that anything, intimate.
He is possibly the most famous and beloved of New Zealanders; hailed as an icon, a hero, a colossus, a dad and a grandpa.
Inside the lovely, dark St Mary’s in Parnell, air-conditioned compliments of TV One to stop their mountains of equipment from overheating, sat the dignitaries in their suits, along with the mountain climbers in their sandals, ice axes stacked by the door, the sherpas, the little old ladies and me, in a service broadcast across New Zealand and the world.
Shared thoughts
We listened as the people closest to him shared their thoughts and insights into a man, adventurer, philanthropist and father. Seated behind the Bishop of Auckland and beside Philip O’Shea, the New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary to her Majesty The Queen, was me. Ten days earlier on my first week of annual leave, I never dreamed I would be sitting in this spot.
On January 11, the Very Reverend Dean Ross Bay called from Auckland City Hospital and advised that Sir Edmund had passed away and said that the family wished to engage our services. At this stage no contact was made with the family and all communication was coming from Internal Affairs and the Cathedral. Late in the day, a time was made for me to see Lady Hillary. Lady Hillary was aware of some of the ceremony that would surround the funeral, but wanted to keep arrangements as ‘normal’ as possible.
Nepalese memorabilia
The meeting on Sunday 13th at the Hillary home on a gorgeous morning, sitting in Sir Ed’s study with all the well-thumbed atlases and Nepalese memorabilia, was special. A granddaughter on hand to answer the phone, leaving lady Hillary and I to make arrangements in peace. A number of requests were made; one being black hearses. Clothing, tuku tuku, Knight’s Garter and Order of New Zealand medals, and the ice axe were given to me before I left the home. The flag supplied by Internal Affairs was the same one used by John Duncan for the service for the Unknown Warrior in Wellington.
The week before the funeral was taken up with numerous phone calls and meetings. On Wednesday 16th, I met with the Navy’s Events and Visits Officers, and discussions around the lying-in-state period on Monday and movements from the Cathedral to St Mary’s on the Tuesday prior to the funeral had everyone’s attention.
At 3.00pm I attended a meeting with Internal Affairs, the Bishop of Auckland, the Dean and Prime Minister Helen Clark at the Hillary home to keep Lady Hillary up to date with arrangements. I sat quietly, surrounded by all the top brass until the Prime Minister said, “the Funeral Director’s very quiet there. Craig, what do you think?”
Clockwork beginning
My liaison with the Police became very important, and Senior Sergeant Don Stuart from Operations Planning was instrumental in getting us to and from funeral venues. On the morning of 21st January, staff forming a guard of honour in the foyer and police motorcade assembled in Dominion Rd, we carried Sir Ed from the chapel to the hearse. The motorcade had to arrive at 10.00am on Monday for the welcome by Ngati Whatua in front of Holy Trinity Cathedral, and like clockwork it started to happen. We processed in, medals, tuku tuku and ice axe placed respectfully in their positions. After the wreath-laying ceremony by most political parties, the Nepalese and Indian communities laid their floral tributes. Then an hour was set aside for family. At 11.30am the Cathedral opened for members of the public to file past, the casket attended by Defence Force personnel who mounted a vigil guard that changed every 20 minutes.
As rain fell, the damp line of people shortened but continued on through the night until the period of lying-in-State drew to a close On Tuesday 22nd at 8.30am. Neil and I had been asked to arrive at 9.00am with the flower car, driven by Neil, to go directly below the Cathedral to be loaded with tributes especially chosen to go with Sir Ed. We then had specific positions in which to park, both for TV angles and to give room for the Sir Edmund Hillary College kapa haka group to perform their specially written haka. Pulling onto Parnell road and seeing the barriers, media tents, satellite vans and cameras from all over the world brought home to me the sheer scale of what was to take place.
