On September 5th 1955, Sir Edmund Hillary visited Morrinsville as part of the Ross Sea Committee's mission to raise £100,000 for an Antarctic expedition planned for 1956. Members of the committee set out on a tour of New Zealand to drum up support for the expedition and to dispel any public concerns that this was a government venture for which the public was expected to subscribe funds to. It was to be stressed this was a Commonwealth venture in which the United Kingdom and New Zealand were under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen. While there was some government backing, they needed to fundraise a huge amount of money to make it happen and in doing so, were asking the country to share in the great adventure.
Over the space of two weeks, the Ross Sea Committee spread out across New Zealand seeking financial support for what was viewed as the last frontier to be conquered by man. Sir Edmund Hillary was to lead the New Zealand expedition which would set out towards the South Pole from Scott Base in the Ross Sea and lay a line of supply depots to support the British team led by Dr Vivian Fuchs, who would set out from the Weddell Sea. They would meet at the Polar Plateau on the Scott Base side of the South Pole and then both teams would travel the last leg back to Scott Base, completing a transcontinental crossing. The New Zealand public were enthusiastic in supporting the venture, following Sir Edmund Hillary's successful summit of Mt Everest in 1953.
Famously, they drove three modified Ferguson tractors towing supplies and a Morrinsville man played a very important role in that. Also on the expedition was Jim Bates. He was a founding partner in Morrinsville mechanical engineering business BLM Engineering Ltd, with a comprehensive knowledge of petrol and diesel engines. He had extensive alpine experience including 30 ascents of Mt Ruapehu and of building huts in alpine conditions. Jim was responsible for the modification of the Ferguson tractors and the addition of caterpillar tracks and is credited with ensuring the success of the mission. He was awarded the Polar Medal for his part in the successful expedition. He was also a prolific inventor who patented many inventions that were used in the dairy and marine industries.
The UK party were scheduled to reach the pole first and continue to the Polar Plateau to meet up with the NZ party as it was not originally intended that Hillary would travel as far as the South Pole. But Sir Ed had other ideas. Against orders, he pressed on from the Polar Plateau to the South Pole and was the first to arrive on 4th January 1958 with Peter Mulgrew, Murray Ellis, Jim Bates and Derek Wright. In doing so, Hillary’s party were just the third expedition to reach the Pole overland. Preceded by Roald Amundsen in 1911 and Robert Falcon Scott in 1912. When Dr Fuch’s party arrived on 19th January relations were understandably somewhat frosty and on the return trip to Scott Base Sir Edmund Hillary was banished to the uninsulated, unheated, and windowless Sno-Cat, apparently, only to be called out on one occasion when Dr Fuchs had lost his way.
It took 99 days and 3473kms to cross the continent and Sir Edmund Hillary cemented his status as an explorer and a maverick New Zealand hero supported by our own remarkable man, Jim Bates.
Penny Pickett
Morrinsville Museum
