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Looking at the bronze plaque which was put back at the foot of Sir Edmund Hillary’s statue in Ōrewa last month, most people would be unaware of the effort involved behind the scenes in getting it there.
The plaque’s restoration is largely due to Susan May of Puhoi, and Auckland Council who listened to her, then had it repaired and installed.
The statue of Sir Edmund Hillary, made by Chen Wei-Ming, has stood in Hillary Square since 1991, and originally it had a plaque listing the mountaineer and explorer’s achievements.
In the early 2000s, the statue was moved to a new position in the square. In the process, the plaque was badly damaged, seemingly beyond repair, and it was put in Council’s scrap metal bin.
And that’s where a scrap metal collector, who was a friend of Susan and her partner Dave, found it.
“He knew Dave and I were great admirers of Sir Ed, so he gave us the plaque,” Susan says.
For years, it was kept safe in the couple’s lounge, but when Dave died in 2010, Susan thought it would be a good idea for it to be refurbished and replaced.
“It was in bad shape – the bottom was bent when it was removed, and there were two big holes where it had been bolted to the statue,” Susan says. “But I had faith it could be fixed.”
Susan discussed the plaque with Council staff, and gave it to them in 2017. They eventually found money to have the repair work done.
“The repairer has done a beautiful job,” Susan says. “If you’d seen what it was like before you would appreciate how much work was involved.”
The plaque was quietly installed in its rightful place around a month ago.
“I’ve seen people stop to read it, and it definitely adds to the meaning of the statue,” Susan says. “It makes the hard work worthwhile.”
