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Haurongo: Hillary, Edmund Percival

With tractors at the South Pole

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With tractors at the South Pole

After Scott Base was established by the New Zealanders on Ross Island, modified Massey Ferguson tractors arrived in January 1957 and were tested in polar conditions. Travelling on the tractors, Hillary, Peter Mulgrew, Jim Bates and Murray Ellis made the arduous journey to the South Pole a year later, arriving on 4 January 1958. They were the first to reach the Pole overland since Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition of 1911–12.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

TRANZ International Image Library

Reference: U1148276

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Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Shaun Barnett. 'Hillary, Edmund Percival', Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, i tāngia tuatahitia ki 2010. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/28439/with-tractors-at-the-south-pole (accessed 4 June 2026).