Peter Mulgrew

Who was Peter Mulgrew?

Peter David Mulgrew was a New Zealand mountaineer, yachtsman and businessman. He died in the crash of the ill-fated Air New Zealand Flight 901, an Antarctic sightseeing flight that slammed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. He was a commentator on the flight, having replaced his close friend Sir Edmund Hillary, who was on a scheduled speaking tour of the United States. In 1989 his widow, June, married Hillary.

Mulgrew was born in Lower Hutt to boilermaker William John Mulgrew and woollen industry worker Edith Mulgrew. He attended the Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College. He served in the Royal New Zealand Navy for eleven years, including service on a frigate in the Korean War. On 20 September 1952, in Wellington, he married June Martha Anderson. They had two daughters, Kate and Robyn.

He embarked on several expeditions: the 1956-58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition that went to the South Pole, the 1960-61 Himalayan scientific and mountaineering expedition, a 1964 Himalayan schoolhouse expedition with Hillary and a 1966 Himalayan hospital expedition. He also climbed in the Swiss Alps, ascending the Matterhorn.