Liam Newman was just one year old when he gazed up from his Taupō backyard, spotted his skydiving instructor dad Brett Newman up in the air and uttered one of his first words.
Brett tells Woman’s Day, “My wife Sheralee said he looked up, pointed at the parachutes and started going, ‘Chute! Chute!’”
More than two decades later, the 25-year-old Kiwi tragically lost his life after taking to the skies in Queensland, Australia, where he’d joined Brett for a skydiving skills camp.
And while his family is devastated, they’ve found comfort in learning just how much Liam meant to the skydiving community.
The passion developed early for Rotorua-born Liam, who was just 22 months old when the family moved to Australia. The wee lad became fascinated by the planes at the skydiving-equipment business Brett started, Downward Trend, roping his father’s staff into pretending to skydive with him.
“We built a special backpack, so he’d pretend to jump, open his backpack and throw out the blanket,” recalls Brett. “All he ever wanted was to jump out of an airplane.”
Liam was just five when he experienced his first tandem jump with his father in Taupō.
Brett recalls, “In the plane, I said, ‘You alright?’ and he went, ‘I’m a little scared, Dad, but let’s do it!’”
His next jump was at age eight, but Liam soon discovered wakeboarding, taking an instructing gig in London at 17, then dabbled in construction. However, skydiving drew him back, so he asked Brett for a job, before landing an instructor gig at iFly Brisbane Indoor Skydiving.
“He applied nine times in as many months,” Liam’s boss Matt Schreurs recalls. “When I offered him the job, he cried with joy. There was no one more driven than Liam.”
His colleague Reece Delamere remembers Liam as energetic and hilarious – like when they filmed a Christmas ad where Liam played Santa’s skydiving instructor. “He was doing ridiculous actions and kept messing up shots,” he laughs. “We were in stitches!”
Brett says he “couldn’t have been prouder” watching Liam follow in his footsteps.
“He did over 600 jumps in two and a half years. That’s massive. All I’d hear about was what jumps he was doing.”
In a video at his memorial, Liam discussed his love for skydiving. He said, “That feeling you get when you learn something new, it’s contagious. We strive to keep chasing that feeling of learning new things.”
That’s what Liam was doing during the 27 August skills camp. The night before, he kissed his dad goodbye on his forehead, returning to Brett’s office the next morning to go grab his gear.
Brett remembers, “It was a beautiful, sunny morning. He thought he was becoming mature, so he brought what he thought was a nice bottle of Pinot Noir. He said, ‘Dad, we’ll drink this later.’ We’ve drunk it since and it was shocking!”
Brett hadn’t worried about Liam’s safety, noting that he had new gear and the camp had strict safety regulations. He jumped shortly after his son. However, he was alerted afterwards that Liam had over-corrected his landing and hit the ground at 40-60km/h.
Brett rushed to Liam’s side, holding his hand and praying for two hours as on-site medics provided life support until a rescue crew arrived. Sadly, Liam passed away.
Liam’s brother Ethan, 19, says the tragedy has taught him to “go after the things you want most”, like Liam did. He fondly recalls his big bro turning any conversation into one about skydiving. “Dad and I would be talking about an All Blacks game. Then, mid-sentence, Liam would start talking about his new parachute!”
Liam’s sister Ella, 17, has memories of skateboarding with her brother as a child.
“Liam didn’t believe in not making it,” she says. “He would fall again and again, and get frustrated, but he never let that stop him. He always got back up.”
Liam’s Brisbane funeral, organised by Kiwi woman Maree Carl’s Heartfelt Funerals, opened with Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over, before Sheralee spoke about becoming a mother at the age of 22.
She recalled, “I knew I’d make a million mistakes with Liam, but when I looked at the kind, caring and compassionate man he turned into, I felt proud we got a few things right.”
Brett shared Father’s Day artwork and read the heart-wrenching poem A Father’s Memory at the service, which was held on his 52nd birthday.Liam’s bestie Cody Mason spoke about how his friend had found his place in the skydiving world.
The Newman family will return to Taupō to sprinkle some of their son’s ashes, as Liam had wanted.
“Liam was a Kiwi through and through – All Blacks all the way,” tells Brett. “He had one tattoo, over his heart, of a kangaroo with a silver-fern tail.”
He adds, “We’ll never get over this, but we’ll get through. There’s comfort in knowing he brought so many people together. We’ve received messages from people he instructed, saying, ‘Your son was so attentive and was so passionate.’ He affected so many lives positively.”
To help with Liam’s funeral costs, visit his GoFundMe page.
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