We had a group of families that we called the family group. There was our family and three others that my parents were really close to. They all had kids. I think there were about 16 kids in total through the four families and we used to go on holidays together or meet up in general areas together during the holidays. It was a real good experience when we were little. There were about three kids my age and I still talk to them now and we are really good friends. We have been all around Australia.

Special Memories

I remember being out there (at Pre-school) when the local fireman came down and gave us a little talk, and they set up like a slippery slide. I remember that really clearly being about four. That was a really good day

We went and stayed on one of our family’s properties in the mountains near Tamworth. This is one of my biggest memories as well – and just felt really relaxed.

I really remember the zig zag railway in Lithgow from when we were real little and the Jenolan Caves from NSW.

Acting as a full grown man, in the first play, at the Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society when I was about nine

I remember at any moment being surrounded by kids my age, kids above me or adults and having to learn to blend in with it.

Being dragged along to almost all my sisters’ birthday Parties. I would be the youngest by 8 or 9 years and I have to know how to act around the older kids. I was really looked up to a few of them

Going on work experience with Dad in year 10 – we went to Sydney and we spend a week going around Sydney and Maitland. We were doing real stuff with Dad – like testing streams, looking at salinity, and I actually set into a meeting at a Council in one of the Sydney suburbs – Dad shut down one of their building developments because the ground there was not suitable to build on. Dad is really a smart guy, he is quiet but I have learnt a lot from him

My father and I have an annual trip to Sydney for about five years now. We stay up there for three or four days together and we just watch a couple of games of cricket and this has been like a little ritual for me and Dad together.

Developing and nurturing friendships

Pre-School was the start to Liam’s long-term friendships, open mindedness, and an ever expanding thirst for knowledge – learning from everything and everyone at any time.

My Mum worked in child care service in the Pre-School in Wellington. From an early age, probably three or four, Mum put me into childcare up there. I think it was the Rainbow group. I remember being there with all these other kids. I still got a photo on the fridge of me in a little lion’s suit from the child care place.

When Mum first enrolled me in Pre-school in Wellington, I run into a lot of my teachers or later school friends there. There were two actual groups that had childcare at the preschool -Kangaroo and Platypus. I was in one and remember meeting a few of my really good friends who were in my year at school there. I remember we used to have little schedules up there that really helped me develop with all the other kids in my year, especially because a lot of kids at preschool stay in Wellington. This gave me an opportunity to meet a lot of them before we actually got into school. So right from the start I have known most of the kids in the area and my whole family has gone through the Catholic school in Wellington. And at one stage we were all at school together.

From school, I was in kindergarten the year below my sister Naomi. I had a class of about 30 kids and I still remember them all very fondly from childhood. I am really close with about 4 or 5 of the boys because I was pretty heavily involved with community sport.

Outside School Activities

Liam was interested and engaged in numerous and diverse Outside School activities, where he met many new friends he wouldn’t have made otherwise. He also developed a range of skills aligned with his values.

I started Soccer I started in the under 6’s Soccer at about five. My Dad is pretty much the head of the Soccer Committee in Wellington. I am still playing in Wellington now and have been playing for about 10 or 12 years.

When I was about five or six I started little Athletics in Wellington, and used to go there every Monday night. That is where I met a lot of my friends that are still in School with me now. I am still good friends with a lot of them and they continue to play sport with me.

When I was about nine or ten I started doing theatrical performance at WATS (Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society) in Wellington. I was only ten and one of my really really good friends, we were the two youngest kids by a mile and we were acting full-grown men in our first play. You could never separate us; we were incredibly close down there. He got me to know a lot of the people in town. I still know all the people involved, my directors, other people I was in the play with. Some of my teachers in School still remember me when I was in the play and when I was really little. I had a few lead roles there. A lot of kids I met there that I wouldn’t have met at School – that was just another avenue to meet kids.

I do Martial Arts training. At first this was absolutely horrible – I could not do it. I could not stand properly and couldn’t follow the instruction properly. I thought this is ridiculous. How can you do this? And it really helps me with patience. I had to keep sticking to it – been there for about nine months. Every time I go there, there is something else to learn. I might not always get it straight off but I want to be able to do it, so that drives me nuts. I have done lots of things;

I learnt to play drums when I was about nine. I’ve started to take lessons. I always loved to play songs so I switched over to piano and having a drumy background you are not very used to moving just individual fingers. It was really really difficult for me playing piano in year seven. I really wanted to play piano because my grandfather is very good at piano. I always had him playing piano. Even the fence on the property where he lives is actually a music note. He used to be welder so he welded his favourite songs on to the fence.

A quest for learning

Liam is on a quest for gaining knowledge and together with his amazing ability to relate with everyone – any personality and any age group – he constantly opens doors to learn from everyone and everything. When Liam was little he would ask Dad at least 50 questions a day and he would answer them all because he knew he would soak it up and it would not be wasted.

Even from a young age, we had the pay TV here so we could get all this extra channels. Even I had cartoons and stuff, when I was about 7 or 8 I enjoyed watching the documentary shows, about dinosaurs. When I was in year 2 I come home and told Mum that I wanted to become a paleontologist. Mum didn’t even know what that was when I was in year 2. So I had to explain to her. It’s a person who goes and basically uncovers the dinosaurs’ fossils and knows about the historic period of dinosaurs. That is really what I wanted to be when I was in year 2, I loved dinosaurs and Mum and Dad took me to a Dinosaurs’ exhibition in the Museum of Sydney, and I nearly died …it was amazing to see and even from that age I just liked learning about that stuff.

When I was about 10 or 11 or 12, for one of my Christmases Mum bought me an Astronomy book – about basically the Universe and I just been hooked on that. I am trying to save up for a medium quality telescope for my backyard. That is really what I am interested in – that sort of knowledge. I always just got to read something and remember it. Then we’d be having a conversation and I start throwing out stuff I could remember and eventually it started turning into actual knowledge that I could remember. I don’t know I just love learning about that stuff.

I remember going out with Dad, probably 8 or 9, going down to streams and stuff and he told me how to test the water. He showed me how to find where areas of soil are affected and especially when we used to drive, some would be 4-5 hours drives, and he often was just throwing information at me of areas that the knows around here so well – about the land. I learnt a lot from him in that respect from the environment

Foundational Values

It was inspiring to hear what Liam values and stands for in the world. Family, learning, building and nurturing relationships, and making a contribution are on the top of the list. These are followed by achievement, appreciation, respect, experimentation, open mind, empathy and compassion for the less fortunate. Persistence is an undeniable quality.