Tia Cameron: Family, friends farewell victim of Brisbane CBD bus crash
Family and friends have gathered to farewell the young woman killed in the freak crash in Brisbane’s CBD last week, Tia Cameron’s family and friends describing the 18-year-old described as ‘vivacious’ and ‘irreplaceable’.
QLD News
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Tia Angel Cameron dreamt of becoming a mum, travelling the world and buying her first home next year, but on March 8 the 18-year-old’s life was tragically cut short in a freak bus crash in Brisbane’s CBD.
Friends and family embraced at an emotional funeral service at Brisbane’s Hillsong Theatre on Thursday morning, where they said their final goodbyes to their “vivacious” and “audacious” ‘T’.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and his wife Nina also attended the service.
A heartbreaking tribute read on behalf of Tia’s boyfriend Hayden Mckinlay, spoke of the young couple’s plans for the future.
“I will forever miss our little calls, I will wait every day for the phone to ring just to hear your voice, the last words we said to each other were ‘I love you’ and we truly meant it,” he said.
“We had so much of our lives planned together, buying our first home next year, trips away … Tia wanted to go to New Zealand at the end of the year to see the snow and her family.
“Our life together was so happy.”
Mr Mckinlay said March 8 was a day he would never forget, the day he lost the girl of his dreams, his “sunflower”.
“Tia was my world and my rock – we shared everything together … I can’t imagine how my life will be now without my forever Tia in it,” he said.
Tia’s cousins said they were unable to come to terms with how the 18-year-old had been “stolen” from their family.
A video montage to the song ‘Dancing in the Sky’ played during the emotional service, an insight into their larger than life, “irreplaceable” young woman who loved to dance like no-one was watching.
Tia’s devastated aunty Karma Te Awhitu said she was wrapped around the 18-year-old’s “little finger”.
“My darling T, standing here today, saying goodbye to you, is the most painful thing imaginable,” she said.
“I fell in love with you from the moment you were born and I never stopped loving you.
“You brought sunshine to my life and looking around here today, it is quite clear you did the same for many other people.”
Ms Te Awhitu said she would miss Tia’s laugh, her “questionable” sense of humour and “dorkiness”.
“You had plans to study and further your education. You had plans to travel. You always spoke of being a mum, even from a very young age and I knew that one day you would make an incredible mother.
“I’m so very sorry bub that this has been stripped away from you but I promise to keep your memory alive … fly high my angel.”
Funeral celebrant Dawn Louise said Tia was “vivacious and audacious”.
“You wouldn’t be left wondering what (Tia) thought because she would tell you,” she said.
“In her work at the Brisbane Club she was the perfect person for the front desk, the director of first impressions and the impression she left was always a good one
“Tia really wanted to be a mum but in the meantime she adopted and took care of a menagerie of animals
“She was a fashionista. She was an old soul. She gave her mum a purpose in life and when she left us, she gave us all a reminder of the brevity of life.”
Tia had just walked out of a nearby beauty salon when was pinned against the wall by an out-of-control bus that mounted a packed footpath at the intersection of Ann and Edward St just after 5pm.
The Brisbane City Council on Saturday revealed the brakes of the bus had been tested last month.
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