VALE: JCU mathematician Dr Bill Newman dies aged 89
James Cook University’s first maths lecturer, who created a famous spelling theorem, worked on a space mission, built a servo at Crystal Creek, and spent his 80s teaching salsa, has died.
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JCU’s first maths lecturer, who worked on the Halley’s comet Giotto mission, built a caravan park at Crystal Creek, and spent his 80s teaching salsa in the Philippines, has died.
Bill Bateup Newman was born in Muttaburra while he father was working as a bank manager in the outback town, before the family relocated to Brisbane.
In Brisbane, Dr Newman went to school and completed a teaching degree, working in several SEQ high schools before answering a job application for a role at a new University of Queensland campus opening up in Townsville.
Larry Newman, Dr Newman’s son, said his father became the “founding maths lecturer” for the University College of Townsville – which later became James Cook University in 1970.
“He was teaching at high schools but his love was for maths,” Larry said.
“That’s why he took up the job at the university in 1961.”
Dr Newman stayed at James Cook University right through to his retirement in 2000.
‘I can’t believe it!’: The B B Newman Spelling Theorem
While he was lecturing maths, Dr Newman also found the time to completed a MSc from the School of Mathematics in 1964 and completed a PhD in 1970 supervised by Gilbert Baumslag – a very major name in the maths world.
Dr Newman completed his thesis in 1970, right when the University College of Townsville became James Cook University, and so he chose to graduate from JCU.
This caused some record-keeping confusion for later maths researchers, and even lead to an 2021 article being printed in the British Journal for the History of mathematics recounting how an intrepid masters student had to search high and low in order to figure out who was responsible for the famous ‘B B Newman Spelling Theorem’.
According to the article, Dr Newman took a sabbatical and was employed lecturing at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, and spent a lot of time with Gilbert Baumslag.
When he presented his B B Newman Spelling Theorem at a seminar at the State University in Washington Square, a man called Wilhelm Magnus reportedly jumped to his feet and exclaimed ‘I don’t believe this! I don’t believe this!’ which Dr Newman took to mean the German could not believe that an unheard of mathematician, from some unknown university in outback Australia, could have come up with these results.
After New Jersey, Dr Newman performed a six month visiting fellowship at Pahlavi University in Iran, and returned to JCU in 1970, in time to publish his thesis just as JCU solidified into the second-ever university in Queensland.
Larry said during his father’s career, universities often encouraged their staff to take one year and two year sabbaticals.
This included working in London for a contractor engaged with the European Space Agency and helping built the encorder for the Giotto spacecraft mission to intercept Halley’s comet in 1986.
Dr Newman also spent a sabbatical at the California Institute of Technology where he worked in the Jet Propulsion Lab.
For a common journalist, it is rather hard to explain what the B B Newman Spelling Theorem is.
Larry said he still didn’t understand it himself, but he understood that his father’s theorem was what made modern WI-FI and Bluetooth technology possible.
“I think what it means is when data is being sent, if part of it drops out, the theorem can recreate what was meant to be there,” Larry said.
As far as we can tell, the theorem in it’s most basic form is this: Let G = gp (a, b, … | R^n) n > 1, where R is cyclically reduced.
‘Well known on campus’
Maths lecturer Shaun Belward started at JCU in 1990s and worked alongside Dr Newman for many years.
“He was well known on campus and you’d hear a lot of ancedotoal stories about him,” Mr Belward said.
“There was a story about how Bill wanted to have a class of a certain number, so he’s talk about how hard the subject was until enough people dropped out and then he’s say ‘actually, it’s not that bad.”
Mr Belward said Dr Newman lectured in the ‘pure maths’ subjects, but from time to time came down to Earth to lecturer engineering students.
“He was very excited about maths, othertimes he was more focused on building his caravan park at Mutarnee,” he said.
“There is a story about how he had a particular algorithm to figure out how many bricks he needed to build his caravan park.”
This passion for maths made Dr Newman an engaging lecturer.
“He had a very loud voice so you could hear him from down the corridor,” Mr Belward said.
“A lot of students found him very engaging.”
The Larry books
Dr Newman raised four children with his wife Ellen in Townsville – Larry being the youngest of the group and subjected to local stardom when his father decided to write seven children’s books about him.
“My dad decided to write childrens books and they were called the Larry books because they had me in them,” Larry said.
“They took pictures of me doing things around Townsville. It was quite challenging for me because they were in the primary school library while I was at school and it didn’t make me popular.”
Dr Newman had a passion for books, having joined the bookbinding club at university.
“He tried to join the choir but the choir master said he’d be better off binding books so he went and did that,” Larry laughed.
“Many books in the JCU library have been bound by him. He even bound the JCU visitor book which the Queen signed in 1970.”
Crystal Creek and the Philippines
Retirement did not slow Dr Newman down – in fact, it seemed to speed him up.
Upon leaving JCU in 2000, Larry said his father – now divorced – took himself to TAFE and completed a cement-block laying course.
“He started building pools, building walls, he went out and built the Crystal Waters Caravan Park and service station,” Larry said.
“That’s what he did in retirement.”
After a few years in Crystal Creek, Dr Newman then packed up and travelled the world, before remarrying Catalina, a Filipino woman, and settling into San Fernando City, in San Juan, Philippines (aka ‘The Surfing Capital of the North’).
“He lived on the beach, it was really nice but a bit hard to get to,” Larry said.
“We thought he’d just relax but he found out about Airbnb and in his mid-70s he was awarded Airbnb ‘super host’ status.”
Larry said his father was a salsa dance teacher in San Fernando City “into his early 80s” and only moved home in March, 2025, when his health started to decline.
Dr Newman passed away on June 20, surrounded by his loving family.
His funeral is to be held on Friday, July 4, at the Lakes Capel, 2 Martinez Avenue Townsville.
No flowers by request.
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