An inquest into the Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy is expected to hear from the Department of Health and Tasmania Police today as it continues in Devonport.
Six students died when a sudden wind lifted a jumping castle into the air at Hillcrest Primary School on December 16, 2021.
Addison Stewart, Chace Harrison, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Peter Dodt and Zane Mellor were aged 11 or 12.
They were in Grade 5 and Grade 6 and were enjoying end-of-year celebrations.
The inquest on Monday heard the wind was a “dust devil”.
Zane’s mother Georgie Burt was the first witness when the inquest opened on Monday.
She said she was told her son had been taken to Mersey Community Hospital in Latrobe.
She said police at the hospital told her he had died. She later learned he had never left the school.
Burt told the inquest no one from the school contacted her. She said she did not hear from the education department until the following year.
She said the school oval had long been known as a windy spot.
Burt said she hoped the inquest would lead to changes in the law.
Ambulance Tasmania chief executive Nicole Ashworth told the inquest several paramedics were still unable to return to work.
She said the effects of the day were still being felt.
“I don’t think anything Ambulance Tasmania did or didn’t do on the day was going to change the outcome,” Ashworth said.
The jumping castle’s operator, Rosemary Gamble, was found not guilty of breaching workplace safety laws in 2025.
The inquest runs until Thursday, with more hearings in November and February.
