Overview
- A sudden wind gust on December 16, 2021 lifted a jumping castle and other inflatables at Hillcrest Primary School and killed six students during end‑of‑year celebrations.
- The inquest, sitting in Devonport this week with further blocks scheduled for November 2026 and February 2027, is fact‑finding and may make preventive recommendations separate from past criminal rulings.
- Magistrate Robert Webster found Taz‑Zorb owner Rosemary Gamble not guilty in June 2025 after concluding the 'dust devil' was effectively unpredictable, but the coronial process will re‑examine evidence such as only four of eight anchor points being used.
- Witnesses and officials told the court that the school oval was a known windy site, the wind event formed suddenly, and the inflatable was carried across the oval distances reported up to dozens of metres.
- The emergency response triggered a code brown at Mersey Community Hospital, hospital staff struggled to identify some injured children which delayed family notifications, and the Tasmanian Health Service and Ambulance Tasmania have since introduced new identification and patient‑information protocols.