Hillcrest Primary School tragedy inquest begins in Devonport almost five years after six children killed
Almost five years after six children were killed in the Hillcrest Primary School tragedy, their families’ long fight for answers is entering a new chapter.
For almost five years, the families of Peter Dodt, Zane Mellor, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Jye Sheehan, Chace Harrison and Addison Stewart have fought to find answers.
The six Hillcrest Primary School students were killed during end-of-year celebrations in December 2021 when a wind gust lifted a jumping castle and other inflatable items into the air.
On Monday, a long-awaited inquest into the tragedy, in which other students were badly injured, will begin in Devonport in northwest Tasmania.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.It will probe whether there were deficiencies in department of education practices in the lead-up to the incident as well as related national standards.
The scope also includes an examination of weather monitoring, what risk assessments were undertaken and the processes of jumping castle operator Taz-Zorb.
Rosemary Gamble, the owner of Taz-Zorb, was in June 2025 found not guilty of criminal workplace heath and safety breaches.
The court found Ms Gamble could have taken further steps in relation to the castle’s anchorage, but even if she had, it would have made no difference to the outcome.
The “dust devil” wind event was impossible to predict, the court found.
The coroner is open to making different findings to the criminal proceedings.
Zane Mellor’s mother Georgie Burt will be among witnesses to give evidence during the first week of the inquest, which will sit on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
“We’re disappointed in the Tasmanian justice system,” Ms Burt said in June 2025 after the criminal court decision was delivered.
“There is a profound gap between what we know to be true and what the system was willing to recognise.
“This outcome does not reflect the weight of our loss, nor the reality we live with every single day.”
Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar, the head of Ambulance Tasmania, a health service representative and forensic pathologists will also give evidence in week one.
Further hearings are slated later in 2026 and early 2027.
Preparations for the inquest were put on hold because of the criminal proceedings and slowed by a legal dispute between the coroner and workplace regulator over document access.
Representatives from East Inflatables, which supplied the jumping castle to Taz-Zorb, and Ms Gamble were likely to give evidence, preparatory inquest hearings have been told.
Families of the children killed and injured in the incident have launched a separate class action against the state and Taz-Zorb in a bid for compensation.
