Hillcrest Primary School Jumping Castle Tragedy: Six Children Remembered Ahead of Tasmania Inquest
Hillcrest Primary School Jumping Castle Tragedy: Six Children Remembered Ahead of Tasmania Inquest
Hillcrest Primary School Jumping Castle Tragedy: Six Children Remembered Ahead of Tasmania Inquest
The community of Devonport, Tasmania, is mourning the deaths of six children who lost their lives in the devastating Hillcrest Primary School jumping castle accident on December 16, 2021. Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt, all aged 11 or 12, died after a powerful wind event lifted an inflatable jumping castle and several inflatable balls into the air during end-of-year celebrations. Three other children were seriously injured.
The tragedy unfolded during what was supposed to be a joyful final school celebration before Christmas. Instead, families, classmates, teachers, emergency responders and the wider Devonport community were left devastated. Tributes appeared outside Hillcrest Primary School as the scale of the loss became clear, with six young lives taken in an instant.
Nearly five years later, the circumstances surrounding the children’s deaths are again coming under scrutiny as a coronial inquest begins in Devonport on September 21, 2026, with further hearings scheduled. The inquiry is expected to examine inflatable equipment safety, weather monitoring, risk assessments, supplier selection, the role of Tasmania’s education department, and the regulation and inspection of such devices. The inquest follows criminal proceedings against Rosemary Anne Gamble, who was found not guilty in June 2025 of failing in her workplace health and safety duty.
For the families, the inquest represents another painful chapter in the aftermath of a tragedy that cannot be undone. Chace, Jalailah, Zane, Addison, Jye and Peter continue to be remembered not merely as victims of a terrible accident, but as children whose lives mattered deeply to their families, friends and community. Their memory remains woven into Devonport and Tasmania, while the upcoming proceedings seek answers and lessons that could help prevent another loss of this kind.
