Tributes flow for five children who died in jumping castle tragedy at Tasmanian primary school

Soft toys and floral tributes are building as mourners gather outside the Devonport primary school where five children died on Thursday after the jumping castle they were on was blown into the air.

Two boys and two girls died in the incident in the northern Tasmanian city, with the gender of the fifth child whose death in hospital was announced by police late last night still unclear.

Flowers, plush toys and candles blanketed the front lawn of Hillcrest Primary School in the northern Tasmanian town of Devonport this morning as locals trickled in to pay their respects.Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

At least four other children remain in hospital, several in critical condition. All the children involved in the tragedy, which struck during a celebration of the final day of the school term, were in years 5 or 6.

Some children injured were in enclosed plastic ‘zorb’ balls during the incident, according to 3AW.

Flowers, plush toys and candles blanketed the front lawn of Hillcrest Primary School in the northern Tasmanian town of Devonport on Friday morning as locals trickled in to pay their respects.

Truck mechanic Nathaniel Whiteley came to the school to lay down some flowers before work. He does not know any children at the school, but he said the tragedy had left the community reeling.

“It’s going to be an unfortunate memory that’s going to be embedded in the school for years. You just can’t take that away,” he said.

Mourners pay tribute to the five children who died at Hillcrest Primary School in Devonport.Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

“My whole heart just sank and I got cold shivers through my body. It’s just so sad to hear.”

Some mourners broke down in tears as they laid their tributes, with others sharing words of appreciation with the handful of police officers watching on from the school grounds.

“You’re doing a great job,” one mourner said.

A police and WorkSafe investigation is underway into the incident, which occurred about 10am on Thursday when the castle lifted about 10 metres into the air. It is unclear how many children were playing on the inflatable castle at the time.

April Norris, who lives in Devonport, visited the primary school where the tragedy occurred on Friday morning.Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

Devonport local April Norris struggled to hold back the tears as she placed a small bunch of purple flowers on the front lawn of Hillcrest Primary School, saying she was going to hug her granddaughter tighter today.

“I’m going to go see my granddaughter and I’m just going to hug her, I’m just going to hug her. You just gotta,” she said.

Ms Norris, who knew some families whose kids attend the school, said the tragedy was the hardest thing Devonport had faced but one that would bring the community together.

“It’s a tight community and you just feel the loss for everyone,” she said.

“You just feel like you’ve got to do something. It’s hard. You’re not going to replace what’s happened.”

Tasmanian Police Commissioner Darren Hine said the investigation would take some time to complete, and it would later be passed to the coroner for an inquest.

He said there were unfortunately a number of witnesses to the incident who needed to be interviewed.

“On a day when these children were meant to be celebrating their last day of primary school, instead we’re all mourning their loss,” he said.

“We’re going to be doing everything we possibly can to support the school community and the community at large. There will be counselling available to the wider community and also to the school community.”

Police officers comfort each other at the scene of a tragic jumping castle accident at Hillcrest Primary School in Devonport that left five children dead. Credit:Monte Bovill/ABC News

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, who grew up in the regional city of Devonport, told ABC News Breakfast she once lived behind Hillcrest Primary School.

“We’re all very cliquey down here so it wouldn’t surprise me if those police officers [pictured consoling each other] either knew people that knew those families or they knew them themselves,” she said.

Ms Lambie said she would be travelling to Devonport on Friday from the north-west city of Burnie, around 30 minutes away, in order to “find out what’s going on, on the ground over there”.

Ms Lambie teared up as she reflected on the horror of the situation, describing it as “numbing”, “bloody awful” and “bizarre”.

“They’re not even your own children and you’re just like, oh my goodness, I was just watching those [death toll] numbers go up yesterday afternoon and I thought, ‘you’ve got to be kidding’. It just didn’t seem real at all.”

Several air ambulances were called in to help transport patients to hospital on Thursday, with the jumping castle understood to have ended up 50 metres from where it originally stood after a significant gust of wind.

Tasmania Governor of Tasmania Barbara Baker said in a statement that she shared the state’s “feelings of great sorrow”.

“In a time of tragedy such as this our hearts are with the grieving family members and will remain so,” she said.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told ABC Melbourne he had spoken with local MPs in Tasmania and “everyone is still in shock”.

“I don’t know if there are sufficient words for this tragedy because every Australian’s heart has been broken,” he said.

With Cassandra Morgan

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