The families of two Hillcrest tragedy survivors have engaged a boutique personal injury law firm in New South Wales to begin developing a court case for compensation.
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The two children were among nine who were playing on a jumping castle and Zorb balls that were flung into the air by a gust of wind at an end-of-year celebration at Hillcrest Primary School last December.
Six children were killed in the incident, and three were injured.
The firm is Sydney-based Stacks Goudkamp, owned and headed by Tom Goudkamp OAM, a lawyer with four decades of experience.
"I was absolutely horrified by the tragedy," Mr Goudkamp said on Thursday.
"It was world wide news. Then I received a call from the mother of one of the children. She must have seen our website and reached out to me."
He said that initial contact had eventually lead him to another family, and that he would be acting for both cases.
Mr Goudkamp said he had already contacted both the Tasmanian Department of Education and the company that operated the jumping castle, and had put out a call for any witnesses from the day.
"We don't know yet what the case will look like," he said.
"We're looking for witnesses at the moment to find out what conditions were like on the day. We're trying to get to the bottom of it and speak to as many eyewitnesses as possible."
The lawyer said he was committed to being involved in the coronial inquest, but would begin his own investigations in the meantime.
"To suggest it was a freak incident ... is just ridiculous. It's certainly not an act of God. The most important thing for us is to establish that this tragedy could have been prevented."
He said he was only working on behalf of two families so far, but was expecting to be contacted by more.
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The process of compensation is often lengthy and complex, and Mr Goudkamp explained that this case would depend on the ongoing impacts, some of which might not be known until years into the future.
The government declined to answer questions about the case.
"A coronial investigation and a WorkSafe investigation is ongoing into the tragic incident that occurred at Hillcrest Primary School in December," a government spokesperson said.
"While these processes are underway, the government is unable to answer specific questions relating to the incident.
"The government continues to be in regular contact with the families and financial support is available to them."
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