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Parents who lost children in Hillcrest Primary School jumping castle disaster recount day of tragedy

Thousands of tributes were left for the six children who lost their lives at Hillcrest Primary School in December.

It was a phone call Tasmanian mother Georgina Gardam will never forget.

Her ex-husband rang to tell her "there are kids dead at the school" their children attended in Devonport in the state's north-west.

Ms Gardam immediately went to Hillcrest Primary and began a frantic search for her son, Zane Mellor.

"I started running around the school screaming, trying to find Zane," she said.

"I couldn't find him anywhere which absolutely traumatised me. 

"I ran down onto the oval and tried to push past the police and a man came up to me and said, 'Georgina Gardam, Zane Mellor's been transported to Latrobe [hospital].'"

Zane Mellor, pictured cuddling a baby, died almost instantly, according to his mother. (Supplied: Georgina Gardam)

Hillcrest Primary School students in grades 5 and 6 were playing on a jumping castle and inside inflatable zorb balls when a gust of wind lifted them into the air.

Witnesses watched as children fell to the ground from a height of about 10 metres, and part of the jumping castle came to rest in a tree.

"Zane died pretty much instantly." 

Peter Dodt, Jalailah Jayne-Marie Jones, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan, and Chace Harrison also died in the tragedy. 

Three other students were injured but survived after spending several days in hospital.

"I didn't get to be with my son when he died and I didn't see him for three days after because he got sent straight to the coroners," Ms Gardam said.

"People think that these kids just fell out of a jumping castle. These kids were beaten up, Zane did not look like himself.

"Zane was absolutely broken. That's all I can say. He didn't look like himself."

'My son was my whole world'

Andrew Dodt first heard about the Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy on the radio and rang the school to check that his son Peter was safe.

"I got told Peter was not involved and he was OK and I had to go get him from the school because they were sending all the kids home," Mr Dodt said.

In reality, Peter had been involved in the incident and was fighting for his life in hospital. 

Mr Dodt was then told his son was being transported to the Royal Hobart Hospital in a helicopter but had been diverted to the Launceston General Hospital for emergency surgery. 

"While he was in there he passed three times and the last time they could not bring him back," Mr Dodt said. 

"I remember every minute of that day and I will for the rest of my life."

"I don't think anything will ever take that pain away for the rest of my life."

Peter Dodt's father says Peter was his "whole world". (Supplied: Andrew Dodt)

Families 'fighting' to get answers about fundraising

More than $1.4 million has been raised for the families of the children who lost their lives or were injured.

The crowdfunding account has now been closed and a public fund has been set up by MyState to ensure transparency and safekeeping of the money.

But the impacted families have not received a single dollar. 

Mr Dodt said the past few months had been tough.

"There has not been enough support at all," he said.

"The money that is being raised in my son's name, we are not getting any of that at all.

"It makes me so wild and boils my blood that they are using my family's tragedy to make money off other people."

"I think it's so wrong how we have to fight to get answers about all of this."

Mr Dodt wants to use the money to move house so he can properly grieve. 

"I am so dead inside and numb. The past few months have been so hard."

In a statement, a GoFundMe spokesperson said: "All donations will go directly to supporting the families impacted by the tragedy."

"We are working closely with the fundraiser organisers and funds are being held safely until we receive final documentation about how they will be distributed," they said.

Tributes left at Hillcrest Primary School following the tragedy. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)

The Devonport City Council also issued a statement to say funds donated directly to the Hillcrest Community Public Fund would be used to support the Hillcrest community and those directly impacted by the tragedy.

"The Hillcrest Community Public Fund Distribution Committee will decide how these funds are distributed fairly and equitably and where they are needed to best support the community," Devonport Mayor Annette Rockliff said.

She is one of five people on the committee who will oversee the release of the government funds.

But Ms Gardam said she felt like she had been left in the dark with no clear answers about when the nine families would receive the promised funds or how they would be distributed. 

"My mental health is at an all-time low, and because there's been absolutely no answers surrounding this money, it feels like something unbelievably dodgy is going on," she said.

"Money's not everything, but it's the moral of things being raised because of my son and it not coming to his family."

Ms Gardam baked cakes for a living, but since her son's death she has been unable to work.

"When you actually have no income anymore and you have two other children to raise, I am petrified of what can happen. Life still goes on, bills still come."

"I just feel like the families have been forgotten about."

"Every morning I wake up and I have to go through the thought processes again that my son is dead and that he died in the jumping castle."

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