Five children in hospital after strong winds pick up two jumping castles
Five children have been taken to hospital after jumping castles were picked up by winds in two separate incidents across Australia on one day.
Posted Sat 5 Sep 2026 at 4:58pmSat 5 Sep 2026 at 4:58pm, updated Sat 5 Sep 2026 at 6:08pmSat 5 Sep 2026 at 6:08pm
Two children were taken to hospital after a jumping castle lifted off the ground in Mount Duneed, Victoria. (AAP: Joe Castro)
Five children have been taken to hospital after jumping castles were picked up by winds in two separate incidents, in Victoria and New South Wales, on one day.
In Banksia, in Sydney's south, NSW Ambulance treated a boy and a girl for head injuries about 1pm, before taking them to Sydney Children's Hospital in a stable condition.
An infant with minor injuries was also hospitalised, and a woman was treated at the scene.
Just hours earlier, in Victoria's south-west, two children were taken to hospital after a jumping castle was lifted into the air, at a birthday party.
Victoria Police said the incident took place at a home in Lower Duneed Road in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, shortly before 11am.
"Two children were thrown from the jumping castle and taken to hospital by road," a spokesperson said.
"A large number of other children also playing on the jumping castle at the time escaped injury."
Ambulance Victoria said a mobile intensive care ambulance and advanced life support paramedics attended the scene.
"Two primary-school-aged children were transported to Geelong University Hospital, a boy and a girl both with upper body injuries in stable conditions," it said in a statement.
In December 2021, six children died and three others were seriously injured after a freak wind lifted a jumping castle into the air at a primary school in Devonport, Tasmania.
A coronial inquest into the Hillcrest tragedy will begin later this month.