Huckleberry fined $250,000 after students drown on Fraser Island

Families of two students who drowned at Lake McKenzie have opened up on their heartbreaking regret as a Queensland tour company has been fined $250,000.

Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island. Photo: Ethan Cole

A Queensland tour company has been fined $250,000 after a guided group tour at K’gari (Fraser Island) with international students turned into tragedy.

Huckleberry Australia pleaded guilty to failing to comply with its work health and safety duty after the two 16-year-old students drowned on its watch at Lake McKenzie in 2019.

The two boys, Taiki Mizuno and Shinnosuke Kimura, from Japan’s Kanagawa high school, were among a group of 15 students and two teachers staying at the Kingfisher Bay Resort for an ecotour exchange program.

A decision was handed down in the Magistrates Court of Queensland last week.

The court was told that on March 29, 2019, the group went on a guided tour where the students were allowed to swim in the freshwater lake unsupervised, despite surrounding signs advising them not to.

A short time later a group photo was taken and the students noticed the two boys were missing.

Their bodies were found in the lake by police divers the following morning.

According to court documents, Huckleberry should have known of or identified the risk and hazard and implemented reasonably practicable controls to eliminate or minimise the risks.

“Huckleberry failed in its duty to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of other persons was not put at risk from the work carried out as part of the conduct of the business,” the court finding read.

Aerial view of Lake McKenzie located on K'gari (Fraser Island)

“The reasonably practicable control measure that Huckleberry could have implemented was advising participants that, while on their study tours, they were prohibited from engaging in the activity of swimming.

“The failure of Huckleberry to comply with its duty exposed individuals, including Masters Taiki Mizuno and Shinnosuke Kimura, to a risk of death or serious injury.”

The family submitted heartbreaking victim impact statements to the court.

Hiroshi Mizuno, father of Taiki Mizuno, said he charged his son’s phone everyday so that the battery did not go dead.

“Time has stood still for this gentleman and his family,” Magistrate John Costanzo said.

“Taiki wanted to become a doctor one day because of the painful experience at age 13 of losing his mother to cancer and he studied hard to achieve that goal, having a strong desire to save as many people as possible from cancer.

“Mr Mizuno regrets trusting the school and apologises to his son every day because as a father he was not able to save his son’s life.”

His son was gentle, polite, serious and followed rules, Mr Mizuno wrote in the statement.

Shinnosuke Kimura’s brother and father also submitted victim impact statements to the court.

Yoshihiro Kimura said he missed the interests he shared with his son in building plastic models and off-road bike riding, and now Shinnosuke’s off-road bike was “sitting quietly” in their garage.

His brother Taro Kimura also shared his grief in a statement.

Lake McKenzie.

“Losing your only sibling is so hard and can’t be expressed in words,” the statement read.

“Why does everyone in my family, including myself, have to spend every day without hope and why do we have to continue living like this?

“I think about this a lot, but I still haven’t found an answer.

Mr Costanzo said Huckleberry had no criminal history and was a good corporate citizen that assisted in the growth of goodwill, cultural exchange and shared experience between Australia and Japanese students.

“I accept Huckleberry provides important services and those services are mutually beneficial to our two nations and their people,” Mr Costanzo said.

“Shared experiences help to build and secure bonds in any type of human relationship.

“Since the deaths, to remedy any deficiency that Huckleberry had in not having written risk assessment manuals or policies, it has engaged an external consultant and it now has a written risk assessment policy.”

Huckleberry was fined $250,000 and ordered to pay costs of $1099.70.

No conviction was recorded.