Huckleberry tour company in court over student drownings on Fraser Island

A Brisbane tour operator has faced court on work health safety charges after the deaths of two international high school students on Fraser Island.

A Brisbane tour operator has faced court on work health safety charges after the deaths of two Japanese students, while the company‘s director had all charges against him dropped.

Huckleberry Australia Pty Ltd on Thursday pleaded guilty to failing to comply with its work health and safety duty after two 16-year-old Japanese students drowned on its watch at Lake Mckenzie on K’gari (Fraser Island) while on a guided group tour in 2019.

The two boys from Japan‘s Kanagawa high school were part of a group of 15 students and two teachers staying at the Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island as part of an ecotour exchange program.

The court heard that on March 29, 2019, the group went on a guided tour where the students were allowed to swim in the 8m-deep 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.

Two Japanese students died on Fraser Island during a group tour in 2019.

Prosecutor acting on behalf of Queensland Work Health and Safety Tom Ward said as the local tour guide it was Huckleberry‘s responsibility to inform the school and therefore the students not to swim in the lake.

“The defendant had no authority to prohibit swimming but that doesn’t change the fact that the defendant could have instructed,” Mr Ward said.

“They are the local based tour company, they had the knowledge imposed, they are in the unique position to provide the information (about swimming in the lake) and they failed to do so.“

But Mr Ward said his office held no evidence against Hiroyuki Hidaka, Huckleberry‘s sole shareholder, director and secretary, with the charges against dropped.

The court heard that Huckleberry had a longstanding relationship with Kanagawa high school dating back to 2003.

Hiroyuki Hidaka of Huckleberry Australia. Picture: Liam Kidston

The school had hired a subcontractor tour company called JTB to assist with translation during their stay in Australia.

Magistrate John Costanzo questioned why the children were not supervised and how nobody saw the two boys disappear given five adults had been with the students at the time of the drowning.

“There are 15 children and five adults, how hard can it be to supervise when you‘ve got that ratio,” Magistrate Costanzo said.

“Common sense would have also dictated that the five adults remain present while the children are going into the water.. it’s just common sense, you don’t need a law to tell you that.

“Doesn’t everyone know that children need protecting from themselves.”

Barrister representing Huckleberry Yuzo Araki said the company had pleaded guilty on the basis that it “did not hold adequate written risk assessment policies” at the time.

He noted the many changes the tour company had implemented since the 2019 tragedy, including completing an external risk assessment and implementing strict rules that disallowed unsupervised swimming activities or any “informal” or unplanned swimming in the lake.

Mr Araki told the court that Huckleberry had no connection with JTB, the major Japanese travel agency subcontracted by the school.

“All communication was conducted with the school, JTB, (and) JTB onto Huckleberry,” Mr Araki said.

He also said Shinri Minatoya, one of the two school teachers who has been separately charged with failing his health and safety duty by exposing the students to the risk of serious injury and death, was “in charge” of the tour.

The hearing ran past court hours on Thursday evening and due to time and staffing constraints, had to be adjourned to another day when Magistrate Costanzo would be back sitting in Brisbane.

Huckleberry is facing a maximum penalty of $1.5 million however, Mr Ward is seeking a much lower fine ranging between $150,000 and $180,000.