by Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB

News coverage has been uncharacteristically sparse about a child who, it is said, was “thrown” from an amusement ride in Australia. Eight-year-old Adelene Leong, who was visiting from Malaysia, attended Adelaide’s Royal Show (which is like a county fair) on September 12, 2014. The media announced that she died later that day, in hospital.

If I were a reporter for Adelaide’s main newspaper, The Advertiser (Rupert Murdoch’s very first paper), I would be mulling over many questions in regard to the tragic accident. I’d ask:

When did this girl enter Australia? Has she any siblings? When did her family first make the plan to holiday in Oz? Do they have any past association with the city of Adelaide? Such details are usually furnished with a local human-interest story, but, three weeks after the episode, nothing of that nature has been mentioned.

The only snippet that has been quoted in the press about Adelene’s mother is that she provided police with a photo taken earlier that day, and that she called her child “my lovely, beautiful, wonderful little angel of my heart.”

We wonder: Was the fateful Airmaxx 360 the first ride Adelene chose that day? Had she any past experience of going on scary rides? Did her mother feel apprehensive about letting an 8-year-old do this? Did she buckle her daughter into the seat? Once Adelene was riding, did the mother’s eyes stay trained on her daughter?

The News Coverage So Far

The following was stated by ABC News of September 17:
“Chief Inspector Selena Dinning said police hoped someone could provide valuable clues about what went wrong. ‘In particular we are keen to hear from anyone who may have taken photographs or video footage of the ride involved, the Airmaxx 360, in action at the Showgrounds on Friday,’ she said. ‘We are also keen to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time of this tragic incident [hundreds of people were there] or anyone who experienced anything unusual on the ride.’”

Hmm. Who owns the Airmaxx 360? Normally, when there is a notorious accident, we learn the names of all parties. Did this operator think there was any risk of children falling? Does he carry liability insurance? How is his insurance policy worded? Has he ever been sued? Did he run any of Adelaide’s rides in past years? It seemed that TV reporters didn’t want to know.

There were comments from witnesses. At 5.27pm, i.e., five hours after the accident, The News told us of three who did not see it happen but saw the aftermath. I quote:

“Brandon Taylor, 16, who was one of the first witnesses on the scene, said: ‘We just saw someone lying on the ground. She had a face full of blood. She looked like she was in a pretty critical condition.’ [Was she moving? Was she crying?] Another witness, who did not want to give her name, said she saw the incident unfold while on a neighbouring ride. ‘I was looking back and I could see someone lying on the ground and people with towels,’ she said. It happened so quickly. One second it was fine and the next it was not.’ [Wouldn’t it have taken more than a second for the towel-bearing helpers to be fetched to the scene?] Emily Furno, 13, saw the injured girl being taken from the scene. ‘She was bleeding everywhere,’ she said. ‘She didn’t look too good. Everyone who saw the accident was in shock.’”

Everyone? Who actually did see the accident? Other than, possibly, Adelene’s mother, there was one person who saw it taking place. According to The News: “Witness Malinda Dunwoodie, 17, told The Advertiser she could see that the ride’s safety harness was still down but it looked as if the girl had slipped out of her seat. ‘She was hanging by her legs off the ride, trying to block herself. She went flying through the air about 10-15m up in the air and I started sprinting towards her,’ Ms Dunwoodie said. ‘I was shaking so much, she looked like a doll flying through the air. It was so shocking -- it was like a horror movie. I didn’t see her land in the crowd but when I made it over to her I couldn’t see her eyes moving and her nose was bloodied. Everyone was screaming.’”

How did The News locate eyewitness Dunwoodie? It would be good to get an explanation of what she means by saying that Adelene was “trying to block herself.” And if, as it sounds, the child slipped, and was hanging by her legs, that’s not quite the same as what every headline mentioned: “flung” or “thrown.”

Ms Dunwoodie indicates that the child “landed in the crowd.” Was the Airmaxx 360 so irresponsibly designed that it could eject a person to land outside the ride area, where numerous passersby could get injured?

One more commentator was brought into the otherwise sparse news coverage. The Australian (online) on the very evening of the event, September 12, quoted Tim Williams, apparently a reporter. He said: “The day before the Show opened last week, I was assigned the job of testing some of the rides with some kids from Urrbrae High. The first ride we hopped on was the Airmaxx 360”. ‬ (Did he have official blessing of the Urrbrae school principal? Does he do this sort of testing regularly?) Williams is quoted thusly:

“As the tentacles of this mutant octopus of a sideshow throws you around, while raising you from low to high, you can’t help your legs from swinging out in front of you -- or at least I couldn’t. It seemed that my feet were getting awfully close to hitting the light posts around the edge of the ride that illuminate it at night. … At least there is some brief respite as the ride slows to a halt, only to change its direction and fling you around backwards. The teenage girls from Urrbrae who rated each ride said the Airmaxx 360 was the most fun, but not too frightening.”

We may have to await the coroner’s report, due out in December, to learn the actual cause of death. One wonders if any assistance was provided to the bereaved mother. Did the child have a burial in Australia, or was the body taken home? Malaysia has special ties to the city of Adelaide, so there may have been some gesture of diplomatic involvement. Again, though, we didn’t get to hear about any of this.

As is typical, the press coverage was sensational and unnerving. All the locals must be feeling distressed about the event – though this fact itself is not getting a public airing! At the very least the whole thing is quite a blow to Adelaide. The Royal Show, celebrating its 175th year, fulfills many missions: it connects country to city; it allows amateurs to display their produce and crafts; it lets the young have some exposure to what their grandparents liked, not least the wood chopping competition, equestrian events, and the free samplings of honey.

The Royal Show is a wholesome, family outing at which, traditionally, you can leave all your cares at the door. This year’s freak accident is bound to cast a long shadow over future Shows.

Mary W Maxwell lives in Adelaide. She has sampled the honey.