Rosemary Gamble was the operator of Taz-Zorb, which set up inflatable equipment on the oval of Hillcrest Primary School in northwest Tasmania for end-of-year celebrations on December 16, 2021.
Students Addison Stewart, Chace Harrison, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Peter Dodt and Zane Mellor died when a freak dust devil wind gust lifted the castle into the air.
Ms Gamble told an inquest on Thursday she wasn't aware of formal national standards governing land-borne inflatable devices.
She purchased the castle from Chinese company East Inflatables in 2015. She said it didn't come with an instruction manual but she downloaded a general one off their website.
Ms Gamble said she had no formal training when she set up Taz-Zorb in 2012, but did a "lot of looking on the internet" after getting the castle.
"Googling, YouTube, going to places where inflatables were being used … and seeing what they did with them," she said while giving evidence to the inquest via videolink from Devonport Magistrates Court.
On the day of the tragedy, the castle was tethered with pegs in four of its eight anchor points.
Ms Gamble said four pegs were supplied with the castle by East Inflatables, but she didn't find it odd that the number didn't match the tether points.
Taz-Zorb sometimes used more than four pegs to set up the castle, depending on wind and the condition of the ground, she said.
"Because we got the four pegs with the jumping castle I assumed … four pegs was adequate," she said.
Ms Gamble agreed Taz-Zorb's system of tethering wasn't based on any instruction manual in her possession.
She was shown guidelines from Safe Work Australia which stated inflatable devices should be "secured and anchored with anchor points provided" according to manufacturer instructions.
She was asked if a sensible reading of that advice now meant all eight points should have been used.
"Looking at that now, after what has happened, yes," Ms Gamble said.
She said she consulted some standards, including from Safe Work Australia and WorkSafe Tasmania, after purchasing the castle.
However, she said she was unaware of guidelines by Standards Australia for the use of land-borne inflatable devices.
The body is described as the nation's leading independent organisation for developing standards, although it doesn't regulate or enforce them.
She didn't operate the castle if winds were forecast to be more than 25km/h and had in the past called off events if the weather was too severe.
"I was very safety conscious. I was very aware of what wind could do," Ms Gamble said.
Information on the Bureau of Meteorology website and an anemometer were used by Taz-Zorb to monitor wind levels before and during an event, she said.
Witnesses have said the weather was calm on the oval in the lead-up to the tragedy before a wind gust came out of nowhere and picked up the castle.
The inquest, which began in September, continues on Friday and will hold further hearings in February.
Ms Gamble was cleared of criminal workplace health and safety breaches in relation to the tragedy in 2025.
The magistrate ruled she could have done more to secure the castle, but extra efforts wouldn't have made a difference to the eventual outcome.
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