Noosa Pengari Steiner School principal Allen Kloeden said the student had woken from his coma.
"While his recovery will take some time, the whole school community was gladdened by this."
Students from the school, including five who had been in New Zealand on a seven-day hiking trip and had only arrived back in Australia late Sunday night, held a ceremony on Monday to honour teacher Andre Vogel and 16-year-old Gabriel Runge who were killed in the crash. Their bodies were transferred to a Rotorua funeral home before being flown back to Australia.
A bridge being constructed at the school was expected to be completed by the end of the week and would be named "Gabby's Bridge", in Gabriel's memory as he had helped build it.
The school had been overwhelmed by gifts and messages of support which had come from Australia and overseas.