Ten days before his tragic death in a fiery Queensland highway crash that also killed his mum and three siblings, the youngest victim told his dad he loved him for the first time.
Charmaine Harris McLeod, 35, and her children Aaleyn, 6, Matilda, 5, Wyatt, 4, and Zaidok, 2, died after their station wagon slammed into an oncoming truck south of Kingaroy on Monday night.
The children's distraught father James McLeod has described his last visit with the beautiful souls, who he says were loved by everyone who knew them.
He told the Courier-Mail on Wednesday it was during this last visit that his youngest son Zaidok told him he loved him for the first time.
"Young Zaidok - he was just a little adventurer. A loving and kind kid," Mr McLeod told the newspaper.
"The last supervised visitation I had with them, not last Saturday but the Saturday beforehand, he actually said that he loves me, daddy, to me. Just out of the blue.
"They were beautiful, intelligent, bright, smart kids."
Bayside Christian Church assistant pastor Peter Ford first met Ms McLeod when she was a teenager in Hervey Bay.
He remembers her as an active church member, who was the driving force behind a decade-old community barbecue event on Christmas day for people without family and friends.
"In her younger days, she also worked with Youth In Search, which is a Queensland-wide organisation," he told AAP.
"She really wanted to help others and the community - she had a heart for that."
Pastor Ford said he spent the past day consoling shocked members of 700-strong church community after news broke of the family's tragic deaths.
Paramedics had to fight their way through flames and smoke to reach the vehicle, which was set ablaze along with the truck on Bunya Highway, just south of Kingaroy.
They managed to pull out one of the girls who'd suffered horrific burns, but there was nothing they could do to save the others who died there.
The girl who was pulled from the car made it to hospital but died while on a rescue flight bound for Brisbane.
The truck driver was injured but managed to free himself as the blaze spread to surrounding grass.
Police believe the children's mum was trying to overtake when her car slammed head-on into the truck, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
They were calling on Wednesday for any witnesses who might have seen the accident or have dashcam footage to help them piece together exactly what happened.
Forensic testing was also underway on Wednesday to formally identify the family.
"I just wish this wasn't true," Libby Fox wrote on a GoFundMe page to help raise $30,000 to pay for the funerals.
Some $7700 had been donated by 232 people on Wednesday afternoon.
"My deepest sympathy and condolences for the loss of a beautiful mum and her four angel children," Ms Fox wrote.
