A mother who lost three of her seven children after driving a car into a Melbourne lake came to Australia from South Sudan to escape the war there.
Members of her family and the local South Sudanese community said Akon Guode's first husband died in Sudan.
Her current husband is the father of the four children who were in the Toyota Kluger as it veered off Manor Lakes Boulevard into the lake at Wyndham Vale on Wednesday afternoon.
A makeshift memorial has been created at the scene for the three children and their five-year-old sister, Awel, who remains critically injured.
One-year-old Bol, his four-year-old sister Anger and her twin brother Maudit died.
Thomas Kok, a cousin of the children's father, said the family remained hopeful little Awel will pull through but are devastated by the deaths.
"It's shocked everyone," he said.
Martha Mayola, whose children went to school with the children who died, said the family came to Australia to escape the civil war in South Sudan.
Now the community must be strong to ensure something similar never happens again, she said.
"Our community here may be weak," she told reporters.
"We need to be stronger so we can see someone with problems and help them."
Ms Guode, 35, was speaking with homicide detectives on Thursday.
However, Superintendent Stuart Bateson said police needed the community's help to find out what happened.
"We need to understand their movements yesterday leading up to the incident," he said.
"We understand that there may be some social, cultural and religious implications impacting on the community, but let me reassure you that we will remain respectful of those issues at all times."
Police have now removed the car from the water, its tyres covered in thick mud.
The Major Collisions Unit will examine the vehicle as part of investigations to find out whether the fatal smash was an accident or not.
Close family friend Maciek Nek said the mother, also known as Akon Manaang, came to Australia as a refugee.
"She came here for a better life," he told reporters.
"It's very sad for us, the children is sad ... other children are older."
Leslie Ward-Davies, who lives nearby, said she felt for the woman.
"My heart aches for the mother."
The devastated father of the four children, Joseph Manyang, reportedly made a brief visit to the site of the tragedy in Wyndham Vale.
Mr Manyang's niece, 16-year-old Amani Alier, said the family could do nothing to console the devastated man.
"He's shattered, he couldn't stop crying, his nose was bleeding," the teenager told the Herald Sun newspaper.
"He just dropped when he saw a picture of his son on the wall.
"It's so hard for him to deal with. He loved those kids."
Homicide detectives have reportedly also removed a computer and other items from the mother's home.
