Little Emerson Beasley was like a "brother to everyone", so news that the five-year-old was fatally struck by a car his mother was driving has rocked a small Victorian community.
Emerson was walking along Red Cliffs Avenue at Koorlong, near Mildura, when he was hit and killed about 6pm on Tuesday.
He died at the scene.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said paramedics "did everything they could" but Emerson could not be revived.
His mother, a 36-year-old Koorlong woman, continued to help investigators on Wednesday.
Emerson was one of just 45 students attending Koorlong Primary School.
Principal Stuart Pain said the small school community was struggling to come to terms with not seeing Emerson again.
"The kids didn't have a bad word to say about him," Mr Pain told AAP.
"He mixed in with all the kids, he always had different kids around him all the time.
"He was like a brother to everyone," he said.
Extra counselling has been arranged and a letter from Mr Pain has been sent home to parents.
"Our staff is in contact with the family and will work with them to find an appropriate way to remember Emerson in the coming period," the letter says.
The Beasley family is prominent in the Mildura region, owning and managing Thurla Farms which produces wine grapes, almonds, vegetables, fish, livestock and cereals.
Victoria's provisional 2015 road toll stands at 65, compared with 59 at the same time last year.
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