‘She was our world’: Heartbroken mother breaks silence after toddler tragically drowns in regional Victorian dam on Whroo property

The heartbroken mother of toddler who drowned in a dam has remembered her as a “beautiful little cowgirl” who ”lit up the room”.

Aleece Shearer and her two-year-old daughter Mackenzie were visiting a Whroo property, about 160km north of Melbourne, on Sunday morning to tend to some farm animals before heading out to go to the local markets.

Mackenzie was in a secure, fenced-off area, under close supervision from her mother, but in a blink of an eye, as Shearer fed some chickens, she disappeared.

Shearer frantically began searching the property, before finding her daughter unconscious in a dam in a neighbouring property after the toddler managed to climb over a six-foot fence.

Despite her best efforts, Mackenzie could not be saved and died at the scene.

“She just lit up a room, a wild child,” Shearer told 7NEWS.com.au.

“She was just obsessed with her ponies and Bluey and just absolutely loved animals.”

Shearer said Mackenzie was a “typical cowgirl”, who loved horses and agricultural shows and was the “centre of attention everywhere she went” as passersby stopped to comment on her cute cowgirl attire.

The mother-of-one said there was only a four-minute window from when she was standing right next to her daughter and when she vanished.

Shearer said she has been devastated by online comments claiming her daughter mustn’t have been supervised, when that WAS not the truth.

Although she used to be one of the first people to say “how could that happen?”, she said she is now “living the proof”.

“She was being watched. She has gone through multiple fences in four minutes,” she said.

“She hasn’t gone through a gate — she has climbed over a fence that hundreds of kids have been secure behind. It’s six-feet high — it’s camel fences to keep out animals — she has gotten through that.

“It’s more secure than pool fencing.”

A friend has launched a GoFundMe to assist Shearer farewell her daughter as she grapples with the tragedy.

As the community rallies to support the single mother, locals who wish to show their condolences are being asked to do so with tributes of toy horses, sunflowers, and Bluey toys.

Shearer said she wanted her daughter not to be remembered for her death, but for the bright spark she was during her life.

“She needs to be remembered for the beautiful little cowgirl that she is,” she said.

“You wouldn’t have found a more loved and cared for girl.

“She was our world.

“Our 24/7 world.”