One of the first vessels to be lost in the Western District was the wooden barque Children, a coastal trader owned by the Henty family of Portland. The Children was wrecked on 14 January 1839 when the vessel ran ashore in hurricane-force winds at the entrance to Childers Cove, 30 km west of Peterborough, to the east of Warrnambool on Victoria's Shipwreck Coast. The Children broke up within 30 minutes, sweeping sixteen of those on board to their deaths. After eleven days, the survivors, all of whom were injured, were rescued and taken to Portland.

Much of the ruins of the Children has been destroyed by the constant movement of the sea beneath the cliffs. The exact date of the wreck's discovery is not known, and skeletons have been found exposed in shifting sands at Childers Cove. The Children was declared a Historic Shipwreck in 1982.

The hull structure has broken up, leaving few visible remains, except for piles of house bricks intended for the Henty's at Portland.

Dive Type: Wreck Dive

Imported from The Scuba Doctor