Alana Pickering and Nicholas Smith spotted two brothers in trouble between Merri Island and Middle Island.

The boys were exploring the shallows when they were swept into deeper waters.

Miss Pickering swam to the assistance of one of the brothers.

Mr Smith then went to help the other brother who had slipped off the rock shelf between the islands.

They pulled the pair back to shore.

Mr Smith said the two children were shaken by the incident.

“They were swimming and everything was fine, then one of them started yelling for help,” he said.

“We thought they were just mucking around, but we saw one of them screaming for help as he climbed onto a rock to hold onto it.”

He said the boys’ father came to help get one of his sons out of the water, while the mother watched on from the shoreline.

“It’s just a reminder to keep an eye on your kids,” Mr Smith said.

Middle Island has been closed to the public since 2006 to protect penguin burrows from human trampling which can harm penguins, penguin chicks and eggs. 

Cheryl Burrell, 54, her son Shane Burrell, 31, her daughter Jo-anne Wright, 25, and her children Cody, 7, and Tahneisha, 5, all of Ballarat, drowned when they were washed out to sea by powerful swells at Middle Island 11 years ago.

Three young children, Ashleigh, Chloe and Zoe Burrell, were saved by surf lifesavers, a surfer and a fisheries officer.

In 2015 a father and two children were rescued from rising tides in Stingray Bay.

Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club captain and Warrnambool City councillor David Owen said the area could look calm.

“It can look so decieving, to say the least,” he said.

“It may look calm, but it has a lot of surprises. There is a lot of surges as the Merri River cutting goes out between the two islands.”

He said the area was not patrolled by life savers.

“It is most important to swim between the flags,” he said.

“It may look safe but there is a lot of activity and tidal surges.

“We can’t set up a patrol out there.”