Canberra, Dec 19 (IANS): Eight children as young as 18 months to 15 years were found stabbed to death at a house in Australia's Cairns city Friday, with neighbours saying they heard the kids screaming in the morning.

People living around the house were heard shouting and screaming coming from the residence of the victims around 10 a.m., The Cairns Post reported.

The incident, which occurred in Murray Street in the suburb of Manoora in Cairns, was described by Prime Minister Tony Abbott as "heartbreaking".

According to neighbours, they (kids) occasionally held parties but they were not rowdy and they were considered good neighbours.

Meanwhile state emergency service volunteers have begun erecting tarps around the fence line of the property to obscure the residence from public viewing.

The bodies of the knifed children came to light when police were called for a woman lying injured in a house. The woman is being questioned by police in what is being labelled a "tragic, tragic event".