“I’ve lost a beautiful daughter,” says the elderly man AAP has chosen not to name.

“What for? What has she done?”

He says tears streamed down his face when he and his wife were told their girl was one of eight children found murdered at a house on Murray St in the Cairns suburb of Manoora on Friday morning.

HORROR HOUSE: The street behind the slayings

AS IT HAPPENED: How the tragedy unfolded

Mersane Warria five years ago with baby Rodney, whom she delivered on the side of the road before she could reach hospital.

Mersane Warria, the 37-year-old mother of the other seven children, who were aged between 18 months and 14 years, has been arrested and is under police guard in hospital where she is being treated for stab wounds.

The children’s bodies were found by her 20-year-old son on Friday.

The father said on Saturday his daughter had been staying with the woman, the girl’s aunt, in the Murray St house for about a week.

“(The son) told us that everyone is dead,” he said.

“I said ‘how come you are telling me this’.

“And I was crying and (my wife) was crying, everybody was crying.”

He last saw his daughter the night before she died at a local McDonald’s restaurant where she was eating dinner with friends.

A woman is taken from the scene yesterday. Pic: Channel 7

“I said come with me but she said: ‘Oh no dad, I’m going with my friends, my aunty,’” he told AAP.

The man said he and his wife are now searching for answers.

“What happened?” he said.

“Do you know what happened? Me and my wife we want to know.”

He was shocked by news the aunt may be responsible.

The man said his daughter had spent many weekends and holidays at the house and there had never been problems.

He said Warria had recently decided to turn her life around and was again attending church.

He said his daughter loved her friends, school and reading.

A police officer holds up a bedsheet to shield the scene of horror yesterday. Pic: Channel 7

“When I dropped her at the house a week ago, everyone was happy,” he said.

“The last time I saw her she kissed me. She said she loved me and she asked for $100 which I said I’d give to her on Saturday morning on her birthday.

“My daughter, she was beautiful.”

Eight children murdered: ‘Forgive me’

“DON’T let them take them away from us. God bless us. Forgive me for what I’ll do.”

These were the pleading screams of a woman heard by neighbours at 9pm on Thursday.

At 11:20am the next day, a young man, a 20-year-old brother of the family, walked into a Cairns house to find eight children dead.

Police attend a house in Murray St, Manoora, where eight children were killed.

Police were called to the Murray St, Manoora home to be confronted by a scene so horrifying that their “screams and shouts” for an ambulance could be heard from the street.

The mother of seven of the children, 37-year old Mersane Warria, has now been arrested over the murders. The eighth victim is believed to be Ms Warria’s niece.

In a press conference held on Murray St, Manoora, on Saturday Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said forensics had spent the night trying to piece together the scene.

“Overnight we’ve had our forensic people still in the house, the deceased have been removed from the residence, today we will have our coroner and pathologist conduct their investigations, with the assistance of the family,” Det Inp Asnicar said.

HORROR HOUSE: The street behind the slayings

Aerial view of the Manoora house where eight children were found dead. Pic: Brian Cassey

AS IT HAPPENED: How the tragedy unfolded

“The 37-year-old mother of several of the children involved in this incident has been arrested for murder overnight and is currently under police guard at the Cairns Base Hospital.

“The bodies have been removed from the residence, autopsies will occur today and it will be after that, we can comment on those sorts of things (causes of death).”

Det Inp Asnicar said forensice officers are looking for DNA and mapping the scene to establish what happened.

“We’re looking (at) time chronology, they’re (forensics) looking for the order of the actions that occurred, they’re looking for any trace evidence in the residence itself, they’re looking for blood spatter patterns,” he said.

“All of these things our experts are trained to look for, to establish 100 per cent exactly what happened in that house when these offences were committed.”

Aerial view of the Manoora house where eight children were found dead. Pic: Brian Cassey

Police have found a number of weapons in the home.

“We’ve located a number of weapons, once again our very good scientists will be looking at those weapons at some stage we will be able to determine if we have the weapon that was used.

“We are talking about edged weapons, knives.”

Det Insp Asnicar said the house would remain a crime scene “for at least another couple of days”.

“It’s not a thing I set a time limit on, our forensic people are experts in this field and they will keep it, just as long as they need to keep it.”

At this time police are not looking for any other suspects.

“We are comfortable that the community at large is safe and have no need for concern,” he said.

The street where the horrific murders occurred was not especially known to police as an area that gets a lot of calls.

People believed to be relatives of the victims grieve at the scene in Cairns yesterday.

“This area does get calls for service, this particular house hasn’t been flagged for particular calls of service, it’s not a problem house, it’s just an ordinary neighbourhood, a lot of good people, a lot of kids in the area.

“This is just something that has caught everybody by surprise, it’s an absolute tragic event.”

The 20-year-old brother who was seen at the scene yesterday has been spoken to by police.

“That 20-year-old man, there’s been some speculation there too, he is not of particular interest to us.”

The mother was in a stable condition in hospital recovering from stab wounds.

“At the current time she is awake and lucid and able to speak.”

The officers who faced the horrendous scene yesterday have undergone counselling.

“My officers are coping very well, they’re all professional people, they’re very skilled in what they do and we unfortunately get exposed to this type of thing more than anybody would like to, but all the support mechanisms are there in place for us and my staff and they’ll be fine.”

People believed to be relatives of the victims grieve at the scene after eight children were found dead.

Acting Premier Tim Nicholls said the collective heart of the government goes out to the family, friends and community after the tragic deaths of eight children.

“As a father myself I can only imagine the grief,” Mr Nicholls said.

“From the entire government, our hearts go out to the families, friends and the community, for what we have seen happened here.

“I’m sure people throughout Queensland join with me in expressing, both our sorrow and regret and our heartfelt sorrow, at how terrible these events are at a time when we’re thinking of our families.

“I think it just makes us want to hold those we love, just that bit closer to us.”

When a mother lost it all

THE sounds of a woman pleading for forgiveness were heard coming from a Cairns home where eight children were found murdered.

A distressed woman is accompanied by police they attend a house in Murray St Manoora in Cairns where eight children were found dead. Pic: Stewart McLean

Senior police on Saturday announced Mersane Warria, also known as Raina Thaiday, had been arrested for her alleged involvement in one of the worst mass murders in Australia’s history.

Her seven children and niece were killed

HORROR HOUSE: The street behind the slayings

AS IT HAPPENED: How the tragedy unfolded

The woman remains in Cairns Hospital with serious injuries and will undergo a mental health assessment.

The children’s 20-year-old brother alerted authorities after discovering the gruesome scene at their house on Murray St, Manoora, about 11.20am yesterday.

Onlookers near the Cairns home where eight children were found dead. Pic: Marc McCormack

Neighbours reported hearing a woman screaming in a mixture of English and Torres Strait Creole, a native language of Islanders.

About 9pm on Thursday a woman was heard screaming: “Don’t let them take them away from us. God bless us. Forgive me for what I’ll do.”

Another neighbour, Tahnia Ruttensteiner, had seen the mother lugging personal possessions from her home to her front yard on Thursday, saying she was going to “make a new start”.

“She was having a bad night; I heard her fighting with someone this morning about 4am,’’ she said.

“I last saw her about 6am, then it was quiet.

“I saw her moving stuff out of the house yesterday.

“She was putting furniture and stuff out the front on the street, giving stuff away to family and friends.

“She said she was changing her life. She wasn’t well but she loved those kids.”

Last night Far Northern Region Acting Chief Superintendent Russell Miller said the mother was a person of interest in relation to the deaths of her seven children and niece.

Grief-stricken family and friends broke down at the edge of the crime scene yesterday.

A vigil was held last night to pay tribute to the young victims and help a tight-knit community deal with the shock.

About 12 detectives and specialist officers have been flown in to help local police investigate the tragedy.

A mobile police facility has been established on the street and forensic officers scoured the house for evidence.

Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said yesterday investigators were yet to enter the crime scene to begin determining exactly what had taken place.

“With any crime of this magnitude, and particularly one of the nature that this one is, the scene is locked down,” Insp Asnicar said.

“I haven’t been in the scene, and nobody has been in that scene other than our forensic people.

“They will remain there until they’ve completed their investigations and examinations. After that time investigators will go in and start their investigative process from there.”

Because officers were still unable to access the crime scene, Insp Asnicar was unable to offer insight into how the deaths occurred.

“We’re being assisted by the coroner up here and a local pathologist,” he said.

“But until the deceased are removed and post mortems are carried out, there’s no way that we could confirm that.”

THEY were eight beautiful kids who brought joy to all who knew them – and their loss has left a soul-destroying pain.

Eight children, the youngest barely 18 months old and the oldest just 14, killed in their home where they should have been safe, a week before Christmas.

“They were beautiful children with beautiful souls. They were very respectful and they were such joys,” a family member told The Courier-Mail. “Everyone’s devastated and shocked by it all. Words can’t express.”

As members of the large family gathered near the Manoora home yesterday, the relative said they had seen the mother of seven of the slain children last week.

“She was very happy and her usual self,” she said.

Messages of inexplicable grief flowed on social media yesterday, with one family member calling on God to give the family strength.

Relatives painted a picture of a loving Torres Strait Island brood who had returned to live in the street around two years ago.

A family member said she could barely comprehend the loss of their eight angels.

“We still don’t know what’s gone on, what’s happened,” she said.

Cousin Lisa Thaiday said the extended family was very close. “I just can’t believe it. We just found out (about) those poor babies,” she said.

Their mother avoided painkillers while giving birth to all her children and in 2009 delivered one of her youngest sons in the back of an ambulance, two blocks from the Cairns Base Hospital, according to a Cairns Post article at the time.

It was the mum’s second baby born in the back of an ambulance after delivering a baby in the emergency department parking lot in 2006. She had also given birth at home in 2004 by herself.

- Brittany Vonow, Kate McKenna, Scott Forbes

* If you need help, national 24/7 crisis services include: Lifeline 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800, MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78