A MAN was charged today with hacking his wife and two grandchildren to death and badly wounding his daughter in an axe attack that has shocked Australia.

John Walsh, 69, did not enter a plea and was ordered to be held in custody when he appeared in court briefly on three charges of murder and one of attempted murder stemming from yesterdays attack in Cowra, 155 miles west of Sydney.

He will return to court next Monday and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Investigators had few clues to the motive of the attack, which took place in the house where Walsh and his wife Mabel, 52, often looked after their grandchildren - seven-year-old Kevin Hodges and his sister Jaime Hodges, five - while their mother Shelley Walsh, 31, went to work as a police officer.

Gash

Were all at a bit of a loss. We will get to the bottom of it, said New South Wales state police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.

John Walsh was arrested at a motel in the town of Hay, 258 miles west of Cowra, about six hours after the attack, police said.

One can only say that hes bearing up as well as anyone in that situation, defence lawyer Matthew Lees told reporters in nearby Deniliquin where the court hearing occurred.

The childrens mother was allegedly attacked as she returned to the house, and fled to a neighbours home bleeding from a deep gash on the side of her head.

Her estranged husband, Darrell Hodges, said he was devastated by his childrens death, yet the reality of the tragedy had not sunk in.

He said: Im still waiting for someone to come and switch the remote and turn the movie off, because thats what it feels like - someones bad movie."