SYDNEY, Sept. 10  -- Police on Wednesday are searching for a man after his wife and three children were found shot dead at a countryside property in southern Australia.

The bodies of Kim Hunt, son Fletcher, 10, and two daughters Mia, 8, and Phoebe, 6, were found at a farmhouse near Lockhart, in southern New South Wales on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said the children were found inside the property while their 41-year-old mother was found on a path at the back of the house.

"While a post mortem will be conducted to formally establish the cause of their deaths, they are believed to have all suffered gunshot wounds," a police statement said.

Police searched the area for the missing father, identified as Geoff Hunt, 44, after his pick-up truck was found abandoned near a dam.

Police said divers would search the dam and other waterways today.