Police arrested a 37-year-old woman on Saturday morning for the stabbing deaths of eight children in Cairns, Far North Queensland.

Police were called to a home on Murray Street on Friday at 11:20 a.m. local time following reports of a woman with serious injuries.

During an examination of the residence police discovered the bodies of eight children, between the ages of 18 months and 15 years. The woman arrested is the mother of many of the dead children. She is under police guard at the Cairns Base Hospital, police said.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported seven of the children were siblings and the eighth child is a niece of the woman arrested.

A Mobile Police Facility was established, and officers from the Cairns Criminal Investigation Branch, Child Protection and Investigation Unit, Scenes of Crime and Scientific section are conducting an investigation and examination of the scene.

Police said they found "a number of weapons" which helped determine the arrest.