A SPECIAL council meeting on Wednesday heard plans to offer ongoing assistance to a grieving community.
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The deaths of three children and their parents have hit the Lockhart and Urana shires hard.
Lockhart mayor Peter Yates staged the special council meeting to end what he described as a horrible 24 hours.
Kim Hunt, 41, and her three children Fletcher, 10, Mia, 8, and Phoebe, 6, were found shot dead at their property "Watch Hill" on Tuesday afternoon, while husband and father 44-year-old Geoff Hunt's body was located in a dam at 2.15pm the following day.
The meeting developed plans to assist those affected by the tragedy, including St Joseph's School - where the children were in year four, two and kindergarten - and the wider community.
"I believe talking and getting this out is important," Councillor Yates told the media.
"I encourage people to talk to their neighbours about their troubles.
"Lockhart is a small community of 900 people where everyone knows each other.
"They work together and play together.
"There's no doubt the community has been scarred by what's gone on."
Cr Yates encouraged people to talk to one another and described farming conditions as tough, but not catastrophic.
He said council would offer counsellors and facilities as required.
Mr Hunt was a third-generation mixed crop farmer and Mrs Hunt a nurse at Wagga Base Hospital, and nurse and clinical nurse educator at Lockhart Multi Purpose Service.
Urana mayor Patrick Bourke said the impact of the tragedy reverberated throughout the adjacent shire.
"They were a really beautiful family," he said.
"Words couldn't describe how sad it is.
"They were very involved in the community, involved in all the sports and very happy-go-lucky people."
Councillor Bourke said Urana schools briefed students yesterday, given its close proximity to Lockhart and the children played AFL and danced together.
"It's total devastation right through the communities," Cr Bourke said.
"It's our neighbouring shire and affects a long distance.
"They've had a lot of hard times in terms of the rehabilitation of the mum, she was really bowing ahead."
Mrs Hunt made a miraculous recovery after she sustained critical head injuries in a 2012 car accident.
