Grieving members of a small rural community have gathered to honour the lives of two boys whose deaths are being treated as a double murder.
Brothers Max and Sam, aged seven and six, were found dead at a semi-rural property on the outskirts of Coonabarabran in northwest NSW.
Their 66-year-old maternal grandmother Kathleen Heggs is expected to face serious charges over their deaths.
The Coonabarabran community gathered for a vigil in Neilson Park near the Castlereagh River on Friday night, with a smoking ceremony and communal meals.
A tree was to be planted for each boy along with a ceremonial presentation of the karate students' yellow belts.
Warrumbungle Shire councillor Kodi Brady told AAP he hoped the vigil would help the community cope with the tragedy.
"It's a really important part, to take the community on the stepping stone of healing from the shock of the incident to another step forward in the grief and loss process," he said.
"We can stand together and all the community can feel they're not alone.
"We're a small rural town, there is such a ripple effect ... it has impacted the whole community."
The death of children at any time is tragic but particularly so in circumstances where it appeared it was not an accident, local Barwon MP Roy Butler told AAP.
"The loss of those two young boys, it's just a dreadful, dreadful situation," he said.
"The kids were heavily involved in the town, in karate and other sports.
"Aside from their schoolmates and teachers who would be reeling from the news, there's a lot of other kids ... who would be feeling it pretty deeply."
Two junior police officers went to the home, about 10km from the centre of the farming town, after a message sent to the communities and justice department triggered an emergency response on Monday afternoon.
They broke into the home to find the boys' bodies in separate bedrooms, while their grandmother was nearby after trying to harm herself.
She was arrested and taken to hospital before being transferred to a mental health facility in Orange.
The family moved from the NSW Central Coast to the quiet rural estate about 11 months ago.
Welfare concerns prompted the boys to be placed in the care of their grandmother by the department.
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