BRISBANE — A manhunt is underway in northern Australia after three people were killed and another critically injured in a shooting on a remote property.

The shooting happened on Thursday morning local time on a cattle farm at Bogie in Queensland, authorities said.

Queensland Police have locked down an area surrounding the property as they search for the "killer or killers".

The critically injured person - a man - had traveled "many, many kilometers" to raise the alarm, officers said.

The man suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen and was flown to a hospital in the city of Mackay to undergo emergency surgery.

"At this stage, we are at very, very early stages of this investigation," Supt Tom Armitt told the media.

"We do not know who is responsible."

The victims have not been identified but are believed to be relatives of the injured man, said Supt Armitt.

"Originally when the male person spoke to us, he was obviously in a distressed state," he said.

Bogie - about 1,200km (745 miles) north of Brisbane - is home to around 200 people.

Australia has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, introduced after a lone gunman murdered 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania in 1996.

Since then, there have been only three mass shootings - defined in Australia as those resulting in at least four deaths, excluding the perpetrator.

Supt Armitt described Thursday's shooting as an "extremely rare event". — BBC