Charge sheets laid when he was first arrested also detailed allegations that he would beat his wife if she did not follow his orders to attack their son and daughter.
Judge Grant Fraser did not read the 17-page summary of facts in court.
"I'd be here most of the afternoon," he said.
However, he outlined some of the violence committed by the defendant.
On one occasion, he smashed his son over the head with a broken metal pipe covered in ash and grease then jabbed it at his throat in a stabbing motion.
"I can do this if you want it, if you don't study properly," the man said.
He also mocked the boy over his physical appearance and Judge Fraser said he once made the victim stand there as he plucked every hair from his chin.
The defendant's daughter was similarly targeted.
The court heard how the man would tackle her to the ground and then sit on her, and he once smashed a hole in a wall using her head.
"The reality of this offending is that across three years there was a reign of terror where you engaged in behaviour of coercive power and control," the judge said.
"The levels [you inflicted] were disgraceful and totally unacceptable. Your children were defenceless victims and they should've been protected by their father, not abused."
Police said the family had moved away to a secret location but were still concerned the violent patriarch would track them down once released from jail.
Defence counsel Steven Lack said his client had "essentially lost everything" and though a report assessed him as lacking empathy and insight, the lawyer disputed that.
He asked Judge Fraser to consider a sentence of home detention.
Despite sentence discounts for his lack of previous convictions, attending rehab, spending time on electronically monitored bail and his guilty plea, the judge said prison was the only option.
The defendant was jailed for four years and the judge said the only reason he had not imposed a minimum period of imprisonment was because it had not been requested by the prosecution.
