A feeling of unease and mistrust gripped the Montagu Campground, west of Smithton, on Monday morning.
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Any unknown vehicle was greeted warily by the camp's caretaker, and any unknown person wandering the grounds was stared down if they approached campers.
Their caution was warranted; the night before, a man unknown to any of the campers had allegedly tried to abduct a small girl.
There is a horrible feeling over the camp.
- Judy Brooks
Judy Brooks has been camped at the oceanside park for the last month with her husband Fred, and said the whole campground got involved in the search when word got around a girl was missing.
"Everyone was saying they couldn't find the little girl, so everyone went looking," Mrs Brooks said.
"We're all one big, happy family down here," Mr Brooks added.
Initially, it was thought the girl may have wandered off on her own.
It was not until another young boy, a friend of the girl's, appeared back at camp and said the girl was with a man that the alarm bells really sounded.
Mrs Brooks said she was eventually found outside the camp's front gate, where children - who are often roaming the grounds on bicycles, kicking footballs - do not normally go.
She said her own family camps at Montagu regularly, and she could not shake a sickened feeling.
"Everyone went to bed early, we all felt sick in the stomach. The sick feeling still hasn't gone away.
"When you've got great-grandkids running around, you think it could have been one of them.
"It was a hell of a shock. There is a horrible feeling over the camp today."
"We were devastated," Mr Brooks added.
Another Smithton man, Kerry Armstrong, said he had been coming to the camp since he was a child.
"I've been coming here for fifty years and this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this happening.
"I used to come down here riding push bikes and running around everywhere. This is the first time."
He said many campers, including the victim's family, had packed up early and left Monday morning.
"That's the really distressing part about it.
"You think you're in a part of the world where you don't need to worry."
Sandy Powell
Court and crime reporter covering the West and North-West of Tasmania for the Advocate.
Court and crime reporter covering the West and North-West of Tasmania for the Advocate.
