Lake Barrington 'beast' sighting spark call for answers

Kentish Mayor Tim Wilson said he had received an image from an anonymous source clearly showing the "Barrington Beast" near the rowing course start line.

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"The old timers used whisper about it. They gave it the name the Barrington Beast. It was an urban legend and I thought nothing of it, but when I got that image I thought, there is something in this," he said.

Cr Wilson said it would be "fantastic" for tourism with the potential of attracting worldwide attention alike the Loch Ness Monster.

"We have mountains, murals and we possibly have monsters," he said.

"This is a really positive thing for Kentish. We would have to work with Rowing Tasmania, but there must be somewhere we could put in a viewing platform."

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The discovery came of little surprise to Rowing Tasmania executive officer Robert Prescott after fielding concerns from rowers at the Australian championships who felt the water move "in a strange way".

"There were comments made during the week but I just brushed it off," he said.

"When the mayor came down and showed us the photograph that raised our concern dramatically for the safety of our rowers and the other users of the lake. We are calling on Hydro Tasmania and the state government, the people who are in control of this lake, to come in and investigate what is here and come up with a definitive answer."

Cr Wilson said a public meeting would be organised after 12pm on April 1.

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