We present the first results from the systematic observational campaign aimed at studying rapid photometric variability (i.e., flickering) in southern symbiotic stars. In particular, we report on the discovery of strong flickering from V648Car (also known as SS73-17), a poorly studied system belonging to the small class of hard X-ray emitting symbiotic stars. To our knowledge, with a U-band flickering amplitude >0.6mag over time scales of minutes, it is one of the most significant flickering ever reported from a symbiotic star. © International Astronomical Union 2013.