Australian 'flying saucer' reports from 1947

Hi all

The official history of the Australian 'flying saucer'/UFO phenomenon, according to the file holdings of the Australian government, as found by the Disclosure Australia Project, did not commence until mid 1950.

I wondered how to find out about any Australian reports pre 1951, and decided to take a look at the digitised newspaper collection held by the National Library of Australia. Here is what I found for 1947.

Lock, South Australia 5 February 1947
A man saw five strange objects between 7 and 8am. They were oblong with narrow points. They seemed to be floating in the air from north-west to south-east and caused a shadow. (Adelaide Advertiser 17 Feb 1947 p2.)

Port Augusta, South Australia 5 February 1947
Three workers saw five strange objects in formation pass across the sky from north to south at 9am. They appeared to be 'quivering' and cast shadows. They were travelling at speed and lost to sight within seconds. (Adelaide Advertiser 7 Feb 1947 p1.)

Sydney, New South Wales 8 July 1947
At 11pm a man stated he saw a 'flying saucer' "as big as a tennis ball and yellowish dipping up and down in a curve. It disappeared after three seconds. At 11.30pm the same man said he saw a second object. It was larger, oval in shape and white in colour. It fell towards Taronga Park. (The Sydney Morning Herald 9 Jul 1947 p1.)

Melbourne, Victoria 9 July 1947
Two leather workers reported they had seen a "dazzling white sphere" float across the sky, about noon. At 2pm an 18 year old girl reported seeing a "dark oval shape." (Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) 10 Jul 1947 p1.)

Brisbane 10 July 1947
Several people reported seeing a "comet" in the sky "and was at first thought to be a flying saucer." It was orange in colour, and seen at 4.05pm. A Brisbane astronomer said "the object was certainly a comet, but must have been particularly bright to have been seen in daylight." (Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) 11 Jul 1947 p6.)

To be continued.