August 2015 - Australian reports roundup

August 2015 - monthly national level reports roundup

Compiled by Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean

This is the eleventh in a series of Australian national level sightings reports listings, most of which are raw reports, meaning they have not been investigated.

August 2015

4 August 2015 0818hrs Ardeer, Melbourne, Victoria IFO - lens flare?
The witness took a photograph but did not see anything unusual at the time. When they looked at the image later they saw what looked like an orb in the sky.
VUFOA.

5 August 2015 0250hrs Adelaide, South Australia ? mins IFO? - re-entry?
SA Police received numerous calls from Aldinga; Semaphore etc of possible sightings of "flares" from boats in distress. However, "...Police believed the lights were in fact space junk..." "A small Australian company last year struck a deal with US defence giant Lockheed Martin to track space junk in Earth's orbit from a tracking centre in Western Australia. The company, Electro Optic Systems said the problem of space junk was getting rapidly worse..."
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/1015-08-05/strange-lights-in-adelaide-skies-space-junk-police-say/6673150

11 August 2015 Ca 2330-2345hrs Sydney and Central Coast, New South Wales IFO - fireball
Numerous witnesses reported the same object, including Vicki who, facing south east from Mayfield, saw an object appear above the horizon. "It was sort of like an ice cream cone turned upside down, the cone was a red/orange triangle shape with this really bright white light at the base...just controlled drop about 50 to 60 degree angle." Soundless.
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/

19 August 2015 1845hrs Hobart, Tasmania
Saw two satellites, less than a degree apart, slightly east of north, around the constellation Serpens. The brighter was the same magnitude as Jupiter. The lesser "companion" (about +1 to +2 magnitude) just to it's LS (when facing north.) Objects bright and not twinkling like stars do. Seemed stationary when first seen. Unlikely to be that bright, or accompanied, if they were flaring GS. They faded fairly quickly about where Earth's shadow would be at that time. Not seen anything like that before. Heavens Above says ISS over Middle East at that time.
TUFOIC from
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/

22 August 2015 Sydney, New South Wales
"Footage of a bright orb hovering over Sydney." 45 seconds long video.
http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/2015/08/hovering-orb-over-sydney-australia-22-aug-2015.html

22 August 2015 1550hrs  Montague Bay, Tasmania (3-4)mins Telephone. IFO - aircraft
Witness notices something bright low to the south-east moving from left to right. Looks to stop briefly and is then obscured by cloud. Unable to discern any features. Commercial aircraft in area and is probably what was witnessed.
TUFOIC.

23 August 2015 1530hrs Point Cook, Melbourne, Victoria ? mins Under investigation
Driving to the super market, the witness noticed a "...strange object moving south to north just below the cloud line. It was a shiny silver 'ring' or doughnut for want of a better word, and it was flying at about the same speed as a commercial airliner. It made no sound and had no vapour trail. I quickly pulled over ..."
Personal email from witness to Keith Basterfield.

Ca. 28 August 2015 (2000-2030)hrs Quakers Hill, Sydney, New South Wales Raw
Witness reported seeing, twice this week, "...a red light similar to a helicopter...but moves fast very high in the air and turns rapidly in a 180 degree angle as fast as a shooting star. It just hovers for a few seconds in one place then moves very fast towards the right and does a "U-turn" back to where it began, then flys away in 2 seconds it was no longer visible."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/

Older reports

29 July 2015 2030hrs Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales ? mins
Witness looked up and saw a halo around the moon. "I saw two white lights that moved as fast as you would see a shooting star." The lights left "...a trail of light which took around 10 seconds to fade away."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.

20 July 2015 2130hrs Camden, Sydney, New South Wales ? mins
While stationary in a car, two witnesses saw "A larger bluish light shot through the sky with great speed...It was probably about 40 metres above the ground." Soundless.
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.

15 July 2015 0220hrs Central Coast, New South Wales ? mins
Witnesses reported what they thought "...could be a plane or a planet blinking." It moved "...erratically and swooping in a backwards 'J' direction...It got higher and higher until it was impossible to see."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.

July 2015 N'Dhala Gorge, East MacDonnell ranges, Northern Territory
"In July this year (2015) over two weeks, a friend of mine and her fellow university students from Sydney were doing geological field excursions in and around the N'Dhala Gorge, East MacDonnell Ranges, in the Northern territory of Australia.

They were staying at a homestead called Ross River, which was situated about 65 km east of Alice Springs. In their first week over three nights, the 13, 14 and 15 July 2015 they came across a find that was totally out of the ordinary.

While returning back to their cabins after dinner, my friend and seven other students witnessed rays of coloured light (red, blue and yellow) rising up behind the ranges to their south-west. This display lasted for at least thirty minutes. She said over this period the lights would fade and become bright again, and their colours would mix producing more complex colours. Unfortunately these lights were over 2 km away , too far to get a suitable photo with their mobile phones.

She said at the time they were all totally bewildered by these lights. After the second and third night of witnessing these lights they decided that the next day they would actually go to the are where these lights were appearing from. When they got there they could not find any evidence at all that would cause the appearance of these lights!

The best was yet to come, on the night of the 21 July 2015 while again returning to their cabins after dinner, my friend and four other students witnessed a much closer sighting of a bright white orb (see image below). It was about 500 meters to the north at an angle of 45 degrees and was travelling slowly from west to east, no sound was heard. The orb was roughly the size of your thumbnail with your arm out stretched. She was very lucky to get a photo because the light only lasted about 5 seconds, this photo was taken at 8.06pm. If you look at the image you will notice what looks like flaring shooting out from the top  and bottom of the object and also coming out of the object's left hand side. These are not camera flares, this is what it looked like to the naked eye, according to my friend. The clincher is, the top and bottom flares were actually "horizontal" before she took the photograph! So it actually rotated in a split second into this position just before it disappeared. Some of you might say it looks like a full Moon but if you check the records it was just over a half moon on  the night of the 21 July 2015. She also said that it you look closely, the orb actually looks slightly oval shaped!"
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated. (27 August 2015.)

8 July 2015 Australia IFO - hoax
A photograph circulated on Facebook showing a shot across water, with dark cloudy skies and a lighting strike. In the top right hand corner is a spectacular UFO image looking like a traditional "mother ship." The "Skeptical blog" discovered a "...near identical looking lighting feature..." indicating that the "object" was really a reflection on glass of a light fitting in a room to the rear of the photographer.
http://www.skeptical.gb.net/blog/the-ufo-picture-from-australia-that-facebook-are-trying-to-remove-or-a-lampshade-in-Jackson-hole-Wyoming

6 July 2015 0615hrs Koonunga, South Australia 4 secs
A man was seeing his wife of to work when "I was taken back by two, very bright, dazzling blue green coloured lights just travelling across the sky above our cottage... These two lights were about the size of a rock melon and looked to be circular. They looked to be approx. 30 to 40 feet above the house roof and were travelling at the same speed I estimate to be around 80kms an hour. They were travelling horizontally across the sky heading from north to south. They were arranged one above the other...clear, crisp morning."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.

1 July 2015 0750hrs Appin, New South Wales 10 mins
Looking out of the window, a witness "...saw a very bright object with another object next to it." Stationary. "When I went back to the window after 10 minutes or so it was gone."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.

4 June 2015 1510hrs Moree, New South Wales ? mins
"I was at the prestart for work the sound I heard was being emitted from a human like life form from its mouth orifice was very English like. The electrical interference came from the Electrical Supervisor who was emitting something which resembled laughing."
UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.

25 May 2015 1950hrs Australian Capital Territory ? mins
"I was driving home and there was a really bright star." It was low and bright.
On 27 May saw "...two of very bright stars. One gave off a bright spark...and then dulled...it was phenomenal." UFOPRSA - "Phenomenon Times." August 2015.

2014/2015 (2300-000)hrs  Kairi, Queensland ? mins Under investigation
"For the last year I have been watching a strange drone like object that is shaped like a stingray, every night between 11pm and 12 am fly over Tinaroo Dam and it heads towards Mareeba. It goes towards Mareeba then comes back later, then goes back a few times a night. It has strange lights on it and is supper quiet almost silent."
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/

1995 2000hrs The Entrance, New South Wales
"I was sitting with a friend on a headland at The Entrance, north of Sydney, Australia, looking east over the ocean. It was around 8pm and we were there at random - we went fro a drive to visit some relatives up that way.

All of a sudden, the sky in front of us seemed to 'shudder", as if something was entering the airspace. My friend reacted like I did -about to run. I said "did you see that!" In front of us was a gigantic craft - it would've been over one kilometre wide, the aspect was the same as if you looked at a jet from the front. It looked like a pyramid on its side, looking up at the point. We could just make out the right angles. The thing was silent and we felt really eerie, and we got the hell out of there.

Interestingly around that time there were multiple sightings of smaller craft reported but as far as I know we were the only witnesses to this thing."
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated. (7 July 2015.)

Early 1970's about 1971 or 1972 Night Olary, South Australia, near broken Hill, New South Wales
"I am a former Seaman in the Navy and have worked with radar and are accustomed to helicopters and similar craft. Back then the last thing I expected to see was a UFO while driving near Broken Hill, NSW, Australia. I was driving a VW Kombi van and there was a bed in the back on which a hitchhiker lay sleeping when the event occurred.  I had picked up two hitchhikers near Kalgoorlie for company and had dropped one at Port Pirie.

While driving at night I saw a red light in the sky, looking like a star. Then suddenly the red-orange light was right over the Kombi about 15 metres above . The light enveloped the Kombi and there was no sound coming from the object. The Kombi engine had stopped by itself when the light approached. I sensed danger and was concerned for the hitchhiker so I grabbed my two rifles  and dragged the hitchhiker out of the van into the Spinifex grass outside the van. The hitchhiker could not be woken, and this alarmed me. I could not identify the light/object, only being able to view a dull red light above us.

In fear I shot at the red light with one of the firearms and then everything went blank. What was strange is that to two of us made breakfast the next morning and drove on as if nothing had happened and never spoke about it again. Later I dropped the hitchhiker off in Sydney and that was the last time I saw him.

I often wondered if something else happened that night because I'm mystified at how everything went blank. I have no idea how we got back to the Kombi or why we did not speak about the event the next day."
UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated.  (26 August 2015.)

Australian groups contributing to this issue

 

Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre

Website: http://tufoic.eu.pn

UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated.

Website: http://www.ufor.asn.au

VUFOA

Hotline: 0456 447 112

Website: http://www.vufoa.com

Facebook page:

 

Note

There were a number of quite detailed reports, said to have originated in Australia, made to the publicly available MUFON  case management system during this month, which appear to have been generated by one individual, and which show indications they may not be genuine. As it is not possible to find out from MUFON in Australia, any details of their investigations into such reports, we have decided not to summarise these MUFON reports in this listing.