Would security agencies be interested in Australian UAP groups?

 

 

Back in 1956

The short answer is yes, they have been. As long ago as 1956, the Commonwealth Investigation Service, retained a file titled 'The Australian Flying Saucer Research Society.' It can be viewed on the National Archives of Australia (NAA) website, file series A1533, control symbol 1956/2773. The two pages are a file cover, and a newspaper article. The article included the statement that 'The Australian Flying Saucer Research Society (AFSRS) will have its telescopes trained on the planet (Mars)...'

Onto 2004

 

In 2004, I located a second security file, this time on the Queensland Flying Saucer Bureau  (QFSB). NAA file series A6122, control symbol 2155 has a date range of 1959-1973. It originated with the Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIO).

 

The file features:

 



- A 1959 'secret' report on the group which in part stated 'There is some communist influence in the Bureau.'
- A listing of individuals who attended a 1959 'Play Reading' evening.
- A 1960 memo forwarding a letter from Adelaide UFOlogist Fred Stone.
- A 1961 memo concerning an employee of the Weapons Research Establishment.
- A 'secret' 1962 memo forwarding a report on the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society.
- Two 1963 Department of Supply memos about an individual involved in Scientology.
- A 1971 memo about the 1963 Scientology individual.
- A 1972 memo about Adelaide UFOlogist Colin Norris.

2016

 

No further security files concerning Australian UAP groups have come to light since 2004, until now. In April 2016, I submitted four requests, through the NAA, to ASIO, for any files they held on four Victorian individuals. At the same time, knowing that one of these individuals was a member of the then named Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society (VFSRS), I also asked for any ASIO files on the VFSRS.

 

Now, I should tell you here, that in 2004, when I located the QFSB file, I had asked if ASIO had a file on either or both the VFSRS or its later name, Victorian UFO Research Society {VUFORS). Their written response was that they did not.

 

Interestingly then, on 18 July 2016, I received an email from the NAA advising me that they were processing an ASIO file on the VFSRS, barcode number 13750288, which is not shown on the NAA's RecordSearch engine. What it will contain remains to be seen. Final processing may take another six months. We can only wait and see.  

Update: 28 August 2016

It seems that I was in error. The NAA got back to me, to inform me that ASIO did not have a file on the VFSRS. Apparently, the NAA assign a barcode to every ASIO request, whether or not ASIO actually have a file. If ASIO have no file, then the NAA cancel that particular barcode.

ASIO have, through the NAA provided me with copies of files on three of the Kibel (Balwyn photograph) family. Click here to read them.