The Cressy, Tasmanian sighting - 1960

Hi all,

Another of the summaries of audio recordings made by James E McDonald during his visit in 1967.

On 4 October 1960, Reverend L Browning and his wife, saw a 'long cigar shaped object' emerge from a rain squall. It was dull grey in colour and had 'four or five vertical dark bands around its circumference.' It had something which looked like a 'short aerial array.' It travelled northwards. Seconds later, 5-6 small saucer-like objects come out of the cloud at high speed. These and the cigar then reversed back into the rain squall and did not re-emerge.

McDonald's interview

Identification Code/CD Number: 3T20S1202/CD57

Date Recorded: 6 July 1967

File Size: 18.4 MB

Interview Duration (m:s): 19:33

Interview Details: James McDonald interviews the Reverend Lionel Browning

Sighting Date: Not recorded during the interview

Sighting Time: Not recorded during the interview

Location of Sighting: Cressy, Tasmania, Australia

Duration of Sighting: Not recorded during the interview

Witness(es): Reverend Lionel Browning and his wife, Mrs L Browning

Summary:

Browning states that the mountain range to the east was Ben Lomond.  There was a flat lake area and the Western Tiers were to their west.  The Sun was over the Tiers at the time.  Heavy rain cleared a little 15 minutes before sunset.  It was still raining to the east, the south and the north.

Image courtesy Whereis?

He was looking out a window of a residence.  His wife joined him there.  They were noting the rays of the Sun on the green grass.  Mrs Browning asked if he could see what she could see?  This cigar shaped object emerged from the storm.  It was initially partly covered by rain below the cloud base.  Then it fully emerged.  He initially thought it was a plane crashing but noted that it was travelling below the stalling speed for an aircraft.  From memory he thought it came out about a mile and a half (two to three kilometres).  Its distance from him was estimated to be up to three miles (five kilometres).  He had a clear view of it.  It was hard to estimate its size, distance or speed.

At the time he had contacted the local aerodrome and ascertained that there were no aircraft in the area.  He had telephoned the Age Newspaper, in Melbourne, but they did not follow up the story, instead the local paper published their sighting report.  About a week later, he was interviewed by an officer and two men from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

Beside the cigar, that he termed, ‘A mothership,’ he saw a number of smaller disc shaped objects.  They had a flat underside which always pointed towards the ground.  There was a thickness to them.

He put his head out of a window in his house to get a better view.  The, ‘Mothership,’ was stationary.  Discs suddenly appeared at the southern end.  One came from the north and one from the east.  They converged on the, ‘Mothership.’  The two which came from north and east were travelling fast and, ‘Skipping like stones over water.’  At times he could see their undersides.

The group of discs and the two that converged came to the northern end of the, ‘Mothership.’  They all started to go back into the rain storm.  One of the saucer’s forward edge tipped.  He lost sight of it as it was pointing down at a 30 degree angle; the front end appeared to have dipped.

Other sightings occurred in Tasmania around this time.  He did not investigate any of these sightings.  The paper investigated reports.

Associated with the sightings there were unusual sounds.  One was on the night of their sighting, between 2000 and 2100 hours.  He personally heard two of these, ’Explosions.’  It sounded like a steel bar being struck, and was extremely loud.  Cattle and sheep were disturbed and dogs barked.  A man at the end of town saw a coloured object in the sky.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) investigated a sighting by a mother and daughter who saw a hovering object near their home.  They stopped their car to get a closer look.  The RAAF spent a day investigating this sighting.