More documents on the Boiani CE3 case found at CUFOS

Collecting material

For many years, I have had a large collection of material on the June 1959, Boiani, Papua New Guinea CE3 case involving the Reverend Father William Booth Gill.

There are numerous Australian documents in that collection, e.g. the 28 October 1959, Melbourne, Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society (VFSRS) transcript of a talk by Gill himself; and the 25 November 1959 letter to the Right Honorable R G Menzies, signed by the heads of the five main Australian flying saucer groups of that time.

The former US government Project Blue Book had a case file, based on information forwarded by the US Air Attache for Australia, one Mance C Smith, Major, USAF.

The Project Blue Book record card

US researcher Michael Swords' digitised collection contains two Reverend Gill files, one of 65 pages, and the other of 161 pages in length. Here we find photographs of the area; sketches of the village layout; location maps; and copies of the articles which appeared in such publications as the International UFO Reporter, and the English Flying Saucer Review.

Other PNG material

To add to the information on reports from that area, and based on a search through a variety of Australian government files, I compiled a catalogue of reports from Papua New Guinea, between 1953 and 1971. In addition, I located a number of relevant Australian government agency files, namely:

File series A452, control symbol 1969/4393 titled "UFOs and mysterious happenings Papua and New Guinea," 1957-1973.

File series MT1131/1,  control symbol A31/1/133 titled "Unidentified aircraft Papua and New Guinea," 1958-1959.

Barry Greenwood and CUFOS

So, when Boston researcher and historian Barry Greenwood visited the files of the Center for UFO Studies in Chicago recently, and later advised that he was sending Melbourne researcher Paul Dean and I a batch of four PDF files relating to Boiani, I eagerly awaited their arrival. In due course along they came.

PDF 1. This consisted of two pages, which were new to me. They were two photographs of the view from where Gill stood, looking away from the ocean and towards the surrounding mountains.One was a colour photograph of the scene and on the other someone had drawn shapes and notations which read "from w. door" and "from behind store." These locations can be seen in a sketch I have attached at the end of this post.

PDF 2. This consisted of a one page artist's impression of the event, which I had previously seen.

PDF 3.Here were 131 pages of documents. New to me here were:

1. A series of newspaper clippings, which included:

 "The New York Times" 29 Sep 1959 "Flying saucer spotted"

"New Zealand Herald" 17 Aug 1959 "'Saucer activity' in New Guinea"

"Sun" (Melbourne) " 29 Oct 1959 "He saw 'mystery craft in the sky'"

"Daily News" (Taranaki, New Zealand) "17 Aug 1959 "Priest reports Flying Saucers carrying 'men'"

"Sun" (Melbourne) 17 Aug 1959 "12 saw a saucer says NG Priest."

These examples of articles about the sightings, indicate that by as early as mid August 1959, details of the events at Boiani were appearing in the world press.

2. A series of correspondence which included:

a. Letters between Peter Norris of the VFSRS and the US UFO group National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP.) I show examples below:

This shows that Norris was providing copies of relevant documents, including copies of correspondence with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and members of the Australian parliament to NICAP. In addition, he provided his views on the main witness, the reverend Gill, e.g.

"In essence, Gill is scholarly, detached and conservative and I am satisfied that his report, sensational though it is, has been understated rather then exaggerated." [Norris to NICAP, 31 Oct 1959.]


b. Letters between Peter Norris of VFSRS and members of the Australian parliament:

One parliamentarian, S P Cash, MP, asked a question in the Australian Parliament on 24 Nov 1959:

"Unidentified Flying Objects
Mr Cash - My question is directed to the Minister for Air. Do the Australian and overseas Air Forces exchange information about the frequent sightings throughout the world of unidentified flying objects usually known as UFOs? Further, have RAAF officers investigated reports of recent sightings of mysterious objects in the skies over Papua and New Guinea?"

There were other pieces of correspondence in this PDF between Norris and the RAAF, but the contents of these have been known for some time.

c. Miscellaneous letters, including between the Reverend Gill and J Allen Hynek.

3. Miscellaneous items which included:

a. Various sketches eg:

In conclusion

I wish to thank Barry Greenwood for his untiring efforts to preserve such material for us all to be able to read. The additional material, new to me, which I have outlined above, adds to our understanding of the events of June 1959.

The 1965 Margaret Brock Lighthouse photographs

Introduction

Thanks to the hard work of the Swedish Archives for the Unexplained (AFU); UK researcher Isaac Koi; Boston based researcher Barry Greenwood and myself, I am now able to go through digitised issues of the Australian magazine named "Panorama." This magazine was published by one Fred Stone of Adelaide.

Background

I have been working on a series of "cold case" analyses of classic Australian sightings for many years, and one of the cases which I have been hoping to find some more original source material on, has been the 17 March 1965 sighting, and series of photographs, taken on a ship near the Margaret Brock Lighthouse off the coast of South Australia. Two issues of "Panorama" have provided just such source material.

The event

The most original source is the "Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate" dated 23 March 1965. The text of the article reads as follows, and there were two accompany photographs.

"Mystery object

"Moon object" pictures.

These photographs, taken at sea off the Victorian coast last Wednesday, show what appears to be an object moving around the moon. 

They were brought to Newcastle by the man who took them, Mr Walter Jacobs, 38 of The Terrace, Newcastle, an assistant steward on the BHP ore freighter Iron Duke. Mr Jacobs, an amateur photographer, said he saw the object by accident when he began to photograph a moon-cloud effect. He said he developed the negatives in his cabin on the trip to Newcastle. He became convinced the light was an object. Crew mates who saw the prints had speculated on it being a space vehicle.

Bright glow

"The ship was approaching Margaret Brock Lighthouse, between Adelaide and Melbourne, when I went on deck to take the moon pictures," Mr Jacobs said. "It was a few moments after 10pm. The moon was fairly low in the sky in the direction of Adelaide. I looked through the camera at the moon, which was behind the clouds and saw a light on the left hand side of it. "It was a bright yellow-orange glow. At first I thought it was a planet."

"As I started to photograph it the light began to travel. it swung under the moon and up the other side." He adjusted the camera's shutter speed and when he looked again the light was above the moon. He took one picture, and by the time he took another, in two seconds, the "object" had shot high above the moon. He took other pictures. 

Like saucer

Mr Jacobs said he was more concerned about getting a good picture than wondering what the object was, and he went below. The object seemed stationary then. "It wasn't until I printed the photographs that I began to wonder. In one you can see a knob on the bottom and a depression on the top - the usual description of a flying saucer," he said.

A "Newcastle Morning Herald" representative accompanied Mr Jcobs to Newcastle University and saw Professor C D Ellyet, head of the Physics Department and Dean of the Faculty of Science. After studying the photographs Professor Ellyet said the phenomena was probably caused by the reflection or refraction of the moonlight by ice crystals in the clouds. This would explain how the "object" changed shaped with time, he said. Movement of the light around the moon could be explained by the movement of air and the ice crystals in the clouds.Mr Jacobs' photographs were the best and clearest he had seen of such a phenomena, he added.

Footnote

Professor Ellyet emphasizes he was putting forward a theory and that "in these cases one can never be certain." No satisfactory answer had been put forward for some sightings made in the sky over the years.

Adelaide "News"

The 5 April 1965 issue of the Adelaide "News" carried  the following photograph, and accompanying text.

"He shot a 'saucer'

"I didn't believe  in all the space talk, but now I am convinced I photographed a flying object of monstrous size," Mr Walter Jacobs said today. Mr Jacobs a steward on the freighter "Iron Duke" which berthed at Port Adelaide on Saturday, took seven pictures  of a bright orange object in the sky off south-east coast on the night of March 17th.

Mr Jacobs disagreed with statements that the object in his picture could have been an aeroplane using a strong spotlight or a satellite illuminated by the moon. "It was much too big and moved too quickly for an aircraft. The light was bright orange nothing like a spotlight" he said. The photo clearly shows the object was in front of the moon. 

Two clouds

Mr G P Danvers of Cheltenham, today reported having seen the similar "object" over Adelaide about the same time. He was conducting a Mini-Tour party at Observation Point when they sighted a light orange coloured "flying saucer." It appeared to be spinning around the moon. As the party watched it slowly changed shape and was ultimately revealed to be two dark clouds parting with the moonlight breaking through the gap. He said today the wind affecting the edges of the cloud was believed to have made the "flying saucer" appear to spin round the moon.

Adelaide "Advertiser"

The 5 April 1965 issue carried the following text.

"Film taken of S Aust sky object

A sky "object" with the characteristics usually attributed to "saucers" has been clearly photographed over S Aust. Astronomical experts in SA have been unable tom positively identify the object, which took the form of a bright orange glow with a "dent" on top and "knot" on the bottom. All have agreed, however, that the description given could not be explained as a planet.

Photographs of the object were taken by Mr Walter Jacobs, a steward on the freighter "Iron Duke" which berthed at Port Adelaide on Saturday. The photographs show what appears to be a glowing object moving around the moon. Mr Jacobs who is an amateur photographer, said he saw the object shortly after 10pm on March 17th when he began to photograph a moon cloud effect while at sea on the way to Newcastle. The ship was approaching the Margaret Brock Lighthouse, between Adelaide and Melbourne.

"It was a bright, yellow orange glow, at first I thought it was a planet." "As I started to photograph it, the light began to travel. It swung "under" the moon and up the other side." He took one picture and by the time he took another, two seconds, the object had shot upwards vertically from the moon and "was high above it." He took more pictures. "I went below and it wasn't until I printed the photographs that i began to wonder" he said. "You can see a knob on the bottom and a depression on top -the usual description of a flying saucer."

The Professor of Physics at the uni of Adelaide, Pro J H Carver, said that the described behaviour of the object was  consistent with that of an aircraft equipped with a very strong spotlight. An RAAF spokesman said, however, that to the best of his knowledge there had not been any planes using powerful spotlights in the area at that time.

The Astronomical Society Senior Vice pres said "The only planet neat the moon at this time was Mars and that this would have been stationary and not behaving n the manner described." Another astronomer unnamed said he felt the object could have been a satellite. But a WRE spokesman said the sharp upward trail described by Mr Jacobs did not coincide with the path which a satellite might take."

"Panorama"

Volume 4 number 2 pages 2 and 19,of this magazine, firstly carried the text of the 5 April 1965 issue of the Adelaide "Advertiser" then continued:

"Your editor interviewed Mr Jacobs who added these further facts. He had watched it for 7 minutes and it was still there when he went below. We cannot understand why he did not draw the attention of the rest of the crew to the unusual object, and especially when the man on the bridge above who did not see it. Also another man who was on deck who said he did not see it.

He said it was very large and he felt it would carry a crew of 40-50 people. The camera which he took the object with was a Japanese Minoca and the shot was taken at F2 60 on a black and white 35mm film.

We sort (sic) to get copies of the photos from him  and at first he consented but later after discussing the matter with other people said he  would first try and sell them to USA magazines but would later give us photos, which he did.

We were not at all surprised by this as he was  interviewed by TV and shots were shown on the interview. Also he was taken to see other people after this event, and it was from this he rang us up to withdraw his original offer. However next day he showed us the negatives and we examined them as best we could and he gave us some photos on condition that we did not reproduce the,. We regret therefore we cannot reproduce anything without his consent,and further feel that his desire to "cash in" on them unfortunately does lessen the authenticity of the films; in that people will naturally concur that it is a gimmick. However we feel ourselves at this moment that until we see the whole 7 shots at close range on reproduced photos we accept his story with reservations, for until such a close examination of them is made it is hard to determine what the object rally is, although it certainly has all the general characteristics of the saucers. We have drawn below the various drawings he gave us of the object and its movements, and also our own drawing of it as shown in the reproduced picture in the "Advertiser.""

"Panorama" Volume 4 number 3 pages7-8 continued the story.

"The Jacobs photo of UFO over Adelaide

We have received many inquiries regarding this photo  of which we gave a resume in our last edition, and since which we had time to make more intense investigations. Frankly we are not happy about this photo, because of the co-related evidence  which at times became quite contradictory. So much so that we wrote to the "Advertiser" which published the photos, but our letter was not published. So we point out here to our readers some of the highlights.

We admit that initially we were very impressed by the photos and the story told in the paper and over TV by Mr Jacobs, but after two lengthy interviews with him we feel we must in all honesty place our findings before the public for a clearer evaluation of the case.

It has been suggested that Mr Jacobs when interviewed by Mr Norris of the AFSRS hinted that he tried  to fool us or leas us astray. Rather a strange thing for a man who was trying to convince the public of what he had seen and witnessed  and who told us he was trying to sell them to interested journals. Surely he would have been only too anxious to make every point of his story true rather than mislead people.

Firstly the photos. The first five shots which he showed us on the negatives were taken as the "object" was approaching the moon-cloud. He then altered his timing and shot the one which was shown in the paper and the TV "above the moon cloud..." The previous five were by no means as clear and defined as the one shown. In all this it must be remembered that the ship was moving whilst this was taken and this factor must be taken into account as regards the photo.

The lighthouse according to Mr Jacobs was 50 miles away, but when interviewing the crew they all stated that it was only 15 miles away. Here a contradiction of fact.

He insisted he did not realize it was an unusual object until he developed the photos, if so why was he aware enough to change the timing.

The one man who was beside him and to whom he called his attention to it, was no longer on the ship. He had been signed off at Newcastle before the ship had returned to Adelaide. Mr Jacobs gave the photo to the Advertiser. Also the captain of the ship has been changed. The man on the bridge who may have seen the sighting if it was so unusual as Jacobs claimed, said in an interview that he did not see anything unusual.

Mr Jacobs said he went down after taking the photo to the TV room and shot some shots of the TV. These were on the negatives, but when he showed us the "spot" where he had taken the photo from on the side of the ship, the TV room was immediately BEHIND him and within arms reach. Being a hot night so he said, it was more than likely the door would be open as it was not air conditioned. Even if not, it is rather strange he did not turn around and knock or call out to those in the room to see what he had taken.

His excuse here as stated before "he did not realize it was an unusual object." Yet when being interviewed he was quite certain he "saw the top part spinning around whilst the bottom section was also lit up." Surely such an odd behaviour of a "cloud" would cause one to know it was something out of the ordinary and create a desire to call witnesses. Yet he called no one from the TV room behind , or consider it unusual until later when he realized he had shot some unusual object.

The position of the lighthouse from the point of photography must not be overlooked for under certain cloud conditions the light from this may have had some contributing factors.

One factor was Mr Jacobs' contradictory statements re the value of the pictures. he was most anxious to impress us he had no need to "make money" out of it. For on the first day he said 40 pounds per week on the ship. The next day he said his salary was 52 pounds pw. He had admitted he had been practicing in getting good photos and had been successful in "selling" some recent ones to the Navy and the BHP Oil Co., but kept re-insisting he was not out to make money on this one. However on the second day in the interview he said he was going to see if he could sell the photos to some American interests who paid big money. he had been "advised" to this by a Sydney representative of the same.

Of course we do not blame him for cashing on on his efforts. If these are genuine, but we felt that before he could expect our society to pass them as such, he should be willing to give some complete copies of the whole sequence of the event, instead of the one single photo of the object above the cloud.

We are well aware other groups here have been elated by this case and as one of their investigators exclaimed rather ecstatically "Oh its wonderful" yet we prefer to keep out feet on the ground and as much as we would like to prove this as one of the most outstanding photos taken in Australia, yet we are not prepared to lower out standards as investigators or make an attempt to bolster up this case on a false premise and thus deceiving the public, when we feel the facts when taken altogether are not as clear as they could be or we would very much like them to be. For we want good saucer photos but not any which cannot stand the test of keen investigation and scrutiny.

Should further evidence prove we are wrong we shall be most glad to admit we have been wrong, meanwhile we prefer to be cautious."

Information

1. The Margaret Brock Lighthouse used to be situated near the township of Kingston South East, South Australia, which was 26 kilometres north east of the lighthouse. Kingston SE is situated at latitude 36.84 degrees south and longitude 139.85 degrees east.

2. The 17th March 1965 was a Wednesday.

3. The astronomical software "Stellarium" shows that on the relevant date and time from the ship's position the following astronomical objects were positioned:

The sun had set. The planets Jupiter, Venus and Saturn were below the horizon. The moon was at 35 degrees elevation at an azimuth of 47 degrees (ie close to north-east). The planet Mars (orange in colour) was at 38 degrees elevation, and at 34 degrees azimuth.

Comments

1. I searched online and in hard copy for images of all seven photographs. I failed to find the complete series available anywhere.

2. Upon first seeing the photographs which appeared in the media, my initial impression was that we were looking at an internal lens reflection of the moon.

3. In 1968 I worked for the Postmaster Generals' Department of the Australian Government. One of the staff there, a gentleman named Ken Ellis, advised me that he had been the radio operator on the "Iron Duke" in March 1965. He informed me that the story told by Mr Jacobs was in fact a hoax. That Mr Jacobs had taken pictures of the moon and clouds, and when developed saw that he had captured a lens reflection of the moon, and had then made up the story he told the media and Fred Stone. I have no reason to doubt Mr Ellis' information. 

Aviator Francis Chichester's classic sighting - is the date wrong?

Background

On a flight between New Zealand and Australia, in 1931, the famous aviator and sailor Francis Chichester, reported an unusual observation. This has become somewhat of a classic "UFO" story on the Internet and in various books.

Introduction

The story which is related, is as follows:

10 June 1931, Tasman Sea

"Suddenly, ahead and to the left, there were bright flashes in several places, like the dazzle of a heliograph. I saw a dull grey-white airship coming towards me. It seemed impossible, but I could have sworn it was an airship, nosing towards me like an oblong pearl. Except for a cloud or two there was nothing else in  the sky. I looked around, sometimes catching a flash or glint, and turning again to look at the airship. I found it had disappeared.

I screwed up my eyes, unable to believe what I was seeing, and  twisted the seaplane this way and that, thinking that the airship must be hidden by a blind spot. Dazzling flashes continued in four or five different places, but I could not pick out any planes.

Then, out of some clouds, I saw another or the same airship advancing. I watched it intently, determined not to  look away for a fraction of a second. I'd see what happened to this one, if I had to chase it. It drew steadily closer, until perhaps a mile away, when suddenly it vanished. Then it reappeared, close to where it had vanished. I watched with  angry intentness. It drew closer, and I could see the dull gleam of light on its  nose and back.

It came on, but instead  of increasing in size, it diminished as it approached. When quite near, it suddenly became its own ghost one second I could see through it, and the next it had vanished. I decided it could only be a diminutive cloud perfectly  shaped like an airship and then dissolving, but it was uncanny that it should exactly resume the same shape after it once vanished.

I turned towards the flashes, but those too had vanished. All of this was many years before anyone spoke of flying saucers. Whatever it was I saw, it seems to have been very much like what people have since claimed to  be flying saucers."

[Source: Chichester, Francis. 1964. The Lonely Sea and the Sky. Coward-McCann. New York. p.165.]

Is 10 June 1931, the correct date?

Every source that I consulted, including The OzFiles (page 34) by Australian author Bill Chalker, and the Lord Howe Island Museum, cites the sighting as taking place on 10 June 1931. Did anyone consult contemporary newspapers to check on this date?  It appears not.

I therefore conducted a search of contemporary digitised newspapers in the National Library of Australia's TROVE collection. I put together a timeline of the trip.

Left Auckland, New Zealand at 11.30am on Saturday 28 March 1931.
Arrived Norfolk Island 4.45pm 28 March 1931.

[Source: Advocate, Burnie, Tasmania. Monday 30 March 1931 page5.]

Left Norfolk Island at 10am on Wednesday 1 April 1931.
Arrived Lord Howe Island at 4.30pm on 1 April 1931.

[Source: Advertiser & Register, Adelaide, South Australia. Thursday 2 April 1931 page 19.]

Left Lord Howe Island on the morning of Saturday 6 June 1931 bound for Sydney. Arrived Jervis Bay, New South Wales at about 3.30pm 6 June 1931.

[Sources: Sunday Times, Perth, Western Australia, Sunday 7 June 1931 page3;  Chronicle, Adelaide, South Australia 11 June 1931 page 39. Daily Examiner, Grafton, NSW, Monday 8 June 1931 page 3.]

Therefore, according to contemporary newspapers, the cited date of 10 June 1931 is incorrect, as the flight was over by 6 June 1931.

What is the correct date? Well, this depends on which part of the trip did the sighting occur? If it was between Auckland and Norfolk Island the date was 28 March 1931. If between Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island 1 April 1931, and if  between Lord Howe Island and Sydney, the 6 June 1931.

As an aside, the paper reports that Chichester flight between Lord Howe Island and Sydney was  delayed due to the fact that his aircraft had to be repaired after his aircraft sank in a lagoon on Lord Howe Island. See interesting historical photographs. This source also has a map of the entire trip.

Does an account of the sighting appear in any contemporary newspaper?

I conducted a search using TROVE and could not find any account prior to 1950. In the Goulburn Evening Post dated Thursday 2 November 1950 there is an account of the sighting from 1931, as recalled by Chichester in his book "Alone Over the Tasman Sea." This book was first published in 1945. The newspaper article includes the sentence "At the time he dismissed them as unexplainable phenomena."

YouTube

There exists a short Youtube video of an interview (in black and white) with Francis Chichester about the sighting. However, in does not assist with either the exact location or indeed the date.

Check the book

I therefore acquired a copy of  Chichester, Francis. 1964. The Lonely Sea and the Sky. Hodder and Stoughton. London. Seventh impression 1967.  Page 106 features a map of the flight. According to this:

* Chichester left New Zealand on 28 March 1931 and landed at Norfolk Island on that same day.

* He flew from Norfolk Island to Lord Howe Island on 1 April 1931.

These dates are both in agreement with contemporary newspaper accounts.

Here on page 165 of the book, I found:

"Suddenly, ahead and to the left, there were bright flashes in several places, like the dazzle of a heliograph. I saw a dull grey-white airship coming towards me. It seemed impossible, but I could have sworn it was an airship, nosing towards me like an oblong pearl. Except for a cloud or two there was nothing else in  the sky. I looked around, sometimes catching a flash or glint, and turning again to look at the airship. I found it had disappeared.

I screwed up my eyes, unable to believe what I was seeing, and  twisted the seaplane this way and that, thinking that the airship must be hidden by a blind spot. Dazzling flashes continued in four or five different places, but I could not pick out any planes.

Then, out of some clouds to my right front, I saw another, or the same airship advancing. I watched it intently, determined not to  look away for a fraction of a second: I'd see what happened to this one, if I had to chase it. It drew steadily closer, until perhaps a mile away, when suddenly it vanished. Then it reappeared, close to where it had vanished: I watched with  angry intentness. It drew closer, and I could see the dull gleam of light on its  nose and back.

It came on, but instead  of increasing in size, it diminished as it approached. When quite near, it suddenly became its own ghost - one second I could see through it, and the next it had vanished. I decided it could only be a diminutive cloud perfectly  shaped like an airship and then dissolving, but it was uncanny that it should exactly resume the same shape after it had once vanished.

I turned towards the flashes, but those too had vanished. All of this was many years before anyone spoke of flying saucers. Whatever it was I saw, it seems to have been very much like what people have since claimed to  be flying saucers.

...After six hours and five minutes in the air I saw land again, and it was still there ten minutes later...Well, this was Australia."

In short

This description of seeing Australia shortly after his sighting, places the date of the sighting as 6 June 1931 and not 10 June 1931.

Where did the error arise?

The map of the book on page 106, states the following. "June 10 1931 Lord Howe Island Jarvis Bay."

So, it would appear that the error lies with whoever drew the map and inserted the 10 June 1931 date, and everyone since has simply assumed this was the correct date.

National Archives of Australia - more new UAP files available

Background

Over the years, Australian researchers have found around 150 files in the National Archives of Australia (NAA), dealing with the subject of 'Unusual Aerial Sightings;' 'Flying Saucers'; 'Unidentified Flying Objects' and a variety of other titles. Wherever possible, these files have been digitised by the NAA, upon the payment of a fee by a very small number of Australian researchers, including myself. Today, anyone can go to the NAA website, type in a variety of keywords, and read the files for themselves.

New material

The NAA continues to add new files, about UAP, to their RecordSearch database. Two newly available files were added in October 2017. These are:

1. NAA file series BP990/1, control symbol 5/113/AIR PART 1, barcode 22420284, titled 'Unusual Aerial Sightings.' This file has a date range of 1975-1977. It is a correspondence file, originally created by Headquarters RAAF Amberley in Queensland. The current file status is 'not yet examined.' In order to view the file someone needs to ask the NAA to review the file, then pay them to digitise it.

2. NAA file series BP990/1, control symbol 5/113/AIR PART 2, barcode 22420285, titled 'Unusual Aerial Sightings.' This file has a date range of 1977-1979. It is a correspondence file, originally created by Headquarters RAAF Amberley in Queensland. The current file status is 'not yet examined.' In order to view the file someone needs to ask the NAA to review the file, then pay them to digitise it.

There are two other files whose status is 'Open with exception' which are waiting for someone to pay for them to be digitised. These are:

3. NAA file series A9755, control symbol 9, barcode 3533451, titled 'RAAF No 92 Wing HQ, Edinburgh. Unusual Aerial Sightings. The file's date range is 1992-1994. 

4. NAA file series A9755, control symbol 23, barcode 3533584, titled 'RAAF No 82 Bomber Wing, Amberley.' Date range is 1992-1994. 

Would any blog readers like to assist us all, by arranging for all these four files to be digitised?

The full version of the Western Australian Police Department UAP file

Background

Between 1951 and 1975, the Police Department of the West Australian government kept a file titled 'Unidentified Flying Objects.' The State Record Office (SRO) of Western Australia posted some 55 pages of this file, to their website around 2015. I came across it and wrote about the contents of the available pages, in a blog post dated 3 July 2015.

It wasn't until 2017 that I noticed that there was a gap in the folio numbering of the 55 available pages. This indicated that there might be other folios of the file available to me. I therefore communicated with the SRO, and indeed the full version of the file contains 156 images. I have just recently purchased a copy of the full file.

My previous post covered folios 1-31 (1951-1954) and folios 123-148 (1970-1975). Thus this current blog will fill in the gaps.

Sightings in this section

26 August 1954. V E, R V and R M H Antonio were in a car near Monument Hill, near Northam at 2.15pm and sighted a grey, oval shaped object in the clear sky. It was stationary.

15 December 1954. At 3am, two men, travelling south by car from Carnarvon to Geraldton saw a light in the ESE sky. Seen for 20 minutes. They reported seeing 'portholes,' along the side of the machine. The object rotated every 30 seconds.

 6 March 1957. Three men were travelling west along the Great Eastern Highway at 12.30am when they sighted a very bright green light with a tail, above trees. It rose up, then arced over the trees. Duration 4-5 seconds. It lit up the whole countryside.

3 July 1957. A number of people at the Fibre Queen Asbestos mine, 126 miles SE of Port Hedland, said they saw , at 10pm, a very bright light light up the whole area. Several explosions were then heard.

28 November 1957. At 10.45 am a Mundrabilla station hand heard a loud explosion and saw a cloud of dust and smoke rise into the sky. Soon after that he saw an object , cigar shaped, 030 feet long with no wings. Also at 10.45am two persons some distance away saw the same thing for 5 minutes and thought it was a guided missile. It came in from Eucla, circled at Madura and then went eastwards over Mundrabilla. One person reported that a piece fell off it. There was a blue vapour trail. The RAAF said it was a high flying Canberra jet aircraft.

19 August 1960. At Yallalong Station, 90 miles from Mullewa at 4pm the station owner reported seeing a bright object in the sky, The manager of Curbar Station 160 miles north of Mullewa heard an explosion.

5 August 1961. At 8.20am at Mt Hale Station. The very well known story of multiple objects dropping 'angel hair.' Interviews with some of the observers. For my catalogue and analysis of this and similar 'angel hair' cases, click here.

2 August 1964. At Wittenoom, at 3am , Mr E Rossi was at the Hamersley Ranges, 7 miles south of Wittenoom. He said he saw a 200 foot long object with square windows. It was well lit from within. There were no wings, and no tail. It was travelling at an estimated 200 mph, south to north. It had a tail of flame. It was also seen by three other men. For my cold case review click here.

27 September 1965. At 3.30 am, C K Hallett and M F Holbrook were travelling by truck near the Cane River, 30 miles north of Onslow. Their headlights lit up a cylindrical object. estimated to be 10 feet high and 10 feet in diameter, which took off from the ground at high speed. The two men travelled on in the truck. 10 miles later, they met two other people attending to a broken don truck. After being at this new location for 10 minutes the object appeared again. It swooped down over the two trucks at 200-300 mph. It lit up the surrounding area with a pale green light. The object itself was iridescent green and was lit up all over. It then climbed to a high altitude and disappeared from view.

The Police interviewed Holbrook who added that the object originally travelled roughly east to west, slightly towards them. It crossed the road in front of them and landed, then immediately took off again at high speed. It rose at a 45 degree angle and had descended at a slightly less angle. There was no noise from it. It was pale iridescent green and glowing. It had touched the ground for only a few seconds before rising up again.

On the second viewing at about 4 am, they were facing sought on the bank of the Cane River. The object had been travelling east to west at a low altitude slowly descending as if going to land again. He judged that the object would have been again landing in the same area as on the first occasion. It was the same colour as the first time, but was also emitting a bright white light, sparkling. There were small sparklets falling out of the light. The object passed within an estimated 100 yards of the observers and was silent.

14-15 August 1966. P G Johnston of Kununurra, was driving a bulldozer at night. At 11.54pm on the 14th he watched bright lights come from the south-west, slow down, and stop over a hill at an estimated distance of 1 mile. Then he saw a row of red lights, which appeared to come from behind the first light. There were 6-8 of them. These were not very bright. A few seconds later the red lights went out and the white light grew brighter, in fact too bright to look at.

An area about 12 feet around him lit up like a searchlight. Duration 5 minutes. The bright light went out and four less bright red lights travelled down behind a hill over which they had been stationary. The witness then sat and eat a meal. Then lights appeared from behind the hill and approached to within a 1/4 mile. These hovered 20 foot in the air. A bright white light came on and he could see this clearly. After 3-4 minutes this light went out and he then saw red lights over Kun Air strip.

By starlight he observed a 'flying saucer' type machine. It tilted as it rose so he could see its top. It was silver in colour, 10 feet high, 180 feet long and 80-100 feet wide. Red lights appeared to be portholes on the long side. As it rose, what seemed to be 3-4 points of vapour trailed from the underside. This wandered about the valley for 1 1/2 hours before seeming to land on hills. The lights were there till the first light of dawn on 15 August.

14 February 1967. At around the same time as there was a search for the American Biosatellite believed to have come down over Western Australia, there was a sighting between 7 and 7.30pm of an orange light seen from Bunbury.

30 October 1967. The classic encounter case, near Boyup Brook, between a car and an object, where the driver states that the car instantly decelerated from high speed without any effects, and then accelerated back to high speed in an instant, again with no effect on the driver. For my cold case review click here. 

5 May 1968. At 11am there was a report of what appeared to be a flare off Bremer Bay.

25 May 1969. At 2.43pm at Derby, there was a report of a large 'jet' seen NW to WNW.

11 March 1970. AT Christmas Creek Station, 60 miles east of Fitzroy, a cruising object left a vapour tail, as it travelled NW at high speed. The trail was not constant but broken. Smoke followed it to the ground.

Committee members of the VFSRS/VUFORS : 1959 - 1972

Introduction

Between 1959 and 1972, there were over thirty individuals who served on the committee of the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society/ Victorian UFO Research Society. In this post I identify these individuals and the committee positions which they held, and provide information about a number of them which will be new to most blog readers. 

Some individuals such as Peter Norris; Paul Norman and Judith Magee, played a major role in the development of the society during these years. Others came and went. Sadly, I am aware of a number of such people as Judith Magee, William (Bill) Stapleton, and Paul Norman who are deceased.

Judith Mary Magee

Committee, Dec 1959 – Nov 1962; Vice President  & Programs Officer, May 1964 – Dec 1965; Secretary, Dec 1966 – Dec 1967; Vice President, Oct 1968 – Dec 1972.

‘Vice President: Mrs Judith Magee has been a member of the V.F.S.R.S. since 1958 and a committee member since 1959. She completed a secretarial course at Brighton Technical School and worked in a Melbourne radio station and bank prior to joining the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service in March 1944. After demobilisation in 1946 she joined Australian National Airways as an air hostess and in 1947 became the only woman finalist in the Sun flying scholarship. Since her marriage in 1948 she has worked as a diathermy operator, mannequin and saleswoman.

Mrs Magee believes that flying saucer research should take a ‘middle-of-the-road’ attitude and be accurately presented to the public in a factual manner.’

[Source: Australian Flying Saucer Review No 4, Dec 1965.]

Magee wrote a number of articles for magazines, including:

‘”Nests” and “Landing pads.” AFSR No 2, Jul 1970, pp 12-15.

‘Are the UFOnauts gradually revealing their presence?’ AFSR Vol 1, Mar 1970, pp 8,9 & 14.

‘UFO activity along the NE coast of Australia.’ Flying Saucer Review (FSR) Vol 11 No 5 p14.

‘Queensland again.’ FSR. 1966. Vol 12 No 2, p26.

‘UFO over the Mooraduc Road.” FSR 1972. Vol 18 No 6 p6.

Paul Norman

Investigations & Sightings Officer, May 1964; Public Relations Officer, May 1965- Dec 1970; Public Relations Officer & Sightings Investigations Officer, Feb 1972. Public Relations Officer, Dec 1972.

‘Public Relations Officer, Mr Paul Norman was born and educated in the United States. With the exception of six years in the U.S. Navy and a short period as a Publisher’s Representative, he served in various positions up to Hydro-Electric Power Project Superintendent with the U.S. Corps of Engineers and is Charge Engineer in Thermal-Electric Stations.

He has been interested in the U.F.O. phenomenon since 1953, after observing one of the mystery objects hover over a power station in Middle Tennessee. His interest was intensified when Major Keyhoe was cut off the C.B.S. Coast to Coast Television network, while trying to tell American people about U.F.O. investigations and a few moments later an Air Force spokesman stood before millions of TV viewers and said “You Air Force would not withhold the facts.” At that time, Mr Norman joined the fight to end the policy of public deception.’

[Source: Australian Flying Saucer Review No 7, Dec 1967.]

Paul Norman had interactions in the USA. According to Ann Druffel's book 'Firestorm' (2002) about the late professor James E McDonald, ‘Paul Norman corresponded with McDonald shortly after McDonald's public entry into the field, and the two exchanged UFO reports and other material. In early May 1967 Paul Norman came to the states to visit relatives and made arrangements to visit McDonald in Tucson. Norman first visited Allen Hynek and Vallee in Chicago, principally to discuss a couple of UFOs which had been taken by reliable witnesses in Australia, then went on to Boulder, Colorado where he met with some of the staff of the Condon committee…for Condon’s staff had staff also had interest in cases worldwide.

Norman brought key Australian cases with him, discussed them in an eight hour meeting, and let the staff photocopy them. The next day, a Saturday, he discussed the cases for another ten hours with Dr David Saunders, a psychologist on Condon’s staff, then he went on to Tucson.’

Norman instigated the visit to Australia, in 1967, of Professor James E McDonald. Norman and other VFSRS committee members arranged for McDonald to interview a number of witnesses to Australian sightings. For summaries of these Australian McDonald interviews, click here. 

Norman wrote a number of magazine articles during the period 1959-1972. Included amongst these were the following:

‘The Condon Report in Bits and Pieces.’ AFSRS Vol 1, Mar 1970 (Vic) pp 2, 3 & 19.

‘A fierce new look at Unidentified Flying Objects.’ AFSRS Vol 2, Oct 1964 pp 15-18.

‘The electro-magnetic effect of the UFO.’ AFSRS Vol 4, Dec 1965, pp 3-5.

‘UFOs and the mystery signals from outer space.’ AFSR No 8, Oct 1968, pp 2-3.

‘Gravity powered objects.’ FSR 1965, Vol 11, No 2, p20.

Norman investigated a number of Australian cases, including: Burkes Flat (1966); Frankston (1972); Eaton Ridge (1965); Zanthus (1968,) including numerous Victorian sightings. He forwarded Australian sightings onto NICAP in the USA, some of which appeared in the NICAP ‘UFO Investigator.’

Peter E Norris

President 1959 - 1972.

'Mr Peter E Norris, LL.B has headed this society since its foundation in 1957. He was born in 1932, educated at Wesley College and graduated Bachelor of Law from Melbourne University in 1958.

He is an elected councillor of the City of Chelsea and a member of at least six other civic bodies in that City.

The V.F.S.R.S. has much for which to thank Mr Norris whose skills in manoeuvring the society through the difficulties inherent in such groups has shown intelligent leadership which has done much to gain the respect of the people and made the subject of Flying Saucers respectable.’

[Source: Australian Flying Saucer review No 3, May 1965.]

Norris was an APRO representative, and numerous articles appeared in the APRO Bulletin, which were based on material submitted by Norris.

Peter Norris, Geoff Rumpf and Ray Mountford conducted a field investigation of the 10 March 1961, Albury, NSW sighting. [AFSR No 5, Jul 1961, pp 1-2.] 

Geoffrey S Rumpf

Librarian, Dec 1959; Investigations & Sightings Officer, May 1964; Sightings Investigations Officer, May 1965 – Jul 1966; Vice President & Sightings Investigations Officer, Dec 1966.

‘Vice president and Sightings Investigations Mr Rumpf has been a member of V.F.S.R.S. since the inaugural meeting in February 1957. He was the society’s first librarian and is the society’s first sightings investigations officer. He was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne and has worked at the University of Melbourne as a research assistant and has been employed in many fields of selling.

He is currently employed as a Publisher’s Representative. During the last six years he has travelled extensively overseas. Mr Rumpf is active in the sport of pistol shooting and is president of the Mountain District Pistol Club.’

[Source: Australian Flying Saucer Review No 6, Dec 1966.]

Rumpf investigated a number of Victorian sightings including Hallam (1967.)

Sylvia Suttton

Secretary, 1961 – Dec 1965.

‘Secretary: Mrs Sylvia Sutton joined the V.F.S.R.S. in 1959 and became secretary in 1961. In 1965 she was appointed secretary of the federation Commonwealth Aerial Phenomena Investigation Organisation (C.A.P.I.O.)

Mrs Sutton was educated at University High School and a city business college. Later, she worked in a city insurance company, on ledgers, statistical records and dissection of same, until her marriage in 1941. She is the wife of a bank manager and has a son and a daughter. Other interests have been musical studies and a short course in free-lance journalism.’

[Source: AFSR No 5 Jul 1966.]

Neville Thornhill

Sightings Investigations Officer, Dec 1967 – Oct 1968.

‘Sightings Investigations Officer: Mr Neville Thornhill was born in South Africa and migrated to Australia at the age of fourteen where he continued his education at Brighton Grammar School. He later studied engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Swinburne Technical College.

His sporting activities have been many and varied and he is currently an active member of the Mountain District Pistol Club. He is married and has two small children.

His interest in U.F.O’s was aroused by his engineering mind and an earnest desire to assist in solving the problem.

[Source: Australian Flying Saucer Review No 8, Oct 1968.]

Thornhill wrote at least one VFSRS article. ‘UFO Investigation’ AFSR No 1, Mar 1970, pp 5,6 & 12.

Other committee members

Aitchison, Harry

Technical Advisor, May 1964- Dec 1965.Committee, Dec 1966; Tape Librarian Dec 1967 – Oct 1968.

Anderson, Albert

Treasurer, Oct 1968.

Anderson, Morris

Treasurer, Dec 1967.

Bezzi, Claude

Committee, Dec 1959 – Nov 1962.

Bristol, Les

Librarian, Oct 1968 – Jul 1970; Committee, Feb 1972 – Dec 1972.

Browning, David

Public Relations Officer, May 1964; Assistant Sightings Investigations Officer, Oct 1968.

Carstairs, Delma

A/g Secretary, Jul 1970.

Coutts, Rodney

Committee, Dec 1959.

Farmer, Dorothy.

Treasurer, Dec 1965 – Dec 1966.

Frances-Williams, Kit

Committee, Dec 1966. Assistant Secretary, Dec 1967 – Oct 1968; Minutes Secretary, Mar 1970 – Dec 1970; Committee, Feb 1972.

Gillman, Dorothy

Secretary, Dec 1959 – Jan 1962; Treasurer, May 1964.

Godden, Ian

Committee, Dec 1959; Librarian & Magazine Editor, May 1964; Librarian, Apr 1960 – Nov 1962.

Hall, Norman

Assistant Librarian, Dec 1959; Committee, Apr 1960 – Jun 1962.

Harrison, June

Secretary, Oct 1968; Assistant Secretary, Mar 1970; Publications Officer, Jul 1970 – Feb 1972.

Leschen, Richard

Sightings Investigations Officer, Dec 1972.

Marrow, Rodney

Librarian, Feb 1972 – Dec 1972.

Mountford, Ray

Committee, Nov 1962.

Neville, Prue

Membership Secretary, Dec 1967.

Shackelford, Jim

Committee, Nov 1962.

Spencer, Ben

Vice President, Dec 1959 – Apr 1960; Vice-President  & Treasurer, Sep 1960- Nov 1962.

Stapleton, William

Sightings Investigation Officer, Mar 1970- Dec 1970; Committee, Feb 1972.

Stapleton wrote at least one piece: ‘The Dartmoor Phenomenon.’ AFSRS No 2, Jul 1970, pp 17-18, and was involved in an extensive investigation into the 1972 Maureen Puddy, Frankston CE3, and possible abduction.

 [Source: Australian Flying Saucer review No 5, Jul 1966.]

Sutton, Wendy

Librarian, May 1965 – Dec 1966.

Tarplee, William

Secretary, Feb 1972 – Dec 1972.

Traverston, Pat

Assistant Secretary, Dec 1972.

Valente, Cathy

Librarian, Dec 1967.

Wilkinson, Albert

Treasurer, Jul 1970; Committee, Feb 1972.

Yates, Clive

A/g Treasurer, Feb 1972 – Dec 1972.

Australian UAP from earlier years

Background

From time to time, I am contacted by individuals who tell me of UAP sightings from earlier years. Other people send me newspaper accounts of such events. These are all most welcome, as they add to our knowledge of previously unreported observations. This post describes two such recently submitted items.

Sighting from the destroyer 'Anzac'

A long time friend of mine, who lives in Tasmania, sent me a clipping from 'The Advocate' newspaper, Tasmania, dated 21 October 2017, and titled 'Possible Experience of UFO.'

This 'Letter to the Editor' read:

'Growing up I didn't believe in aliens, but that belief changed in a flash.

In the 1970's I was sitting out on deck of the destroyer Anzac just after sunrise, getting fresh air before duty. We were heading to a destination in the South Pacific, doing about 18 knots.

The sea was as smooth as glass and no-one else was on deck. A strange feeling suddenly came over me. I looked up and above the funnel was a shimmering mass the size of a medium car, making no sound. It looked like it was generating great power.

Image courtesy www.navy.gov.au/hmas-anzac-ii

I stood up and it shot away at great speed in long zig-zag motion, just above sea level, towards the horizon. From that day I knew we were not alone in the Universe.'

The letter was signed Leon Forrest, Burnie. I have referred a copy of the letter to Phil Polden, TUFOIC, Tasmania for his information and comparison with anything in the TUFOIC records.

An Internet check revealed that in 1961 the 'Anzac' was refurbished as a training vessel, and remained in service until 1974, and was eventually scrapped in 1975. This indicates that the sighting may be dated between 1970 and 1974. The ship sailed between Australia, Papua New Guinea,and various ports in the South Pacific on training missions.

An unusual encounter near Murray Bridge, South Australia

I received an email from an individual describing an encounter near Murray Bridge, South Australia. 

'The night was on a Saturday. When I was travelling along Jervois road towards Murray Bridge. Approximately 11 kms south of Murray Bridge. I observed a UFO stationary over the river Murray. This would have been about ninety meters above the water. I stopped my car. When a friend of mine drove past. I wanted him to also observe what I had seen, so proceeded to try to chase him down. However after travelling after him for about a km rethought, about what I had seen  and that I would have to chase him for a considerable distance to catch him. 

So I returned to where I had seen The UFO. On arrival at the site the vehicle had disappeared. Because of a hill being in between me and the river. I am unsure if the craft had descended below the level of sight, behind the hill down toward the surface of the river or departed from the area. On reflection I now believe they would have been going to collect water from the river.

The vessel was very big. With no noise that was discernable from my location. The size was something that particularly struck attention. It would have been larger than a normal AFL football field. The shape being that of flying saucers,with one inverted above the other. Around the outer circumference were a number of orange lights. Since that time I have observed photos of nuclear reactor core. I now believe the orange lights were in fact nuclear reactor cores from memory I recall there would have been about eight on the side of the craft that was visible from where I observed it. The craft would have weighed many thousands of tonnes,had it been constructed of earthly materials. However it appeared weightless.sitting absolutely stationary. 

I proceeded to the location of the Murray  Bridge Police station to report what I had seen. The Officer taking my statement was taking the whole thing a bloody joke  so I walked out and  have never mentioned the incident to anyone since that time.

I believe this craft would be able to travel through space at speed that would certainly make interstellar travel a very real possibility. We are not alone. These beings have nothing to fear from us. Our fastest rockets are snails in comparison to this craft. The speed of light and beyond.'

Another Murray Bridge sighting in July 1967

I found this a fascinating observation, and made more remarkable in that I already had details of a 5 July 1967 sighting from near Murray Bridge. I found details of this second event in the RAAF UAP files - file series A703, control symbol 580/1/1 part 8, page 178, and following.  This may be summarised as follows:

On 5 July 1967 at 0057hrs local time, a Mr P P Langford of Robby's Aerial Services was travelling on the main Murray-Bridge to Karoonda Road, and was about 5 miles NNE of Murray Bridge at the time.

It was a clear night sky, but there was heavy ground fog.

Suddenly the vehicle's radio became full of static, increased in intensity and became a high pitched whine. He turned the radio off. About 100-150 yards later the vehicle's motor simply stopped. The ignition key was still in the on position, but the dashboard warning lights, i.e. oil, temperature etc came on.

NAA file series A703 control symbol 580/1/1 Part 8

Langford then reported noticing a distinct break in the fog where stars were visible in the sky. A large, dark shadow was visible above the road and between two bands of fog, at a height estimated as 60 feet. Above this shadow, which he estimated to be ten feet thick, was a greyish-blue glow.

By the time Langford got out of the vehicle to investigate, both the shadow and the light had gone. There had been no associated sound at all. The witness got back into his vehicle, tried the ignition switch and the motor started. Turning on the radio he found that the static had gone.

If any blog readers can add further details to either of the above events, I would be most grateful.