Adelaide contactee - 1955

Hi

You may be aware of my interest in the subject of contactees, from previous posts on this blog. I recently found such an account from right here in Adelaide.

Courtesy of Jerry Clark in the USA I recently obtained a copy of an article titled "UFOs and parapsychology" written by H. S. W. Chibbett, which appeared in the English "Flying Saucer Review" Special Issue Number 3, dated September 1969. (Click here.)

Harold Chibbett was a paranormal investigator in the United Kingdom. In 1956 he came across a copy of the "Australian Saucer Record" (ASR) (Volume 1 number 4, 1955) which contained an article on page 12 titled "Janet."

Janet:

"Janet" was the name given to a 10 year old Adelaide girl who was being treated by a hypnotist for a slight nervous disorder. On one occasion, when the hypnotist asked "Where are you now, Janet?" she replied "In a flying saucer."

The ASR article stated "The astonished hypnotist questioned her further and received a running commentary on a trip inside a saucer to another planet. She described the landing, the people and a kind of city - all as though it were actually happening and she were merely describing what she saw.

Members of the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society sat in on another hypnotic session. "Questioned by the hypnotist and three committee members in turn, she described a city and people, and even spoke to the people and asked them questions. We made many tests to discover if the whole thing was a hoax, finally establishing that, whatever the case might be, it was not a consciouses hoax on the part of Janet."

The article concluded:

"Janet is a normal schoolgirl, of average, or perhaps a little above average, intelligence; no more interested than most girls of her age in space travel or science fiction. Her interests lie in the direction of music and drawing rather than reading. During the experiment, she spoke in her normal voice. We give the story to our readers without further comment, beyond an assurance that the facts are completely accurate and adequately documented."

My comments:

I found this account, from the very early days of South Australian UFO Research of interest to my contactee studies.

Firstly, because it involved the use of material gained under hypnosis. You will no doubt be aware of the great debate about the value of information retrieved from abductees under hypnosis. Some UFO researchers believe hypnotically retrieved information to be tainted by the process used to retrieve it.

Secondly, the year was 1955. A recent search of Adelaide newspapers by myself, for the years 1954 and 1955 have revealed a greater number of published "flying saucer" reports than I had previously been aware of.

My catalogue "South Australian UFO Reports Listing" now contains 17 reports from the year 1954 alone.

If any reader would like a personal updated copy of the South Australian UFO reports listing, send me an email to keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au and I will forward you a copy.

Rendlesham Forest case update

Dear readers

For those who have been following recent updates on the Rendlesham Forest UFO case - (click here) said by some to be "The British Roswell," here is more.

Fortean Times:

In an item on Rendelsham's 30th anniversary, Fortean Times magazine number 272 page 26, authors Andy Roberts and Dr David Clarke report that two key witnesses, Jim Penniston and John Burroughs returned to Rendelsham.

The column states "...the only real development was Jim Penniston's revelation that he is a contactee who receives telepathic communication from UFO occupants."

Also revealed, "...Penniston added more to the list by identifying yet another new location for the UFO landing site...He also admitted that he had previously led TV crews to the wrong place in the forest. Then there's the unresolved question of his notebook entry that gives the wrong date for the "close encounter" in the woods...The former airman now claims that the day after the encounter he received a "download" of 12 pages of binary code that he felt compelled to write down. Somehow, though, he overlooked mentioning this vital piece of information to anyone for 30 years!"

"The aftermath of the 30th anniversary saw even some diehard proponents willing to admit that these new embellishments had damaged the credibility of both the original stories and its narrators."

Comments:

For a comprehensive view of Rendelsham, based on the official UK Government file on the case, see Dr David Clarke's blog
(click here)

As with Roswell, the debate as to what actually happened in Rendlesham Forest shows no sign of abating. For the average researcher such as myself the myriad pieces of information about this case, keeps getting ever more complicated, and therefore difficult to form an informed viewpoint.

"Setback for SETI"

Dear readers

The autumn rains have just started in Adelaide, showers all day today.

You will recall that I like to keep up with the comings and goings of the world of SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.) Interesting note in the 30 April 2011 issue of New Scientist" magazine (Number 2810 page 5.)

"SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, has stopped at the Allen Telescope Array in California.

"The array listened out for alien radio communications until budget cuts by the National Science Foundation and the State of California called a halt to activity. The SETI Institute, which built the array, is seeking new funds."

Click here for further information from the SETI website.

Joe Firmage and The Day After Roswell

Dear readers,

In my last two posts I wrote about the 1997 book "The Day After Roswell," and its effect on Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian Minister of Defence, in the 1960's.

I got to wondering who else might have taken Corso's book to heart and was surprised to find that Internet entrepreneur Joe Firmage was also a Corso supporter.

Firmage:

Joe Firmage was born in 1970 in the USA and became an Internet entrepreneur. Firmage and others founded a company called US Web in 1997. However, Firmage left the $2 billion company in 1999 after widely expressing his views about UFOs (source: click here.)

Firmage was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying "I believe so much in this theory" and "I am in a unique position to communicate an extremely important message. I have the money, credibility, scientific grounding and faith." Firmage also related his support of the theory that some scientific advances came from the 1947 Roswell UFO crash.

In the Chronicle article, Firmage stated that he was leaving the company to ensure it "...is not impacted in any negative way." (Source: click here.) Other sources added that "To escalate matters, at the same time he began a very public campaign to attract readers to his online book, en tilted "The Truth", in which he talked about alien visitations, intergalactic travel and a host of unconventional economic and scientific theories..." (Source: click here.)

This source also stated "One of the things that certainly affected my life very deeply early on was the work of Carl Sagan."

Asked if his opinions had changed between 1998 and 2000 he responded "I wouldn't say I've reversed any position at all, but I've gained a clearer view on all the things I've written about, whether it be science, the trajectory of economics, extraterrestrial life, whatever."

His "visitation":

"I never said I was definitely visited by an extraterrestrial...those were not my words...What I'd say is that I woke up one morning and experienced the appearance of a human-like figure in my room. And we proceeded to have a conversation about space travel. And five minutes later he was gone. Was it my future self? Was it an extraterrestrial, or the consciousness of one? Was it a sleep paralysis episode? Or was it simply a bad potato? I do not know..."

Elsewhere (source: click here ) the encounter is said to have been at 6.10am. "A remarkable being clothed in brilliant white light, appeared hovering over my bed in my room," he writes "Out of him emerged an electric blue sphere, just smaller than a basketball, which was swirling with what looks like electrical arcs. It left his body, floated down and entered me."

"The Truth":

His online book "The Truth" was released on the Internet. and he stated that the impetus for the book was his own encounter; "authentic" Majestic 12 documents, and the discovery that the Roswell 1947 crash led to fiber optics, and integrated circuits, among other things. This latter belief appears to have come from reading Corso's 1997 book "The Day After Roswell."

"Firmage has been inspired to act on his new found knowledge because of a book he read by Eugene Linden...The Future in Plain Sight..."

Kairos:

Following his withdrawal from US Web in 1999, Firmage created "International Space Sciences Organization." This was "...dedicated to raising awareness of future technological breakthroughs, consciousness,and future civilisations." (Source: click here.)

Jump to 2011:

"These days, Firmage focuses on his original field of study, physics, and endeavors closer to home, like solving Earth's energy woes. He founded ManyOne, which states that it is dedicated to its "mission of building a network of socially responsible organisations and individuals." (Source: click here.) For the latest on ManyOne click here.

A Vallee aside:

As an interesting addition to Joe Firmage's views, I found the following.

In his forward to John Alexander's book "UFOs: myths, conspiracies and realities" (Thomas Dunne Books. New York. 2011) Jacques Vallee comments:

",,,unidentified flying objects, a topic of frequent discussion among high technology entrepreneurs with whom I worked and networked in California, understandably so, since the apparent behaviour of these objects raised fundamental issues about physics, advanced materials and physiological reaction among human witnesses." (p xv.)

Comments:

It seems to me, that there remains many individuals currently quietly interested in the subject of the UFO phenomenon. However, their interest is just that, quiet, possibly even secret.

Here in Australia, I am not aware of any entrepreneurs who have openly voiced their interest in the UFO phenomenon.

Dear readers, have you come across any?

Paul Hellyer - where did his interest come from?

Dear readers

Another delightful autumnal day in Adelaide. 19 degrees Celsius, and blue skies.

Yesterday morning, before work, I got up at 5am to take a look at the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which was visible in the eastern sky. I saw a few bright meteors from this annual event. I like to keep up with my astronomical interests, as watching such things as meteor showers, lunar eclipses, planetary alignments etc, reminds me that we do indeed live on a small planet, orbiting an average star, orbiting the galactic centre. This reminder, then feeds into my UFO interests, which tells me that in such a vast universe there are others out there, and that someone is visiting us.

Today's post:

Following on from my recent post about the book "The Day After Roswell" (click here for my post) I came across a curious statement by Thomas E Bullard. On page 9 of his recent book "The Myth and Mystery of UFOs" he wrote:

"...Paul Hellyer, who served as Canadian defence minister and deputy prime minister but whose UFO opinions derived from reading Colonel Corso's book rather than from official knowledge."

This suggested to me that Bullard was saying Hellyer's beliefs about UFOs came solely from the book. I wondered if this was correct?

I went to Bullard's 2005 source (click here) which was given as an article by Gord Heath titled "Paul Hellyer and the Politics of Exopolitics" and read the article for myself.

Heath's article:

I'll quote parts of it below:

"Paul Hellyer, a former Minister of Defence in the Pearson Government, has announced his belief that UFOs are real and that the US is developing weapon systems which are to be used against alien craft entering earth's airspace. He voiced his opinions at the recent "2005 Toronto Exopolitics Symposium."

"In recent years he is one of many prominent Canadians who have opposed Canadian support and participation in the US National Missile Defence program (NMD) and supported calls for a ban on weapons in space.

"It is through these contacts that he began to encounter the views of persons who believe that the US is planning space based weapon systems to be deployed against ET controlled vehicles entering earth's atmosphere from space.

"Paul Hellyer states that his belief in ET visitation do not relate back to insider knowledge obtained from his time spent as minister of National Defence from 1963 to 1967."

"Hellyer states that his recent interest in UFOs was prompted by viewing Peter Jenning's TV documentary on the topic. He later read "The Day After Roswell" by Col. Philip J Corso...In response to those who question how he came to believe the contents of this specific book, Hellyer states that he personally spoke with an unnamed US General who assured him that all of this and more was true."

Jerrypippin:

I tracked down a transcript of Paul Hellyer's speech at the 2005 conference mentioned above, to read it for myself (click here for full version.) In part, it read:

"Later, since the turn of the century I have met some ufologists who have sparked my interest in the subject and provided me with significant research material. Among other things I was asked to watch a 2 hour television special put together by the late Peter Jenning for ABC News. I found it quite compelling...I concluded that anyone with an open mind would have to be convinced by what they heard and saw...

"It may have been that program that encouraged me to read a book that had been on my shelf for a couple of years. It is titled "The Day After Roswell," and was written by Lieutenant Colonel Philip J Corso, a US Army Intelligence officer who had been a member of president Eisenhower's National Security Council and later head of the Foreign Technology desk at the US Army's Research and development Department. It was one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. It is the unimpeachable source of what I am going to say to you today."

"Two or three of my friends have asked me if I didn't think that The Day After Roswell could be just some brilliant work of fiction. My answer was no. Not even with the imagination of someone like Yann Martel, author of The Life of Pi could anyone fake it. The book is replete with too many real names, real places and real dates to be fiction."

"Last summer when I was reading it at Arundel Lodge, I shared a few of the contents with my nephew, Philip. Not having read the book, he was more than a little skeptical. A couple of days later he phoned a retired United States Air Force general of his acquaintance to ask him about the book. "Every word of it is true , and more," the general told him...Last Tuesday I decided that it would be good to hear that assurance first hand. So I phoned the general who Philip had introduced me to at an aviation exhibition a few years ago. He seemed pleased to hear from me so I asked him about the quote concerning Corso's book. "Every word of it is true, and more," he repeated fro my benefit. We then spoke 20 minutes or so discussing the "and more" to the extent he could without revealing classified material. What he said was just as fascinating and compelling as the book. UFOs are real as the airplane flying overhead. That is my unequivocal conclusion..."

Comments:

Having read Paul Hellyer's speech for myself it would seem to me that his interest in UFOs derived from:

1. "Significant research material" provided by unnamed ufologists.
2. Peter Jenning's TV special on UFOs.
3. Reading the book "The Day After Roswell."
4. Discussions with an unnamed US General.

This is quite different to Bullard's assertion that Hellyer's knowledge came from only from The Day After Roswell.

It goes to show you that, yet again, you need to read the source material for yourself.

Secondly, given that Hellyer did say, in his 2005 speech, referring to The Day After Roswell "It is the unimpeachable source of what I am going to say to you today,"
and given that serious UFO researchers believe the book's main claim cannot be true, that this part of Hellyer's opinions are based on incorrect material.

What do reader's think?

"The Day After Roswell"

Dear readers

Autumn in Adelaide is a delight. Alternating between sunny days and rainy days, with daytime maximum temperatures between 19 and 24 degrees C. The leaves on the trees are turning various shades of red and brown.

Introduction:

Roswell is still one of the leading stories in the world of UFO research. Personally, I no longer know what to think of the event. There has been so much argument and counter-argument; witnesses credited and discredited; the USAF's version of what happened; Nick Redfern's alternative perspective, and on and on. I think that we will never really know what happened.

One of the off-shoots of Roswell 1947 came in 1997 with the publication of a book, "The Day After Roswell" by Philip J Corso. (click here.)

Bullard:

I have been slowly re-reading "The Myth and Mystery of UFOs" by Thomas E Bullard (Published by University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 2010. ISBN 978-0-7006-1729-6.) (Click here.)

I am always interested in what various UFO researchers think of the work of others. In this instance, on pages 88-89 is a piece about the book "The Day After Roswell."

"Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary Roswell celebration, a retired Army Colonel, Philip J Corso, declared in The Day After Roswell (1997) that he assumed leadership of a secret research and development project in 1961 to carry out reverse engineering on the wreckage.

"From this work came lasers, integrated circuits image intensifiers, fibre optics, particle beams, and kevlar bullet-proof material. In fact, most of the technological advances since 1947 began with aliens, according to Corso, and many of these developments transferred from his research group to industry.

"The book amalgamated so many UFO-related claims and rumours that Roswell investigator Karl Pflock (click here) dubbed it "a veritable unified field theory of practically everything ufological and ufoological," but despite its errors and implausible claims, despite its round condemnation as a hoax by serious UFO researchers, Corso's tale has settled into the literature to be cited and quoted again and again as undisputed gospel."

Alexander:

I then recalled that John B Alexander's recent book "UFOs:myths, conspiracies and realities" (Published by Thomas Dunne Books. New York. 2011. ISBN 978-0-312-64834-3 click here) has a whole chapter devoted to Corso.

In the chapter's introduction, Alexander states that Corso was a personal friend of his, and he visited Corso on 2 July 1998, just two weeks before Corso passed away.

In March 1996, prior to publication of the book, Alexander, Hal Puthoff (click here)and George Knapp ( click here) visited Corso at his Florida home and heard Corso's story first-hand.

Following the meeting, Corso was invited to visit Las Vegas in April 1996 for three days of discussions. This time it involved Robert Bigelow (click here,) Alexander, Hal Puthoff and Jacques Vallee.

"Corso's story never wavered, but contained both plausible and troubling information. Plausibility came from his reported assignments supported by documentation. Troubling were topics that ran counter to the known history of technological developments." (p.42.)

Alexander checked out Corso's background. "...when it comes to Corso's background, little is easy to follow. The basic reported path seemed accurate, with a fair amount of fluff involved..." (p.43.)

A check by Alexander of Pentagon phone book records revealed "What was found only partially supported Corso's claims concerning his assignment." (p.44.)

"Corso's most fundamentally important claim was that ET technology assisted in many of our scientific and engineering advances. This assertion is fatally flawed." (pp45-46.)

The group interviewing Corso examined his version of these technological developments and found Corso's accounts did not match historically documented facts. "The scientific advances in all areas ran in a linear fashion and no step functions, or unexpected leaps were noted." (p.46.)

Beyond the technological claims, Corso also made other claims. "In the original manuscript there are episodes that are even more incredulous...One included an encounter with an alien while hew was assigned at White Sands Missile Range (p47)...Once incident included what Corso believed to be evidence for time travel...(p.48.)

In summary, Alexander concludes "There is no doubt that he had an illustrious military career...in The Day After Roswell, Corso made many extraordinary claims..Unfortunately, none of these claims have been substantiated, and most are directly refuted by known facts." (pp49-50.)

Comments:

This seems a conclusive and negative evaluation of Corso's claims. Corso's motive for making the claims remains unknown.

For those readers who haven't come across "The Day After Roswell" its details are:

Corso, Col. Philip J (retd) with William J Birnes. Pocket Books. New York. 1997. ISBN 0-671-00461-1.

Cold case - 26 February 1942 - Australia

Hi

This post will continue my look at older Australian UFO cases. This one has appeared in numerous global UFO publications e.g. English Flying Saucer Review Volume 3 Number 6, dated Nov/Dec 1957. It is said to have occurred on 26 February 1942 in the Timor Sea to the north of Australia, at midday.

I have now located a typed copy version of the witness' original letter to the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society(AFSRS) in 1957, in the files of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF.)

Research:

I requested the National Archives of Australia to digitize file series A703 control symbol 580/1/1 part 1, titled "Reports on Flying Saucers and other aerial objects" in order that I could read the full documentation.

Pages 87-88 of the digital version are a letter dated 6 April 1957 from UFO researcher Peter Norris to the Secretary of Air, advising that Norris' society was running a radio segment on UFOs, and asking the Secretary if an officer of his agency would appear on the radio program. The letter stated that some good reports had come about because of the radio show, and as an example attached a typed copy of a letter from one William Methorst.

The text of this letter from Methorst reads as follows:

"Dear Sir

After listening to your program on Flying Saucers on Wednesday evenings, I thought I would write you and tell you of an experience I had while in the Timor Sea on Thursday 26th February, 1942.

This happened while on watch for enemy aircraft just after noon.

I was scanning the skies with binoculars when suddenly I saw a large aluminium disc approaching at terrific speed at 4,000 or 5,000 feet above us. This proceeded to circle high above our ship, the cruiser "Tromp" of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

After reporting it to the officer on duty, he was unable to identify it as any known aircraft. After keeping track of this object for about three or four hours still flying in big circles and at the same height, it suddenly veered off in a tremendous speed (about 3,000 to 3,500mph) and disappeared from sight.

I have an account of this in notes made the same day in a diary which I still have in my possession.

Hope you will find this of aid to your investigations.

William Methorst."

Where was the Tromp?

Where was the ship "Tromp" on 26 February 1942?

I checked on the internet for information on the Tromp (click here) This site was invaluable. The Tromp was a cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy, and on 20 February 1942 was involved in action with Japanese forces, where it was damaged by Japanese destroyers. On 23 February 1942, the ship left Soerabaja, and went into the Indian Ocean via Madoera Strait and Bali Strait. It arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on 27 February 1942. A search of the net showed Surabaya (formerly Soerabaja) is now Indonesia's second largest city and is situated at latitude 7 deg 16 min South, longitude 112 deg 45 min East.

It is therefore probable that on the 26 February 1942 the Tromp would have been in the vicinity of the Western Australian coast, sailing south to Fremantle, and not in the Timor Sea which is to the north of Australia.

Was there a Methorst on the Tromp on that date?

I was unable to locate a crew list of the Tromp. I therefore sent an email to the contact person for the website http://www.neverlandsnavy.nl asking if they knew of any way to locate a crew list for the Tromp for 1942? I received a response from Jan Visser. Jan checked his files, but could find no-one by the name Methorst who had been a commissioned officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy in World War 2. However, that still left non-commissioned officers and enlisted men to check.

Jan suggested a number of internet forums on which I could post a request for information on Methorst, which I did. To date, no-one had responded that they have located Methorst on the Tromp. However, I did receive a response from a Paul Joosten on 31 January 2011, who advised that he had located an account of the event which gave the witness' names as William J Methorst.

Further research:

I located Peter Norris, the Melbourne based UFO researcher, whom Methorst had written to about the event. Unfortunately, Peter has retained no papers on the incident.

I conducted a name search on the website of the National Archives of Australia (NAA). I failed to locate any records of a William Methorst or a William J Methorst. However a search of the NAA's "Passenger Arrivals List" located a William J Methorst who had arrived in Australia on 1 May 1949 on board the ship Maetsuycker at Fremantle, Western Australia (source: NAA file series K269 control symbol Methorst, William J.)

I did confirm there was a William Jan Methorst (carpenter) and a Ruth Methorst (home duties) listed as living at 7 Eisenhower Street, Reservoir East, Melbourne (the same address given on the Methorst 1957 letter on the RAAF's file) in the 1959 Commonwealth of Australia, Division of Darebin, state of Victoria electoral roll. The 1961 roll showed the same details. The 1962 roll was not available in the State Library, and the 1963 and 1964 rolls for Reservoir East do not list the Methorsts.

In the Australian Telstra electronic white pages I located 12 individuals with the Methorst name. I sent each one of them a letter seeking information on a William Methorst. I received a phone call from a Jan Methorst of Tasmania, who advised that he was not aware of any William Methrost in his family line. Jan mentioned also that he knew most of the Methorst listed in the phone book. I later received an email from an Andy Methorst of Tasmania, who advised that he was not aware of any William Methorst and that he had checked with other family members in Holland and no-one knew of a William Methorst. In addition several other response letters told the same story.

Conclusions:

It would appear that the Tromp was not in the Timor Sea on 26 February 1942 but sailing down the coast of Western Australia in the Indian Ocean.

I have not been able to confirm or reject the fact that there was a William Methorst on board.

I have not been able to locate a still living relative of William Methorst, nor any signs of his diary said to detail the event.

Footnote:

The so called "Battle of Los Angeles" took place on the night of 24/25 February 1942
(click here.) Some UFO sources for example, (click here) have suggested a link between the cases.

Update: 7 April 2016:

I received an email from a blog reader, Daniel Ferguson, who advised that he had been unable to post a comment here, due to a technical problem with blogger. I therefore paste in his comment here.

"I have reason to believe that William Jan Methorst and Willem Jan Methorst are the same person.

 

Look here: <http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=angs-c&gsfn_x=1&gsln=Methorst&gsln

_x=1&msbdy_x=1&msbpn_x=XO&msbpn__ftp_x=1&msrpn_x=XO&msrpn__ftp_x=

1&msydy_x=1&msypn_x=XO&msypn__ftp_x=1&gskw_x=1&_83004002_x=1&cpxt

=0&uidh=000&cp=0&gl=35&gst=&ghc=50&geo_a=r&geo_s=au&geo_t=au&geo_v=2.0.0&o

_iid=41020&o_lid=41020&o_sch=Web+Property>. 

 

Notice that there are listings for both names, but more importantly, look at how Ruth's area of residence consistently correlates with both names. Ruth - who is presumably his wife from what I can discern in the above said passage ("I did confirm there was a William Jan Methorst (carpenter) and a Ruth Methorst (home duties) listed as living at 7 Eisenhower Street, Reservoir East, Melbourne (the same address given on the Methorst 1957 letter on the RAAF's file) in the 1959 Commonwealth of Australia, Division of Darebin, state of Victoria electoral roll.") - is listed as living in the same places at the same time as both of the William Jan Methorst and Willem Jan Methorst listings (see below).

 

The following information was taken from Australian Electoral Roles 1903-1980.

 

NAME: William Jan Methorst

GENDER: Male

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1954

SUBDISTRICT: Preston East

STATE: Victoria

DISTRICT: Darebin

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Ruth Methorst

GENDER: Female

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1954

SUBDISTRICT: Preston East

STATE: Victoria

DISTRICT: Darebin

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: William Jan Methorst

GENDER: Male

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1963

SUBDISTRICT: Fortitude Valley

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Brisbane

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Ruth Methorst

GENDER: Female

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1963

SUBDISTRICT: Fortitude Valley

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Brisbane

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Willem Jan Methorst

GENDER: Male

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1968

SUBDISTRICT: Ashgrove

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Ryan

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Ruth Methorst

GENDER: Female

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1968

SUBDISTRICT: Ashgrove

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Ryan

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: William Jan Methorst

GENDER: Male

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1972

SUBDISTRICT: North Brisbane

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Brisbane

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Ruth Methorst

GENDER: Female

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1972

SUBDISTRICT: North Brisbane

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Brisbane

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Willem Jan Methorst

GENDER: Male

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1977

SUBDISTRICT: Greenslopes

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Bowman

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Ruth Methorst

GENDER: Female

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1977

SUBDISTRICT: Greenslopes

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Bowman

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Willem Jan Methorst

GENDER: Male

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1977

SUBDISTRICT: Greenslopes

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Griffith

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Ruth Methorst

GENDER: Female

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1977

SUBDISTRICT: Greenslopes

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Griffith

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Willem Jan Methorst

GENDER: Male

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1980

SUBDISTRICT: Greenslopes

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Bowman

COUNTRY: Australia

 

NAME: Ruth Methorst

GENDER: Female

ELECTORAL YEAR: 1980

SUBDISTRICT: Greenslopes

STATE: Queensland

DISTRICT: Bowman

COUNTRY: Australia

 

See a Pattern Here?

 

These records seem to indicate that they lived together and remained thus as they moved from place to place. One can only assume either that he interchanged the spelling of his name on the ballots between 1968-1972 before finally deciding to stick with Willem prior to the next registered ballot in 1977, or that the printing of the name was an error on the part of the person(s) who maintained the records. Regardless of which is the case, it's beside the point.

 

My point is that if his & her descendants could be tracked down & contacted, it's not unlikely that they would have kept the journal as memorabilia of their father. Assuming that the journal does exist and has survived being stored away up until now, radiocarbon dating could prove a useful method to assert the time in which the journal was printed; or possibly even when the entry was made. 

 

Still, this doesn't confirm that he was on the Tromp on February 26th, 1942; however, the carbon dating method could help prove the plausibility of his claims if the journal can predate this time. Furthermore, family kept military records could potentially reveal whether or not he was on the Tromp during its passage from Soerabaja (now Surabaya), India to Fremantle, Australia between February 23rd & February 27th, 1942. At any rate, I hope this helps."