Westall High School UFO

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Coordinates: Ground 37°56′30.55″S, 145°08′07.31″E


Westall High UFO Encounter
AKA: Westall High School UFO
Participants: 200 Students/teachers
Location: Westall High School, Clayton South, Victoria, Australia,
Date: April 6, 1966
Status: Unexplained


The Westall UFO encounter is an event that occurred at 11.00 am on April 6th, 1966. For 20 minutes, more than 200 students and teachers at two Victorian state schools witnessed an unexplained flying object, that descended into a nearby open wild grass field. The paddock was adjacent to a grove of pine trees, in an area known as The Grange (now a nature reserve). The object then ascended in a north-westerly direction over the Melbourne suburb of Clayton South, Victoria, Australia.[1][2][3]

Contents

[edit] Description

At approximately 11.00 am on Wednesday, 6 April, 1966, a class of students and a teacher from Westall High School (now Westall Secondary College) were just completing sports on the main oval when an object, described as being a grey saucer shaped craft with a slight purple hue, and as being about twice the size of a family car, was sighted. Witness descriptions were mixed: Andrew Greenwood, a science teacher, told "The Dandenong Journal" at the time he saw a silvery-green disc. According to witnesses, the object was descending and then crossed and overflew the high school's south-west corner, going in a south-easterly direction, before disappearing from sight as it descended behind a stand of trees and into a paddock at The Grange, in front of the Westall State School (primary students). After a short period (approximately 20 minutes) the object - with witnesses now numbering over the 200 - then climbed at speed and departed towards the north-west. As the object gained altitude, some accounts describe it as having been pursued from the scene by five unidentified aircraft, which circled the object.[4][5]

[edit] Media

"The Dandenong Journal" covered the encounter in detail and ran two front page stories (see images). The first was on the 14th of April[6] and the next was on the 21st of April[7].

"The Age" ran a very small article about the Westall incident on Thursday, 7 April 1966, Page 6.

"OBJECT PERHAPS BALLOON - An unidentified flying object seen over the Clayton-Moorabbin area yesterday morning might have been a weather balloon. Hundreds of children and a number of teachers at Westall School, Clayton, watched the object during morning break. They said a number of small aeroplanes circled around it. However, a check later showed that no commercial, private or RAAF pilots had reported anything unusual in the area. The Weather Bureau released a balloon at Laverton at 8:30 a.m., and the westerly wind blowing at the time could have moved it into the area where the sighting was reported".[8] Witnesses and researchers were surprised when "The Sun News-Pictorial" (a tabloid) ran no story, yet "The Age" (a broadsheet) did.

"The Sun" and "The Herald" newspapers, whilst not mentioning the Westall incident, both published cartoons in the following day's editions that made light of the flying saucer phenomena.

GTV Channel 9 television also ran a news report about the encounter. Student Joy Tighe described the event for the reporter. However, a copy of this tape is not available. Channel 9 reports that it was removed from their archive and was not returned, and that the tape is now lost.

[edit] Unofficial investigation

The sighting was investigated by two groups: The Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society (VFSRS)[9][10] and Phenomena Research Australia (PRA)[11][12]. Both groups described it as being one of Australia's major unexplained UFO cases. The VFSRS team arrived on the site on Friday the 8th and spoke to students and viewed the ground mark. The VFSRS printed an image and a small report in their magazine "Australian UFO Bulletin" in December 2000. Investigator Brian Boyle (PRA) arrived at the site on Sunday the 9th, with the Army investigators . Boyle did a number of interviews (reel tape) over a number of days and took samples from the ground mark.[13] These investigators were able to speak to many of the witnesses as it was over the Easter Holiday (8th-11th).

[edit] Reunion

A witness reunion was held at Westall Tennis Club Hall on 8 April 2006, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the sighting.[14][15]

[edit] Proposed explanations

[edit] Conventional

Although some witnesses reported five Cessna-type aircraft around the object, investigators were unable to find any record of such aircraft. Moorabbin Airport, which is 4.76 km (South West) from the location, was checked but no aircraft from that airport entered the airspace. The RAAF also reported no military activity in that area.

Australian Skeptics described the object as potentially having been an experimental military aircraft.[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Dandenong Journal - 1966 14th Apr, page 1
  2. ^ The Dandenong Journal - 1966 21th Apr, page 1 & 2
  3. ^ Auchettl, John, An Old Australian Phenomenon, The Australian Annual Flying Saucer Review, Victorian UFO Research Society (VUFORS), 1983
  4. ^ The Dandenong Journal - 1966 14th Apr, page 1
  5. ^ The Dandenong Journal - 1966 21th Apr, page 1 & 2
  6. ^ Dandenong Journal vol 105 No 28 Front p1
  7. ^ Dandenong Journal vol 105 No 30 Front p1&2
  8. ^ "The Age" Thursday, 7 April 1966,Page 6
  9. ^ Researcher: Magee, Judith (VFSRS)(VUFORS)(CAPIO)
  10. ^ Researcher: Norman, Paul (VUFORS)(MUFON)
  11. ^ Researcher: Boyle, Brian (AMPR)(AFSIC)(APRV)(PRV)(PRA)
  12. ^ Researcher: Seers, Jack (AMPR)(AFSIC)(APRV)(PRV)(PRA)
  13. ^ Auchettl, John, An Old Australian Phenomenon, The Australian Annual Flying Saucer Review, Victorian UFO Research Society (VUFORS), 1983
  14. ^ 774 ABC Melbourne - The 1966 Westall UFO incident Tuesday, 17 January 2006, Reporter: Florenz Ronn http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/stories/s1549038.htm
  15. ^ The Age 2nd Oct 2005 Academic throws light on 40-year-old UFO mystery"
  16. ^ Only Melbourne 16 July 2007 - Steve Roberts[1]

[edit] External links