Australian Meteorology Bureau UFO reports

Paul Dean, a UFO researcher in Australia, has been scouring the online digitized files of the National Archives of Australia for UFO reports, and he has found a few. His latest hit has been in the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. He has come across a file of scanned letters from 1972 to 1981 that contains UFO reports. The file, titled Observations – general by outside authorities (including UFO) [Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology], mostly contains reports of weather phenomenon, such as tornadoes or dust clouds. There are also astronomical reports, such as of meteorites. However, there are either UFO reports, or questions regarding UFOs. For instance there are a couple of requests by students on information about UFOs for papers they are writing. One frustrated fifth grader complains that it is hard to get information on UFOs because not many people believe in them.
As for the UFO reports, many come from UFO groups. One interesting response to UFO photos, sent to the Meteorology Bureau in February of 1981, said their negatives were sent to “Flight Lieutenant Rod Bencke of RAAF Pearce who has an authoritative interest in these manners.”
Dean made a list of files he thought were interesting:

1. Mr G Neads of Kelmscott, WA took a picture in New Zealand about 1979. In the picture were bright circles of light. The Bureau passed the photograph to RAAF Base Pearce.
2. 14 Mar 1979. The Bureau sent a letter to a G Hume of UFO Research Group, Perth. It said that the photograph you forwarded “…does not appear to show any object which could be recognised as part of a balloon train…I am not able to offer any alternative meteorological explanation of the object in the photograph.” The associated letter from PUFORG dated 28 Feb 1979 stated that the object was photographed at Ceduna, SA in Dec 1977. The photo is not on file.
3. 27 May 1978. Kings Rocks, Hyden, WA. 2050hrs. Dull orange object, low on the eastern horizon travelling north to south. Faster than an aircraft, slower than a meteor. No sound. Duration 1.5 to 2 minutes. Moved from north-east to south-south-west. Above clouds. Long orange tail. 3-4 weeks before, at dusk, a similar object was seen travelling in the opposite direction in the eastern sky.
4. 19& 20 May 1977. Letter from Unexplained Phenomena Investigation Bureau of Bunbury, WA. Re sightings between 0930 and 1200 hrs on both days. The observations were labelled as Venus. “Through binoculars it seemed to be spinning on an axis and two disk like shapes which seemed to be joined, merged into a ball at intervals.
5. 1 May 1977. Pingaring, WA. Letter reporting a light in the sky between 1930 and 2030hrs in the north-eastern sky for the last 6 weeks.
6. Letter dated 29 Mar 1977 from UPIB, Bunbury re three reports:
a. 26 Feb 1977. 2215hrs. Withers, WA. 5 mins. 15 degrees elevation. Stationary light in the sky for 15-30 seconds then moved across the sky.
b. 2 Feb 1977. 2100hrs-2130hrs. Bunbury. Fuzzy light in the sky moving around yellow/white colour.
c. 15-18 Feb 1977. 2000hrs. Perth, WA. Domed object with red and green lights.
7. Letter from UPIB with two reports:
a. 20 Feb 1977. Collie, WA. 1700hrs. A white ball with a white tail, burst through clouds in the sky and was lost to sight behind a hill.
b. 4 Mar 1977. 2300hrs. Brunswick Junction, WA. 10mins. Two witnesses saw an object in the north-western sky. It was bright ball with a blazing tail, brighter than the Moon. It appeared to speed up, slow down and later, at one point, almost faded away.
8. 16 Dec 1976. 1225WST. Kalgoorlie meteorological office. M Winterbourne saw a object travelling north-est to south-west. It passed south of overhead. It was white in colour, glowing, fuzzy at the edges and slightly pulsating. The shape was like a rugby ball, with an angular size of about half a degree. Sighting duration was 10-12 seconds. When at about 50 degree elevation in the south-west it seemed to stop for five seconds then dissolved in the same spot.
On the same day at 1330WST Winterbourne received a telephone call from Dave Bower at the Scotia Mine, near Kalgoorlie reporting a “Strange object in the sky which was hardly moving. He gave me the bearings, but I failed to locate it at that time.”
The same day at 1445WST Winterbourne saw the same object as at 1225hrs. This one flashed across the sky from east to west. It was lost to sight as it diminished in angular size apparently due to distance. Duration 12 seconds.

Alejandro Rojas

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