1978
1978 SYDNEY (MAROUBRA), NSW 0400hrs (NL)
Source: 1800 UFO Hotline Callin Code 5632, Reported 14.07.06
This particular report had been passed on to another organisation many years ago but Ken could not remember as to whom. The incident happened some 28 years ago. Ken used to do a lot of fishing. Although Ken lived at St Peters, He managed to find a lift from a friend spending time fishing off the Maroubra coastline, in the CBD beach and cove districts of Sydney. After a couple of years of this, his neighbour moved, but our caller had been bitten by the fishing bug and carried on alone. 28 years ago, after fishing most of the night and at a time still a couple of hours before daylight, an event occurred that has stayed with him for life. Toward the Anzac rifle range end of Maroubra Beach, Ken noticed lights toward the Sydney Heads.

“One light was brighter and appeared to be coming towards me. I didn’t initially take much notice. But at that time of night, I thought it a bit strange.”

The lights ended up directly in front of me; less than a hundred yards out. Just a light, a fairly small object at best, a bright white light, not flashing, just fixed. I Sensed I was being watched by a controlled object.” Ken had a fishing rod pointed toward it so he laid it down and crouched down himself. After what seemed like two or three minutes, the object rose straight up! Ken heard no sounds during the whole event. Ken described sea conditions as calm – no surf at all. The now singular object no more than a hundred yards away, rose up higher than the rifle range and moved over the Headland itself some 500 yards away until Ken lost sight of it down the other side. Ken estimated the speed of movement over the Headland as slow, about 20 – 40 k/hr.

“Then, a couple of minutes later, the light circled around, came back over the range and landed directly behind me! Dust seemed to rise up from underneath. It touched down and the light went out and complete darkness fell over me again”. The area in question is a light grass, scrub and bush area, then the South Maroubra Lifesavers building grass area.”

“It landed there, the light went out and I got pretty nervous. I picked up my fishing gear and started away toward the roadway. I kept looking behind.” Amazingly, Ken waited in the bus shelter for cover of daylight and has wondered to this day if He should have taken a closer look, but He was alone. Ken is now 78 years of age. Number of Witnesses: 1. Dominic McNamara AUFORN NSW

JANUARY 1978 KING ISLAND, TAS 0100hrs
TA 1982-048
A 34 year old lady was up in the early hours of the morning to attend to her children. Looking out a window to the north she observed a large, fire coloured, ball apparently either at ground level or perhaps three metres off the ground. The ball was stationary and over paddocks about 400—500m away. Estimated size: two metres in diameter. Watched for fifteen minutes, and still there when the witness returned to bed. The lady was reasonably familiar with the area. No burning off, no fires.

01.01.78 SYDNEY, NSW 0015hrs
NA1978-001
A seventy-four year old woman was watching the fireworks bring in the new year, when her attention was attracted to a bright self—luminous orange light which she at first thought was a flare. The notion was dispelled when the object, instead of exploding, continued on its trajectory for the next five minutes. The object emerged from behind a neighbour’s rooftop and travelled in a straight line SE towards the horizon. When she called a friend to witness the light, the light had changed direction now heading west in a straight line parallel to the southern horizon, until it disappeared behinds trees and houses.

05.01.78 BRISBANE (BIRKDALE), QLD 0115hrs (CE1)
QA 1978-001
"Driving home from work with my husband, coming in from a SE direction along Ricketts Road, Birkdale. I just happened to look up in the sky and saw a very distinct triangle, orange and hot looking object, coming down in a 45o angle to the horizon towards the tree tops. I saw the object for approximately sixty seconds and as soon as it got near the tree tops, it just vanished leaving no trace."

09.01.78 NORTH QUEENSLAND 0030hrs (CE1)
QB 1978-004
Husband was asleep, but wife had difficulty sleeping and just laid there. Suddenly she noticed the area about the house and in her bedroom being lit up by an exterior light source. First she thought it was a car, but then realised the light was coming from above. At that moment she heard a very low humming sound and the light disappeared. She was facing a triangular shaped window at the back of the house and while still lying down, she saw a large black oblong shaped object pass the window. After the object passed, the humming sound began to dafe. She then climbed out of the bed and went to the window to obtain a better view, but saw nothing and went back to bed. Although not sure, she thinks the hum and light returned three minutes later, but saw no object. Her husband slept through the entire incident.

10.01.78 BAKERS CREEK FALLS, NSW 0400hrs
NA 1978-003
A twenty-five year old man encountered two aerial lights ten to twelve metres up, a short distance away followed by an elongated object with portholes as he was driving between Grafton and Armidale. One moved over the mountains and the other hovered above the ground a short distance from the witness. It began falling in a stopstart fashion, finally maintaining a level elevation thirty to forty feet above the ground. It emitted ‘sparks’ as it hovered and he shone his car headlights and a pocket torch on the object with no reaction noted. He drove on down the road and alighted to see a huge elongated object with ‘portholes’ along it’s side hovering above the ground. Photos were taken but they only show a blurred yellow shape due to *incorrect settings and lighting problems experienced at the time.

The witness ran into the paddock where the object was hovering but returned to the roadway when he heard a car approaching. The driver slowed down and passed the witness who, by being in an agitated state, must have appeared to be mentally affected and gave the wrong impression to the driver of this vehicle.. The witness again ran into the field and saw the same vehicle tearing back the way he came at high speed. When he again looked for the object the witness noted that in its place was a strange ‘mist’ that retracted up the creek and then returned to encircled him. He heard a distinct humming sound directly above the mist. The mist and object then disappeared, leaving him alone and he then continued on his journey. He placed an advertisement in the local paper the next day and other witnesses contacted him to relate similar incidents in the area. The witness suffered much discomfort after the event and he could not sleep for five days and- nights after it.

19.01.78 ARMIDALE, NSW 2350hrs
NA 1978-005
A single witness observed a large circular object hovering in the sky near his home. His wife had just gotten out of their car and had walked inside when the witness sighted the object. He called out to her but she was too late and arrived as the object was observed to accelerate straight up, being lost from sight in seconds. The witness described seeing square windows on the outer rim of the craft and it emitted a ‘bleeping Sound as it hovered. It was estimated at about thirty to forty feet in diameter.

22.01.78 ADELAIDE (KLEMZIG), SA (TRACE-IFO)
Material was found on a back lawn which had not been there the night before. The material was spread over a 10-24cm wide band in an arc. The material was light grey in colour and spread over leaves of weeds and over grass stalks. When rubbed between the finger it turned black and greasy. Viewed through a 10x looking glass, the material was seen to be composed of small, oval, discrete elements. The Botanic Gardens of SA advised their inspection indicated it was a slime mould. UFORSA

31.01.78 PAWLEENA, TAS 0310hrs
TA 1978-007
Waking up early, the witness went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, the kitchen light was not on as she looked out the window. The time on the electric clock was 4.lO am. She was staying at her daughter’s house to look after the children. Just above the distant south to south—east hill line, she noticed a star like a white light. Over the period of a minute the light gradually approached directly towards the witness, growing in size all the time. Eventually it passed in front of a tall gum tree about 400 to 500 metres distant. She now felt a little concerned that ‘it’ was going to land in the paddock next to the farm yard. In fact the now well defined object, (elliptical with sharper ends and two very bright white lights in the centre), performed a circular movement over a paddock only one to two metres above the ground, less than 200 metres from her. It circled away gaining some elevation and passing across the- gum tree again. The original flight pass was then repeated as the object passed low over the paddock going from her right to left. It then moved in front of the tree a third time. The object now departed increasing speed and elevation to disappear behind Weston Hill in a matter of ten seconds. It had moved around over the paddock slowly taking three to four minutes. When the object was pointing at her, it was hard to see anything else due to the two bright lights. Also, the object was a glowing silver shape when turned away from her.

FEBRUARY 1978 WEST MOONAH, TAS
A family heard noises one night in February. The next day, marks appeared on the ground by the house. The house itself was just built, and the marked area was soon covered for a new garden. No further checks were possible as the report was given to TUFOIC in late 1978.

03.02.78 SEVEN MILE BEACH, TAS 2130hrs
Michele Russell-Breen says she was going to have a wash about 930pm., when she heard a burring noise, looking up to the east she saw an object stationary, then moving behind trees in a northerly direction. She saw some other children looking at the object. She then went on her way to the washroom. Michele wasn’t sure who the other children were. Other contacts uncovered reports of other lights seen that evening at 5pm, and again the following night. These lights were consistent with air traffic movements.

To Michels the object seemed close and at tree top level. It was dome—shaped with what looked like a row of windows about the middle. A wider area of light, disc—shaped, was spinning below. She also saw flashing white/yellow lights on the edge of the disc and a red light atop the dome. The body of the object may have been white or just, reflecting the bright lights. On one side of a centre window there looked to be a thin figure with a bump or rounded head. It seemed to be moving back and forth in the window.

About 9.30pm to 10pm, Janine Horns was outside when she saw the object above the trees to the east. It was like two saucers stuck together. It was spinning fast at first then it slowed down and a figure was visible in what looked like a window near the object’s centre. The object moved south then returned to the north, a faint whining noise was heard as it went behind the trees. The elliptical object had a row of windows across its top half. There was a red light on top with a green one below. A row of lights was visible across the centre. The figure appeared to be thin with a largish rounded head above what looked like a high collar, it had an arm visible to the right. The figure moved its head and changed positions. The object went behind trees east of the witnesses.

05.02.78 BALADONIA, WA 1600hrs
WA 1978-003
The witness stated:
“While driving west approximately twenty to thirty miles east of Baladonia, I observed a large spot light coming towards ne, coming from the west going east. I thought it was another vehicle so I put my high beam on and off several times, but the other light did not change brightness. Then I could see a large diamond shaped object coming towards mm. It had red, blue, green and yellow lights, which were reflecting off the road beneath it. The white light nearly blinded me so I didn’t know whether it went directly overhead or veered to one side of me. Then I stopped the truck and got out, but couldn’t see anything. After a couple of minutes I started driving again. I started looking around when I noticed a round dull white light or object on my right hand side which was approximately two to three inches in diameter. Also traveling at the same speed as the truck. I then stopped and the object stopped. I started again and the object also started to move. Then it disappeared when I drove into Baladonia. After five minutes later it reappeared on my left side. I then stopped, and another truck coming from the west also stopped to see if I was all right. I asked if he had seen anything but the object had disappeared. I started driving again, and the object once more appeared to my left. I switched off the truck headlights. The object went from a round shape to an elongated shape which was approximately seventeen inches by eight inches high. It was dull white with black segments (windows?). About one minute later the object disappeared. About a quarter of an hour later it reappeared on my right in a round shape again- At about 4.30am the sky was getting light and the object disappeared for the last time.

11.02.78 MORTDALE, NSW 2310hrs
NA 1978-057
A bright yellow light moving slowly across the sky from NE to SW, over a complex of railway buildings, was noticed by a young schoolboy, who was at that time standing on the balcony of his home unit at Montdale.

12.02.78 HOBART (GEILBTON BAY), TAS
It was a warm evening on the 12th and Mrs L Dienaar was on her front porch with two children seeking relief from the heat. A flash of light was noticed to the north—west over Mt Faulkner and a star like white light appeared traveling south. A second later two other similar lights were seer’ following the lights were seen following the first, one behind the other. They moved south over the hills towards Mt Wellington. Giving the impression they were above and well beyond the hills. The leading light paused and the following lights merged with it. The single light now changed brightness and moved up vertically at great speed and then faded out. The lights were in view for about a minute over the Hobart suburb of Geilston Bay.

NOTE: This was to be a first of a number of merging, separating erratic lights reported over the Hobart suburbs between February and July.

19.02.78 HOBART (BRIGHTON), TAS 0430hrs
A week later Miss R of Brighton was out early at 4.30am to prepare her house for the day’s show jumping. She left the house and at once her attention was caught by a brilliant circle of steady orange lights. From their on-the-spot investigation it seems the lights were about a kms away and 300mtrs off the ground near the Brighton Army Camp. The lights may have covered an area of ten to fifteen metres. The lights moved south-west very slowly maintaining the same elevation. They stopped two or three times then passed in front of Jews Hill (3l0mtrs, 4krns away). Next, the lights sped up and diminished to a dot as if receding to the south-west. Finally the lights grew in size again (but not as large as when first seen) as they came back northwards. They passed out of sight behind hills to the south of Miss R. The lights had been in the area for three minutes. The farm dogs with the witness and her horse showed no reaction to the lights. The sky was overcast with cloud about l200mtrs. Enquires revealed that Brighton Army Camp received some calls about lights over the camp early that morning. None of the callers left their names. Miss R also saw a misty beam near the lights but this may have been from the camp security lights, although the beam went off when the lights moved away. A common sense investigation has left UFOR(TAS) with a puzzling case.

28.02.78 BRIDAL VIEW FALLS, NSW 1900hrs
Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Millier of Hazelbrook were walking near the falls when their attention was drawn to an object traveling across the sky in roughly a NE direction. Watching the object, they saw it execute a sharp turn of roughly ninety degrees and then speed off to the SE. Mister Millier reports that it appeared to be gaining altitude and when over Sydney, it disappeared.

05.03.78 LEIGH CREEK, SA 0210hrs
A truck driver ‘followed’ a one metre diameter blue/green ball seemingly only fifty-seventy metres in front of him and two to three metres above the road.

05.03.78 PARACHILNA, SA 0210hrs (CE1)
(Source: UFORSA Newsletter 30. p1.)
SA 1978-035
Driving a truck when he saw a blue green light in front of him some 50-60m ahead and only 2-3m off the road. It started to move slowly up and down about 1m. Two smaller red lights then appeared under the green and it took off to the right and disappeared. About 30 seconds later, it came back. It lowered toward the road and when 2m up but when he put his vehicle’s high beam on it shot upwards. Duration: 15 minutes. UFORSA

08th MAR; CENTRAL COAST, NSW NSW 1945-2105hrs
NB1976-002
At 1945hrs, several people saw two bright lights coming in from the sea. As the lights came closer, an outline could be seen. It was described as being triangular in shape, the flat part facing forward and the point being towards the back. The two white lights were facing forwards. Underneath of the object seemed to be a ‘burning glowing red’, like hot metal. The two lights on the front then began to flash on and off for some time. The object was then reported to hover over a small park in the Point Glare area of the Central Coast where several other people saw it. It then moved north picking up speed where more witnesses reported seeing it as it slowly disappeared.

11.03.78 BRISBANE (TINGALPA), QLD 0300hrs (NL)
QA 1978-003
"At about 3.00am, I got out of bed to get a tissue. A window is right beside the bed and I noticed an orange light moving across the sky. At first, I thought it was a meteor or possibly a comet so I was waiting for it to fall. The light continued to travel at the same height and speed so I watched it until it was at the north-east side of the house. I then came out to the kitchen window and watched it from there, calling my Grandmother at the same time.

Houses blocked our view, so we moved to the north-west corner of the house (front veranda) and the object seemed to disappear. We don't know whether it landed or continued on because houses blocked our view."

It was described a one large light with a pulsating light underneath. It was oval in shape and its colour was orange. Duration: five minutes.

13.03.78 SYDNEY (MANLY), NSW 1820hrs
NA 1978-024
At approximately 6pm, a large quarter—circle object with two bright white lights, moving slowly over Sydney Harbour from south to north was sighted from the Manly Amusement Pier by a Belrose family of three.

12.04.78 SYDNEY (NEWPORT), NSW 0540hrs
NA 1978-036
At sunrise, a woman spotted a rotating yellowish orange ‘fireball’ dive in and out off the water off Newport Beach. The most probable explanation, according to present information, is that she saw a type of ball lightning.

19.04.78 MURGON, QLD 1730hrs (NL)
QA 1978-004
On the evening of the 19th, Mrs Iris Meddleton and her eleven year old son, John, were approaching their home by car, when John drew his Mum's attention to an unusual light in the western sky. It was a thin strip of light which at times appeared stationary. It would fade from sight and then brighten again. The sun had just disappeared over the horizon and the sky was cloudless.

They then drove directly to her husband who was finishing work at the local dairy. They lost sight of the object for a couple of minutes, but sighted it again some distance to the north, where the tree tops were above the horizon. At this stage their sixteen year old daughter was also observing the object.

The object then began to manoeuvre and was at times verticle to the horizon. It then changed its direction to move south, appeared to speed up and in a 'flash' of brilliant orange-red light, disappeared completely. Ten other people in the Murgon district witnessed this incident, of which seven of them are employees of the South Burnett Meat Works.

REFER TO SKETCH

03.05.78 PORT AUGUSTA, SA (NL)
A light aircraft pilot heard over his radio that another aircraft had sighted a bright light which had also apparently been picked up on the aircraft's radar. No direct confirmation of the event could be made. UFORSA

03.05.78 PORT AUGUSTA, SA EVENING (NL)
Two accounts were received. One was from an Air Traffic Controller at Adelaide Airport who reported that a pilot of a RAAF Hercules was near Port Augusta and called Adelaide to ask if they were picking up another target. He was apparently concerned about a bright light to his W which also showed on the plane's radar. Indications were that the light was at 2,000 feet. The second account was from the pilot of a light aircraft flying from the State's SE to Adelaide who reported hearing a call about a bright white light at a height of 2000 feet on a VHF frequency. UFORSA

04.05.78 ADELAIDE, SA 0100hrs (NL-IFO)
Source: Adelaide "News" 4/5/78. Channel 10 evening TV news.
A huge red flashing light with a pale lemon coloured light to the side was observed from the southern suburbs. The whole thing seemed transparent. After 15 minutes it disappeared. Dr Fred Yakka of the Mawson Institute advised that their magnetometer had displayed signs that the siting could have been of an Aurora. Duration: 15 minutes.

04.05.78 QUORN, SA 0403hrs
Source: SPACERS UFO Group Elizabeth - now ceased
Waiting for bus looking S when three lights in av formation were seen at 45 degrees S. Each was about half Moon sized, semi-circular, and had a faint blue halo around them. They hovered over water tanks situated on a hill 500m away, where they were joined by a fourth object. Then they all moved steadily to the W and faded away. Duration: 10 minutes.

11.05.78 KABAN, QLD 1930hrs (CE1)
QB 1978-014/015
At about 7.30pm, Mr H, a farmworker was on a dirt track on the property checking on a fire which had been lit earlier in the day to burn a patch of scrub. The witnesses' two dogs accompanying him began to behave "funny" and he then noticed a bright object slowly approaching from the west. Seeing this he went back along the track a short distance to a caravan on the property and called Mrs H's attention to the objects' apparent approach.

Mrs H said before she had been interrupted, she had been watching her television and was complaining about the poor reception which consisted of 'static and screen rolling'. After collecting the rifle and a set of binoculars the witnesses drove back along the track in their "Mini Moke" and watching the object as it moved closer in their direction and then stopped, hovering above a line of trees about 500 metres away to the west.

Both witnesses described the object as being "domed" or "dome shaped" and "shiny", it had brilliant yellowish-white lights along its side and a "bright bluish light" centre top, they said all of the lights were pulsating. Estimates of size ranged between twenty-five feet and sixty feet wide. The witnesses watched the object "just hover" a few metres above the trees for about fifteen minutes, it then moved away "very slowly" in the direction it had approached from staying just above the trees.

The sighting occurred at a farming property near Kaban which is about 13km north of Ravenshoe. The area is isolated and consists of large expanses of scrub and farming properties, growing mainly peanuts and maize.

REFER TO SKETCH

15.05.78 ADELAIDE (HALLETT COVE), SA 0615hrs
Two large lights were seen in the sky at 5-10 degrees moving from NNW to N over 10-15 minute period. Another light was then seen, this one yellow in colour. Another red light appeared. These lights then moved erratically around the NW sky at 5-10 degrees, for 30 minutes. UFORSA

25.05.78 MARBLE BAR, WA
It was an orange, cigar shaped object. It’s flight path steady and speed constant, arc of vision from sighting vanishing point, 164 degrees, elevation - above my rational horizon twenty-two degrees. Compass variation altered as much as nineteen degrees during the lowing 48 hours. Locality was bathed in bright light. I was aware of massive energy release and absorption of energy for a period of about three weeks. The object is the most impressive flying vehicle I have during my lifetime. It’s size was similar to a 747 jet.

REFER TO SKETCH

MAY-JUNE 1978 SMITHFIELD, QLD 2130/2230hrs? (CE1)
QB 1979-019
After finishing work, the witness was driving home along the Cook Highway to Caravonica (north of Cairns). Approaching the intersection of the highway and Kamerunga Road the witness looked ahead up towards the range (about one kilometer to his west) and noticed a "large boomerang shaped white light". Within approximately two seconds the light just "switched out" and then almost immediately the witness saw it "switched on" again about two kilometers further north along the range. The light again "switched out" as the witness turned his car south along Kamerunga Road, and he did not observe it further.

The witness felt the light was very unusual. He said it lit up trees on the range below it although there were no beams. The light itself was clearly outlined (or well defined edges) and there appeared to be a "dark shape beneath the light".

03.06.78 BRISBANE (GREENBANK), QLD ca1840hrs (NL)
QA 1978-006
Three people witnessed a light which travelled irregularly across the sky until it was lost to view behind roofs. Duration: four minutes. Its colour was white.

REFER TO SKETCH

08.06.78 nr THE IGLOOS, QLD (CE1)
Source: Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton/09.06.78)
The Bradys with their three small children left their home in Parkhurst about 7.00pm and were travelling along the four mile road towards Kawana.

When near the "Igloos" there was a bright flash of light like a street light being turned on. It was bright enough to light up the interior of the car. They then noticed something with six lights like port holes hovering above the trees. The object was about 200 feet from the car, at first they thought it was a helicopter but as their car turned a corner they noticed two lights on the side, and these seemed to turn towards them and follow them.

They stopped their car and as they did so another car approached and the object moved backwards and upwards until it became like an orange star. They stopped again a little further on and they could see an orange glow in the sky, they estimated it was about fifteen minutes from when they first sighted the object. Mrs Brady said her husband had wanted to get a closer look at the object, but she was scared stiff and just wanted to get away.

NOTE: Other sightings also had occured in the area before this was reported. - UFOR(FNQ)

15.06.78 BRISBANE (WYNNUM CENTRAL), QLD 0305hrs (CE1)
QA 1978-007
On Thursday, 15th June, at 3,05am, Mrs F Fisher of Wynnum Central had just finished tending to her baby and was passing her family room windows which give an East to North-East view over Moreton Bay towards Green Island - when her attention was caught by a large yellow light stationary in the sky due east of her observation point. The witness stopped to observe the light which was approximately the size of a thumb tack head at arms length. The light remained stationary for about one minute, then commenced to move in Northerly direction very slowly. The colour began to deepen to an orange, then red. The light stopped again and began to pulsate. Suddenly a solid column of pure white light was emitted down onto the water, giving the first indication of distance from the observer.

The beam of light illuminated the water close to the beach which is about one-half mile distant. The source of the beam was some distance below the pulsating light at which point, a large darkened mass became evident between the light and beam, of considerably larger size. After remaining stationary for approximately 20 seconds, the object proceeded to move behind a tree standing in the yard, although the red light still could be seen through the leaves. At this junction Mrs Fisher decided she had better get her husband up to confirm what she was seeing. Upon returning to the window both witnesses saw the object reappearing from behind the tree although the light had turned yellow. The light beam was still shining vertically down and illuminated trees and a house roof close to the waterfront. The object continued its slow movement and was lost to view behind a large mango tree in the North-East end of the yard. Duration of the sighting was roughly four minutes.

The witness appeared to be level-headed, unexcitable, and is not and never has had any knowledge relating to the phenomenon of UFOs, either from literature or the movie "Close Encounters of The Third Kind", and has no desire for publicity. The RAAF was unable to supply information but indicated negative reasons for operations in the area at that time. There were no commercial flights in the area at the time either.

REFER TO SKETCH

18.06.78 SYDNEY (FRENCHS FOREST), NSW 1330hrs (NL)
NA 1978-064
At approximately 1.30 pm on a Sunday, a very bright white/silver light was sighted in the NW sky by a twenty-five year old man, traveling in his car in the Frenchs Forest area.

30.06.78 nr GOULD ISLAND, QLD 2330hrs (CE1)
QB 1978-025
Mrs T had been fishing from a boat with her husband and family west of Garden Island (just off Cardwell.) At approximately 11.30pm she looked up to see a "big bright green light" disappearing behind Garden Island. Describing the object Mrs T said that it was "very big", about the size of "the foliage of a coconut palm", and round in shape. The witness also stated that the object was "surrounded by a white glow" and as it moved it left a "glow like trail" in the air.

REFER TO SKETCH

05.07.78 BRISBANE (OUTSKIRTS OF BALD HILLS), QLD 1515hrs (DO)
QA 1978-008
Robert and Maureen were travelling northwards along the freeway in their late model Statesman Sedan. The traffic was light, and they were not travelling fast (probably 80kph). Just before passing over the Pine River Bridge, Maureen suddenly noticed a bright object in front of the car. The object could be seen above the trees, and appeared to be moving away.

The object appeared as a shiny elliptoid slightly larger than moon-size.

Maureen drew Robert's attention to it, and they both watched it receded from them, always in view above the trees. Its flight path appeared to be straight, but the object seemed to circle round an imaginary point, producing a flight path like:

REFER TO SKETCH

After travelling a further kilometre along the road, the object, as they were watching it, simply vanished. The object was always on the car's right hand side.

Maureen has always had a keen interest in UFOs and other psychic phenomena. She has read a lot of literature on these subjects. However, Robert was a UFO skeptic before the sighting. He has now become a firm believer in the existence of UFOs. Robert, a butcher, has good eyesight. Maureen, a housewife, uses reading glasses for seeing close objects, but does not require glasses for distant objects. She was not wearing glasses when this sighting occurred.

REFER TO SKETCH

09.07.78 NEWELL BEACH, QLD 1930hrs (CE1)
QB 1978-018/019
At approximately 7.30pm, two people called down from house by third witness to observ through binoculars what appeared as a large bright light in the sky to the north-west. One of the witnesses Mr R said the light seemed above or beyond the mountains to the west and very high. Mr R said seeing it through binoculars it appeared as moon size and hemispherical shaped#, constantly banking.

# The witnesses were all unsure of the shape although they thought a hemisphere on edge was closest to correct.

Mr R stated: "...inside of the circular shape was a very hot white, and had an orange-red glow around what appeared to be edges. The shape changed to an oval with three dark lines across the lower half, in a period of three to four minutes then back to circular shape, and a small dark spot would be constantly moving back and forth across the circle."

At sometime during the sighting Mr R said the object seemed to seperate, the second object was much smaller but the same as the first. This second object moved to the "right" of the original object and after a period of approximately 11/2 minutes became one again.

NOTE: The witnesses stated that "the same object" was seen again on the 10th, 11th, and the 20th of July, although on these occasions they paid little attention to it.

MID JULY 1978 BALONNE BEACON, QLD 2230hrs (NL)
QA 1979-018
Mrs Pringle was two miles out of town, coming in to the town to pick up her husband, Max, at the Foodland Store, when she saw an object like an orange streetlight, but larger, along the river. After picking up her husband, they travelled down Victoria Road, keeping the object in sight as it passed over the cavaran park. Object was on the other side of the river as they crossed the bridge and when half a mile away from it, the object popped down behind trees and disappeared.

A fortnight later on a Thursday night about 9pm, they saw the same thing from their house, but higher in the sky. They picked up other people at the shop and again saw the object at the bridge. It was a yellow-orange in colour, being momentarily a red or green.

21.07.78 MOSSMAN, QLD 1840hrs (NL)
QB 1978-017
Three people leaving house at Mossman noticed a bright object to the north-east at about 20 degrees. The object was first stationary and the witnesses described it as being "round or oval shaped" and colours varying from pale bluish to an orangey-red. At intervals (unknown) a "smaller deep red round object" would come out of the side of the object and prescribe a circular trajectory returning again to the lower side of the larger one.

The witnesses said that at least four times during the sighting (duration of approximately two hours) they saw the object "drop very fast" down about eight degrees and then climb up to its original position on a "twisting course". While watching the object one witness observed a "small reddish-orange tadpole" shaped object depart the larger one and shoot away to the north-west, (this witness also described a faint "v" shaped tail beneath the object), which appeared to be "spinning".

AUGUST 1978 BRISBANE (OXLEY), QLD 2100hrs (NL)
QA 1991-015
"Travelling south west along Ipswich Road about 9pm. Heading towards Ipswich. Saw bright light in sky in far distance. Larger and brighter than brightest star in the sky. Also moving slowly left to right. Kept viewing object while driving. Disappeared from view after several minutes. Remarked to my friend with me that it didn't look like an aircraft. She agreed. We came to a set of red lights at the Oxley Fire Station and while waiting, the object passed over car allowing a first class close up of the underneath and take in the size of the object. When the lights changed to green, I drove car to side of the road and jumped out to see object. Elapsed time between object passing over car and out of sight - and getting out of car, approximately 10 - 15 seconds. Object completely gone - no signs of its presence. i.e. No noise, smell etc. No reaction from other motorists."

05.08.78 LAKE CRESCENT, TAS 1130hrs
TA 1978-089
Two boats were out on a lake at Lake Crescent, when one group of three people saw a brown cigar-shaped object travelling fast across the water virtually at water level, Passing behind the second boat before disappearing. The object travelled towards the northwest corner of the lake before it was lost to view. The object was about thirty metres long but only half a metre thick. It was one to two metres above the water and from the distance covered in the minute visible was travelling at 150 to 180kph. The ends were tapered. No smoke of lights were visible.

05.08.78 INTERLAKEN, TAS 2150hrs
TA 1978-084
On, the same day only a kilometre away from Lake Crescent, a family of five saw beams of light to the north-east of their shack. The glow seemed to come from a source at ground level. A second white light was seen moving near ground level, going back and forth, at high Speed in the lakeside trees. The glow moved slowly, then reappeared to the SW and then faded away.

09.08.78 ADELAIDE (WANDEARAH WEST), SA 2235hrs (CE2)
SA 1978-125
Returning home, a mother and daughter, watched as a very bright light came towards them. Bright red, it had three black spots along the bottom of it. The car lost power to near stopping point, twice, even though the woman flattened the accelerator to the floor. She turned onto another road and the car gathered speed, while the light left to the north-west. UFORSA

04.09.78 GAYNDAH, QLD 2020hrs (CE1)
QA 1978-005
"My mother and seven year old daughter were with me. We saw it as we walked around the side of my farm house to go to the garage. We all heard a humming sound and looked towards the small hill where the road runs and saw two red lights. At first I thought it was the tail lights of a car, but you cannot see the road from the house. The humming stopped.

It became a very slow moving object coming down towards us with no noise at all. It had a row of red lights along it. Then I saw the whole complete shape of it. At the same time, my little girl hid her head in my mother's dress and said "I don't like flying saucers." We did not memtion anything about a flying saucer at the time. It moved to about fifty feet of us and then stopped.

I yelled out "Oh! My God, mum," and it was as if it heard me, and then it took off over the wheat field just above the wheat with a terrible loud noise (like a big jet). At the same time a very bright red light came on at the side of it and it flew away with a speed I've never seen before. It only took a few seconds and it was gone and could no longer be heard. The object did not spin and none of the lights were flashing. It was a dull silver in colour.

The next morning I looked to see if it had made any marks in the wheat but there were none."

REFER TO SKETCH

07.09.78 WAVERTON, NSW 1430hrs
NA 1978-083
A lady travelling in a taxi, in a northerly direction, when She noticed through the car window, a whitish saucer-shaped object moving very slowly through a cloud bank to her right (NE). Thinking this to be a possible reflection on the glass, she wound the window down, only to find it was not a reflection but a definite object that was ‘certainly not a plane’. She pointed the object out to the taxi driver, who acknowledged seeing it, and they both observed it for a further sixty seconds but as they stopped to get a better look the object disappeared.

EARLY SEPTEMBER 1978 ST GEORGE, QLD 2010hrs (CE1)
QA 1979-001
At approximately 8:10pm, Peggy Fletcher and her 19 year old son were sitting on the lounge in their loungeroom watching television when Peggy noticed a light through the north-east oriented window. This light first appeared as a star, but became brighter until it reached an apparent size of a six centimetre diameter circle at arm's length.

The light then appeared to be moving roughly parallel with the local streets (SE to NW) and began acquiring a tail. The light was round, and had a grennish colour. The light eventually moved out of sight of the window.

Immediately, Mrs Fletcher's son hopped into their car to look for the light. On the other side of the reservoir, directly across from Barlee Street, he could see a greenish glow in amongst the trees. He stayed a short while, then the Fletchers began calling on neighbours to find other witnesses but no-one had seen anything.

It was later calculated that the size of the object, fulfilling the conditions of the above, would have been in the order of twenty to thirty metres in diameter. Weather conditions for that Tuesday night were clear and fine.

10.09.78 PORT MACQUARIE, NSW 2030hrs
ND 1978-003
A hat shaped object wag seen by two men, at 8.30pm There was no noise, just a hat shaped glow, glowing on and off around the boarder. Then it dropped behind trees, out of view and disappeared.

17.09.78 MAATSUYKER ISLAND, TAS 2120hrs
TA 1978-112
A large light is seen south west of lonely Maatsuyker Island which is manned by lighthouse keepers. During the presence of the light, power fails twice in one of the houses. The light is in the area for some considerable time before seemingly going out, or straight away from the witnesses.

20.09.78 KING ISLAND (CURRIE), TAS 2115hrs
TA 1978-133
A large yellow round light followed a man in his car for approximately six miles when suddenly it disappeared over a hill. Shortly thereafter it re-appeared in the distance and disappeared again. Light was described as approximately ten times larger than a star.

27.09.78 SYDNEY (BLACKTOWN), NSW 2130hrs
NA 1978-112
A huge circular shaped object was sighted by two people at Blacktown drive-in. It was moving slowly overhead and had a row of easily visible windows along the side. An understructure was seen carrying an arrangement of red and green lights and at the rear was observed two large white lights on either side of the object. No noise was heard and the object was lost from view after about ten minutes.

28.09.78 SYDNEY (LALOR PARK), NSW 1730hrs
NA 1978-107
Three young people observed a hovering, domed shape object for a few seconds before it accelerated away. It was apparently hovering near a large shopping centre and directly above a main arterial road with peak hour traffic travelling underneath. The object was described as a mass of bright lights on the underside and the upper section seemed to be shiny. The size was compared to a closed fist at arm’s length and the object was at an elevation of thirty—five degrees when first seen. It rose to an elevation of fourty-five degrees and stopped momentarily before it darted away.

29.09.78 nr ST GEORGE, QLD 2030hrs (CE1)
QA 1979-003
At about 8.30pm, three teenage boys were out shooting kangaroos on a property about 70kms NW of St George. Driving northwards, they suddenly noticed, to their left, and at tree top level, a bright light which was heading towards their car. Scared, the boys turned the car around and sped for the homestead, some 15kms away. Despite their high speed down a dead straight road, the light easily overtook them, and kept pace with the car until it was only a few hundred metres from the homestead. At this point, the car's engine died, and the car rolled to a halt. Now, somewhat less scared of the light, the boys emerged from the car, and fired shots at the light, less than a kilometre away. The light responded to these shots by moving sideways and then moving upwards to a height of a couple of hundred feet before flying off in a South West direction.

At the homestead, the boys alerted the other members of the household, who were still able to see the light receding behind the trees. The boys now gave chase to it, seeing it again only for a short while in a cleared area before it was lost to view by the trees. Returning to the homestead, attention was drawn to a light which appeared to be rising in the southern sky. It appeared very distant, and so the family took their station wagon and drove south hoping to get a closer look, but 15kms later when they could see it again, it still appeared very distant. Returning home, some of the family continued to watch the light rising in the sky until 11pm.

The boys described the light as a luminous football, orangey in colour, about six to eight feet high with flames emanating from beneath it whenever the object rose in the sky. The other witnesses included former MP Mr Eddie Beardmore, and his son John, a former shire councillor. This rather spectacular sighting gained newspaper publicity all over Australia, possibly highlighted by the Bass Strait incident.

29.09.78 SYDNEY (SEVEN HILLS), NSW 1730hrs
NA 1978-090
A woman visiting her young son in hospital observed a huge, red disc shaped object hovering over a four lane road, four kilometers distant. It suddenly accelerated upwards in stages before disappearing from view within one second. It was glowing a dull red and covered the width of the main road as it hovered at approximately 100 feet. Three other people also saw the object depart and reports corroborated the testimony.

29.09.78 SYDNEY (SEVEN HILLS), NSW 2000hrs
NA 1978-117
While feeding her dog in the backyard of her home a fourty year old housewife noticed a very large object with yellow ‘windows’ and a row of flashing, red, yellow and green lights moving slowly from the south at about thirty degrees to the horizon over an electrical pylon approximately 600 yards away. The object moved off in a NE direction until it was no longer visible.

29.09.78 nr ST GEORGE, QLD 2030hrs
QA 1979-003
At about 8.30pm, three teenage boys were out shooting kangaroos on a property abut 70kms NW of St George. Driving northwards, they suddenly noticed, to their left, and at tree top level, a bright light which was heading towards their car. Scared, the boys turned the car around and sped for the homestead, some l5kms away. Despite their high speed down a dead straight road, the light easily overtook them, and kept pace with the car until it was only a few hundred metres from the homestead. At this point, the car’s engine died, and the car rolled to a halt. Now, somewhat less scared of the light, the boys emerged from the car, and fired shots at the light, less than a kilometre away. The light responded to these shots by moving sideways and then moving upwards to a height of a couple of hundred feet before flying off in a South West direction.

At the homestead, the boys alerted the other members of the household, who were still able to see the light receding behind the trees. The boys now gave chase to it, seeing it again only for a short while in a cleared area before it was lost to view by the trees. Returning to the homestead, attention was drawn to a light which appeared to be rising in the southern sky. It appeared very distant, and so the family took their station wagon and drove south hoping to get a closer look, but l5kms later when they could see it again, it still appeared very distant. Returning home, some of the family continued to watch the light rising in the sky until 11pm.

The boys described the light as a luminous football, orangey in colour, about six to eight feet high with flames emanating from beneath it whenever the object rose in the sky. The other witnesses included former MP Mr Eddie Beardmore, and his son John, a former shire councillor. This rather spectacular sighting gained newspaper publicity all over Australia, possibly highlighted by the Bass Strait incident.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1978 ST GEORGE, QLD ca2100hrs (NL)
QA 1979-018
A white light, less than the apparent size of the moon, was seen by Len Saunders at night and appeared to be very high (on the order of a mile high) and directly above the house at the corner of Alfred and Murchison Street, St George. Len alerted the people who lived in the house, who came out and also saw it for several minutes, moving slowly westwards until it suddenly shot off in a westerly direction, disappearing over the horizon in a matter of seconds.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1978 BELINGRA, QLD 2100hrs (NL)
QA 1979-005
Four people, Len Saunders, Loch Bennett, Kevin Webster and Roland Barton, were travelling in a 1961 Holden Station Wagon from St George on a Sunday evening. Their destination: Bollon. Near Belingra Station, they noticed directly out to their right a single red light just above tree top level. The country surrounding the road had been cleared and Len estimated the apparent distance separating his car and the light to be greater than half a mile.

The light appeared to travel with the car, maintaining roughly the same separation, direction and height until Mourilyan, when the light appeared to drop behind some trees. The object was always seen against the sky. Len claims that the car engine stalled a couple of times while the light was in sight, and says that he has had no similar trouble with the car before or since the incident. Duration: seventeen minutes.

01.10.78 nr.ST GEORGE, QLD (CE1)
QA 1979-004
Two days after the September 29th sighting on the Beardmore property, George Wilson, wishing to enter the Bollon Highway from a side road at night, stopped to let what he had thought to be a car with a single headlight go through the junction. As the light passed in front of his car, George could see that it was not a car, but a luminous egg shaped craft, about six feet high and about eighteen feet long travelling just above the road surface. It then left the road, and travelled beside the road at about half-tree height for several kilometres before George lost sight of it behind some trees.

01.10.78 SYDNEY, NSW 1415hrs
NA 1970-122
A man, his wife and his daughter observed two bright lights approaching their house from the E-NE. They watched as one light, which by now had moved closer and to their right, began to hover above the house at a high altitude. Both objects gave off a flashing light which was determined to be the reflection from the sun and through binoculars they could clearly sea the objects to be disc shaped, the closer one wobbling and hovering about its axis and a raised upper section was noted in which was observed a smaller dark section. After about fifteen minutes, the closer object stopped flashing and immediately accelerated at tremendous speed t the SW. It was out of sight within a half of a second. As they turned to look at the other more distant one, it too had gone.

02.10.78 UNANDERRA, NSW 1330-1400hrs
NA 1978-094
An apparent non-metallic object of probable discoidal shape and at least six metres in its longest dimension was seen by the witness between 1300 and 1400 hours from the back yard of his house in Unanderra, near Port Kembla. It travelled away from the witness at an altitude of least seventy metres, over industrial and suburban areas, on a heading of about 205T, then ascended at high speed over a mountain range to the west of Kiama, carried out a ‘zig-zag’ manoeuvre, and was lost to sight after fourty-five to sixty seconds. Its average speed would have been in excess of 1100km/h

09.10.78 LAUNCESTON (CARRICK), TAS 2100hrs
TA 1978-144
Husband and wife were returning home from Launceston when they saw a bright yellow light in the sky. After a while this light descended alongside the road and paced their car. It did so for 40-45 kilometres. Occasionally, an orange red light could be seen going on and off on the top of the yellow glow. After a while, the object receded into the west to southwestern sky. The witnesses then passed through some fog banks and upon clearing these, the object was gone. The sighting lasted for approximately thirty seconds.

20.10.78 SYDNEY (BLACKTOWN), NSW 1730hrs
NA 1978-145
A silver/grey cigar type object was observed for a total of approximately six minutes by a young man on his way to work. The object was stationary and noiseless and had a clearly defined ‘black strlpe along its side’. Without warning it suddenly accelerated out of sight towards the east at a fourty-five degree angle, the same altitude it had maintained whilst hovering.

21.10.78 KING ISLAND (CURRIE), TAS 1400hrs
TA 1978-166
A twenty-nine year old woman whilst sunbaking in her garden saw a round object white or silver travelling out of the clouds. The size was approximately twice that of a small aircraft. The object stopped then started moving back in the direction from which it had come. Duration of sighting approximately ten minutes.

21.10.78 CAPE OTWAY AREA, VIC 1906-1913hrs
While flying his Cessna 182 aircraft from Moorabbin, Victoria to King Island, Tasmania, pilot Frederick Valentich reported 0count0ring a metallic object with a green light before his mysterious disappearance. There was no further transmissions from the aircraft. The weather in the Cape Otway area was clear with a trace of stratocumulus cloud at 5000 to 7000ft, scattered cirrus cloud at 30000ft, excellent visibility and light winds. The end of daylight at Cape Otway was at 1918 hours.

Despite a three day search, no wreckage or body was ever found. In May 1982, the Bureau of Air Safety Investigations official verdict is as follows:

Location of occurrence: Not known
Time: Not known
Degree of injury: Presumed fatal
Opinion as to cause: The reason for the disappearance of the aircraft has not been determined

21.10.78 BASS STRAIT 1906hrs
Source: FOI request to Department of Transport 2004
Twenty year old Frederich Valentich disappeared whilst flying from Melbourne to King Island at 4500 feet. He reported that an unusual object passed by his plane on a number of occasions. Despite a wide ranging search nothing was ever found of the pilot or plane. (Dept of Transport)

Occurrence number 197802563.  Occurrence id 70857.  21 Oct 1978.  Near cape Otway Vic. Plt reported UFO then rough running eng.  TX ceased-ACFT missing.  Cessna 182L.

21.10.78 SEVILLE, VIC (NL)
(Source: VUFORS Web Page)
A report recently received which occurred on the same evening of Frederick Valentich encounter. A red circular object appeared to almost crash into house then shot away at a fantastic speed. No sound was heard.

21.10.78 BLACKWOOD, VIC 2230hrs
On the evening of the 21st, Mr and Mrs C Rossito, Mr and Mrs R Petersen and Mr and Mrs G. Williams all of usual employment which they wish to remain confidential ware away at a holiday house in Blackwood, Victoria when at approximately 10.30pm Mrs Petersen who was in bed as were the others watching TV in the lounge room. The front of the room having quite large windows, they observed an extremely bright light in the east (more like a spot—light), with a small red light to the left and a smaller green light to the right if not both appearing to be actually contacting with the white light. Upon advising the other two members they were not particularly worried. Mrs Petersen noticed the object for a period of only five minutes through the window of the house which allowed sufficient vision; the object making no Sound and at an azimuth of 20-25. At this particular time the television began to malfunction. They were unable to control the picture rolling no matter how much they tried.

At approximately ll.l0pm all three parties observed the object in a position of 92-93. Mrs Petersen & Mrs Rossitto became quite fearful of the object now that it had stayed for so long and now changed position. Dianne Williams was not affected. They all then observed the object for a period of 15 minutes. They all state that during the event the object hovered in one position then at times would appear to go up and down, and side to side with a very rapid speed. They all state that the object was then emitting beams coloured red/green n the form of a dotted line. They were directed to the earth’s surface but disappeared seconds after. Calculations made would show each beam to be only l00t long, - hence not actually contacting anything on the ground as could be visibly seen but would soon fade.

Still awake they observed that at approximately 1.3Oam the next morning, the object had moved again to a position of 45 still hovering, (though the time of the observation for each party varied through the early hours of the morning). The last sighting which was the longest the object had changed shape to the form of a cricket bat, still white in colour, then later into a long straight line, white in colour and quite thin. Mrs Roqsitto observed this, then turned her head away for a second and the object was gone.

Next morning, all members were in a cheerful mood. During the observation the kitchen and lounge globes blew, for no apparent reason. The TV was switched off early due to its erratic behaviour. Their horses around the back were more restless than normal. After the incident, Mrs Rosjtto was quite depressed and suffered watering eyes, ears aching, irritated nose and a severe headache. The other two ladies felt normal, except that Mrs Williams felt an extreme impulse that she should not leave the house that Sunday afternoon - she did not want to leave.

24.10.78 BRISBANE (SLACKS CREEK), QLD 2000hrs (NL)
QA 1978-011
A fourteen year old girl was walking to her Stamp Club's monthly meeting at the Slacks Creek State School, when her attention was drawn to a light light in the sky in the vicinity of Mt Tamborine by some of her friends. The light appeared stationary and was very bright. They then noticed three other smaller lights near the vicinity of the large light. All seemed to join up and the light became brighter. It glowed red, and then went to a white, with this sequence recurring constantly. She did not observed its disappearance. Duration: hald an hour.

REFER TO SKETCH

27.10.78 SYDNEY (SMITHFIELD), NSW 0200hrs
NA 1978-167
At approximately 2am a woman was attempting to sleep but a continuous barking from local dogs caused her to look out of her window. She immediately saw a huge cigar shaped object at a fairly high altitude, glowing silvery white and facing four smaller cigars. A bluish/silver series of sparks emanated from the lower, and slightly smaller cigar as the large, single object appeared to ‘shudder’. The witness called a relative who became frightened of the objects. After about an hour the reporting witness went back to bed and did not see the objects depart.

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1978 ST GEORGE, QLD 1930hrs (NL)
QA 1979-006
Paul, Allan and Donny were travelling along St George Terrace towards the bridge, when they could see above the bridge, but further behind, an object which looked like a bright star. They stopped, and while they were stationary, they could see the light more from being approximately west of them to approximately north of them.

Wishing another witness, they turned around and picked up Darryl at his home. The four of them then drove out along the Bolonne Highway, following this light for about five miles, until the object dropped down to a lower position. The witnesses then stopped the car, turned the lights off and watched the light for five to ten minutes. No shape could be discerned with the naked eye and a white glow could be seen on the tops of the trees. The light appeared to be eliptical with an oblique axis, hazy and flashing with an orange-red-white sequence.

As soon as the car lights were again turned on, the light immediately shot away. The car then followed, but the object went down behind the trees.

At approximately 9:30pm, the witnesses returned to town. Allan Kiddell was dropped off at his house, and then Dave Grove (Paul's father) was informed. Dave, Paul, Donny and Darryl, then went out again looking for it. This time they first noticed the light when they were just across the bridge. The light appeared to be off in the same direction in which they had first seen it, but the light now appeared to be further away. They immediately stopped the car, and the light could again be seen moving up and down. After a minute, the light went down behind the trees, and could no longer be seen.

NOTE: The light always appeared in the north-west.

REFER TO SKETCH

NOVEMBER 1978 BRISBANE (NEW FARM), QLD 2025hrs (NL)
QA 1979-004
Television personality, Brian Cahill, his wife and eighteen year old son observed from their New Farm penthouse, an object in the sky in the direction of Toowong. It was night and the sky was cloudy. The object was in view for seventeen minutes during which it appeared to change shape from circular to a long rectangle. Initial shape was seen through binoculars until it vanished suddenly.

REFER TO SKETCH

04.11.78 HOBART (RISDON VALE), TAS 2130hrs
TA 1978-146
Some boys reported that their dog had spotted a round red object overhead whilst they were playing in the bush at dusk. The boys had taken a brief look at the object overhead and fled home.

08.11.78 HOBART (RIBDON VALE), TAS 2230hrs
TA 1979-127
The witness was returning home to the Eastern Shore suburb of Risdon Vale, crossing the Derwent River via the Bailey Bridge, then travelling on the East Derwent Highway. The time was about l0.30pm on a partly cloudy night.

Mr B was travelling alone in his 1976 Escort Van and certainly not thinking about such things as UFOs, a subject about which he knew very little. He recalls seeing a flash of silver light in his rear vision mirror after leaving the Bailey Bridge but dismissed this as a car coming up behind. The light in the mirror retained its position as he drove one kilometre to Risdon Cove. After this the road loaves the riverside and swings inland alongside a creek with scattered gum tress on either side. Mr B now noticed something strange ... there was a yellow-light shining onto the tops of the trees as he progressed along the road. The light behind had gone and the source of the yellow-white light seemed to be above and to his loft (passenger’s side). He checked to make sure his own headlights were not on high beam - they were not.

The road now reached an intersection with a right turn to the Eastern Suburbs and straight on for Risdon Vale. As Mr B approached the intersection a silver light shone. onto the car’s bonnet, the light wan again from his left and its source was not visible. Things happened quickly now. Another car came from the Eastern Suburbs direction (witness’s right). This car, a Charger, turned ahead of Mr B going the same direction up the Risdon Vale Road.

Next thing the silver light was illuminating the roar of the Charger ahead; in no time at all the driver of the Charger pulled up and Mr B saw him getting out of the car - he was shielding his eyes and looking up at something. As Mr B went past the man was getting back into the car.

Mr B drove on, there was still light shining up into the tree tops, but then the Charger went by at high speed. As it did so, Mr B saw the silvery light reappear on his bonnet and an oval type silvery coloured shaped object appear in the top of his windscreen. Whatever it was he never saw the complete object. Frightened by this stage, he also accelerated up to l20kph in an effort to get away and cover the short distance to home.

He just seemed to drive under the object and raced round the turn off for Risdon Vale. The object and light were gone and there was nothing to see any more. The Charger had since shot off on another road towards Richmond. On arriving home Mr B was upset but no one would believe him; also there was nothing to see anyway by this time.

09.11.78 HOBART (RIBDONVALE), TAS 0215hrs
TA 1978-153
A 24 year-old taxi driver on night shift was returning from dropping off a fare, when he saw a green shape drift out into the middle of the road. He braked the vehicle, but as he stopped the shape just vanished. He maintains that two—way radio blacked out for a while.

14.11.78 MELBOURNE (BRIGHTON), VIC 1443hrs
Source: The Sun
A Port Phillip Bay ship pilot said he had seen a saucer-like object flying over his Brighton house at the weekend. Captain Frank Jolly, fifty of Hanby Street said he had studied the object for about a minute as he was sunbaking in his backyard on Sunday afternoon. He first noticed the object at 2.43pm flying at about 3000ft at a speed between 100 and 200 knots.

“It was your classic UFO shaped saucer-like with a dome on top. It wasn’t until I noticed the dome that I was really amazed.”

Captain Jolly said the object had originally been at a seventy degree elevation. When it finally disappeared over his house towards the bay it had been at a 20 degree elevation.

“It was about sixty feet in diameter and seemed to have brown stripes on the bottom. The dome appeared to be dark grey and of a thin metallic substance because I could notice a slight buckling. It had no lights, no vapour trails and made no sound.”

He estimated that if the object had maintained it’s original course it would have passed within six kms of Moorabbin Airport.

“I checked with Moorabbin and Tullamarine, but they had no record of any aircraft in the area at the time.”

Captain Jolly, a former ship’s master, has been a Port Phillip Bay pilot for seven years. A RAAF spokesman said there had been several reported UFO sightings since a young Melbourne pilot Valentich disappeared without trace over Bass Strait on October 21st.

15.11.78 WRIGHTS CREEK, QLD 1909hrs (NL)
QB 1978-034
At about 7.30pm, three members of a family living at Wrights Crk near Edmonton observed a clearly outlined "round white light" manoeuvring in the sky to the east of Wrights Crk. The first witness (aged 16), noticed the "light" which he first thought was a very bright star at approximately 30 degrees elevation (E.NE).

He said the light began to move in a straight line appearing to ascend away from him, after approximately one minute it stopped for two seconds and then changed course, descending towards the range of mountains to the east. After a period of one to two minutes, the light paused again for approximately two seconds and then moved into a cloud formation nearby. Two other members of the family then joined the first witness and all three subsequently watched as the object appeared out of the cloud and moved away into the distance (east) until no longer visible. Total duration: approximately five minutes. Size of object: likened to that of Venus.

15.11.78 MIRIWINNI, QLD 2325hrs (CE1)
QB 1978-035
The witness, a very stable young man of 24 years, was genuinely disturbed by not being able to explain what he had seen. Mr O'B had been driving his car south along the Bruce Highway towards Innisfail, other than some slight cloud the weather was clear. At 11.25pm and approximately one mile north of the Garradunga turn off he noticed what he described as "a brilliant green light with a tinge of orange" and " blurred edges" above his car.

The round object estimateed to have been approximately 11/2 to two metres in diameter veered away from the alignment of the travelling car and then headed west towards the ranges. After a duration of about five seconds it disappeared completely. Mr O'B said that when the object was at its closest to him it seemed to be slightly elongated, but further away it looked spherical in shape. He said that when he first noticed the object it was about 100 feet high (above his car) and at its "point of disappearance" was approximately 300 feet distant. Mr O'B estimated its speed to have been approximately 100kmh. He had the impression that the object had been following his car. There were no effects or no noise.

24.11.78 LAKE BARRINE, QLD 0119hrs (CE1)
The female witness had been driving home from work at approximately 1.19am, the night was very dark with a full cloud cover. Upon driving a short distance down a farm road the witness first noticed a "glow" then saw a bright roughly oval shaped light which appeared to be stationary above a hill near her residence. The witness drove on to the house and parked the car in the shed. She then walked to the side of the house and observed the object for about two minutes more, then went indoors. The object was soundless and appeared as a huge oval shaped band of yellow light surrounding a dark, smokey centre and glowing pink-yellow and orange.

A second witness also saw the same object from a different location further away and the glow was seen by a third person who thought at the time it originated from a bush fire. The lights disappearence was not seen by any of the witnesses and the hill over which the object was seen showed nothing unusual.

25.11.78 SANDFORD, TAS bet 2250 & 2345hrs
TA 1978-158
The witness was awoken by her dog outside her bedroom window. The dog usually chases possums at night, but this time he barked, howled and stopped. The witness climbed out of bed to quieten the dog and noticed a faint glow coming from the study next to the bedroom. She looked through the study thinking it was a burglar. Instead, she saw out on the rough driveway fifty metres off, a doorway of white light. The ‘door’ was nine to twelve metres high, maybe one metre wide. It was dark outside except for the door, through this she could see the driveway beyond where it curved away from the house. It looked like day on the other side of the doorway. She felt almost held and looked at it for several minutes. Then, a golden glow could be seen spreading out in a circle and coming towards the house. This glow seemed to light up the ground but not the few trees about the house. Her view was restricted by the windows in some areas. After a few minutes, the glow and the doorway suddenly went out. She is sure this was not a dream, as soon as it was over, she went to check on her baby.

28.11.78 CHANNEL AREA, TAS 0100hrs
TA 1978-163
Witness’ children had been restless during the night, got up about 1am and went outside of the caravan. Upon almost entering it again, the witness heard a like a hand lightly thumping a car panel. She stood at the entrance for a minute looking at the figures she noticed across the park. She went back in to get her dressing gown, expecting the ‘people’ to have gone when she came back outside. They were still there, facing her caravan. She felt uneasy approaching them, and after two to three minutes went back inside the van. She described the figures as dark shaped, estimated height of .75 metre, broader in body than child. Body human in appearance although no neck was noticed. Either shoulder length hair or head covering, covered the necks. No hands or feet were visible. No other movement except for the arms which continually seemed to wave or ripple alongside the body. No legs as such were seen.

Another woman at the same caravan park, earlier in the week, was in a boat late at night and saw a dark shape on the ground, rippling towards her only a metre from her. She had difficulty in remembering what happened or of the things shape. It was on the ground like a plastic sheet and undulated along. She found it hard to focus on the ‘thing’. She eventually went inside. Next day, her eyes watered and at the supermarket, she kept bumping into people as she felt ‘sort of mesmerised’.

DECEMBER 1978 CAIRNS (MANOORA), QLD 2200hrs (NL)
QB 1979-017
Two of the three witnesses involved were in a house in the suburb of Manoora. One of the witnesses saw a "bright, white flash" outside behind a tree. She pointed this out to the second witness who, from his position near a window, observed a "bright round, orange light" pass quickly from behind the tree and travel across his view heading south-east. This witness estimated the object at about 400 yards from the house over some vacant land and approximately 500 feet altitude. A third witness also saw the light from a position approximately two kilometers distant. None of the witnesses had the object in view for more than four seconds. There were no aircraft in the area, and again the object was a clearly defined, round light.

02.12.78 BRAMSTON BEACH, QLD 2000hrs (NL)
A resident of Bramston Beach, Mr S reported that on the night of the second of December (Saturday), he was outside of his house when he noticed an object which was stationary and appeared to be just above the tree line about 1/2 mile to the west. He said the formation of the UFO showed a circular series of at least six very brilliant lights. After some minutes the formation lessened in intensity and height eventually disappearing behind the hill nearby. Mr S stated further that the object was clearly outlined and approximately the size of a full moon and white in colour. Duration: ten minutes.

REFER TO SKETCH

08.12.78 BRISBANE (THE GAP), QLD 1930hrs (NL)
QA 1978-009
A prop aircraft had just flown over the witnesses' home a few minutes previously, its wing and tail lights were still easily distinguished against the sky, when an object appeared from behind a Water Tank which travelled from the east and was heading west slowly above tree level. It appeared as a red-orange flashing light the size of a cent piece held at arm's length. The prop by this stange was gone from sight. Duration: two to two and a half minutes. Weather Conditions: slight cloud but mostly clear.

17.12.78 MAREEBA, QLD 0350hrs (NL)
Wayne Nicholls and Dennis Turchet were driving from Dimbulah to Mareeba, after the Walsh River crossing, approximately 3.50am. Wayne noticed a bright light at about 15 degrees elevation, he stopped the truck and woke Dennis who had been asleep. They both watched the object which moved at great speed back and forth towards them at a distance.

It seemed to do this when ever another car approached along the road, carrying out the manouvre about three times. Wayne and Dennis waved other cars down and approximately nine other witnesses saw the object before it departed from view.

All witnesses then drove on towards Mareeba, but after travelling further down the road Wayne and Dennis saw the object once more and watched it for another ten minutes before it again departed. When the object was at its closest (estimates were well over a mile) the witnesses described it as roundish in shape, white with a red glow beneath at times.

As they drove through Mareeba, Wayne and Dennis saw what they considered to be the same "light" again, it was stationary in the sky and now higher in elevation than before.

When they arrived at Mr Nicholls home another two witnesses joined them to observe the light through a small telescope. Looking through this a well defined "bright, white, saucer shaped object" could be seen with a blurred underside. After some cloud passed in front of the object it reappeared as a "banana shaped white light", blurred underneath. Shortly after this the object moved away into the distance (fast). Duration: 11/2 hours.

REFER TO SKETCHES

21.12.78 MOSMAN, NSW 0810hrs
NA 1979-001
A semi-circular bright object was sighted sitting stationary in the western skies at about twenty degrees to the horizon. After approximately eight minutes, the object took on a cigar shape, and with a third of its mass glowing red, sped off in a westerly direction at a very high speed leaving a contrail behind. There were three witnesses to this sighting.

31.12.78 WHYALLA, SA (NL)
A pilot with thirty two years experience was flying a Cessna 310. He was over Alford at twenty five hundred metres heading north-west when he sighted an oblong, white light to the east-north-east . He then turned into the circuit at Whyalla to land and was also able to continue observing the object. UFORFNQ & UFORSA

31.12.78 bet ST GEORGE & DALBY, QLD 0230-0330hrs (NL)
QA 1979-002
While travelling with three other friends to Toowoomba from St George, Mr T saw a very large light about ten miles on the St George side of Westmar. Mr T's initial thoughts were that he was seeing a Westmar street light, but it started descending and rising in the sky. The object followed them for approximately 120 miles, sometimes in sight and other time wasn't. At times it would suddenly 'switches on' and then 'switches off'. The object would then flashed a red light, which was situated on top of it, three times, and flew off, disappearing in a southerly direction.

It was described as a football in shape with porthole like lights or windows around its centre with a light on the top. Its overall colour appeared to be white with an orangey-yellow haze around it.

REFER TO SKETCH AND MAP

31.12.78 CLAREVILLE BEACH, NSW 2335hrs
NA 1979-006
Four witnesses saw a red and yellow ball of light move upwards and downwards in a serpentine motion above Pittwater for five minutes. It disappeared behind some hills. Apparent size comparable to the moon. After five to seven minutes, the same sequence or events was repeated.