Some interesting things have happened lately. On the 29th of September we were visited by Mr Valerie Uverov. Many of our members attended while Valerie spoke at length on the research that he's done on the famous explosion in Tunguska, early last century. He then spoke about some more recent events concerning UFO incidents that have only been heard about in Russia. He presented illustrations using powerpoint, but had no photographs, aside from some very interesting micrographs of unusual materials associated with the Tunguska event. All of the documentation relating to the research is still to be translated into English, and until that happens it's difficult to assess the data, we just have to take him at his word for now. And that's a shame because many of our members found that to be unsatisfactory, given the controversial nature of the presented cases.

With regard to local UFO reports, some very good ones have recently come in.

One of the best was reported to me last month by an elderly gentleman who is writing his memoirs. It occurred to him that since he was recording the event in his memoirs it would be a good idea to actually report the event.

This happened to him on a Sunday evening in 1951. We have waited a long time for this. Laurie was just 21 years old in 1951 and was riding his bike along a road in Brunswick , a Melbourne suburb. While riding along DeCarle st he noticed a 'strange heavy' vibration, and stopped to check his tyres. There was apparently nothing wrong with the bike so he went off again along the road. He thought it might have been a truck with no lights, but there was nothing. The vibration continued, and then he noticed to his left, a huge oblong object. I asked Laurie how large was this object, and he replied that it was about as big as four Russian ANTONOV aircraft. Now that's big, because you could fit only a few of those things in the MCG.

He stated, “ It had an aura or glow along the whole length of the craft. Lights showed in some portholes & to the rear blue/green to yellow flame like that of a furnace. Because of it's size it was difficult to judge it's height. I watched the object as it slowly continued in a straight line parallel to De-Carle st, till it reached what seemed the next intersection , Albion st, Brunswick. It then silently climbed straight up, till out of sight at enormous speed.”

Laurie's friend and the friends brother also saw the object on the same night, but from independent locations. The friends father rang the RAAF, Essendon Airport and the Sun newspaper. The newspaper people said they had many reports of a UFO that night.

It took over 50 years to get this report, but it was worth the wait. This sighting was a multiple witness event, with an extra dimention, the vibration which Laurie first noticed before seeing anything unusual. He progressively tried to explain the source of the vibration before he noticed the unusual aerial object, but with no success.

Once he saw the thing, it all began to make sense. He commented to me that even after all these years , he knows what he saw with his own eyes, but he still can't believe it. There's nothing we have even today that is that big, which can just shoot upwards in an instant, with no sound. It's astonishing.

The other report of interest is from more recent times, 1999 to be exact.
John and his friend went fox hunting about 20 kilometers South of Berri in South Australia one night, on the 15th of December. It was about 12.15 am when they noticed a light moving around in the distance. They had a few foxes in sight. Then, the light began to move towards them, and at the same time the foxes just disappeared. They watched the light approach, and it went straight overhead. There was low cloud around at the time, and John remembers seeing the lights from the object reflecting off the bottom of the cloud as it passed overhead. As it did so they got a good look at the object. It was only about the size of a light aircraft, only made a slight humming noise, like a turbine, which was only perceivable as it passed right over, but the shape was unusual. It reminded them of a STINGRAY. The object passed slowly overhead, and they watched it for a further 10 to 15 kilometers, as it went away.

This event left a lasting impression on John. He didn't get tired and could not sleep for 2 days. Even now he still scans the sky whenever he can, just in case there's something like it nearby.

John hasn't reported this before now either. The shape of the object has led John to believe that it might be that these objects spend a lot of time submersed in the oceans. What better way to remain un-noticed? There are plenty of cases where people have seen objects rise out of the sea and fly off, or come into our atmosphere and then dive under the sea and disappear. That's all for this time folks, see you at the December meeting.

Cheers…George.