Source: Australian Post 15th October - compiled by Diane Harrison 1959 |
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Illustration © by Wally Driscoll |
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This is an eyewitness report of a flying saucer with a BIG difference. THe difference is that the report is coldly factual and that it was compiled on the spot by Church of England clergyman, the Rev. Father William B. Gill.
Father Gill does not claim that he saw a flying saucer, but he does say he saw an unidentified flying object. And 26 other people who saw the strange object at the same time voluntarily signed statements attesting to their weird experience. Father gill says, "I make no claim that what I saw was something from outer space "I have no theories about that at all." But from the mass of evidence he has assembled, these facts cannot be disputed: From November, last year, up to the present, strange , brightly lighted object have been observed in the skies over Boianai, on the north coast of New Guinea. Thirty-eight people simultaneously sighted on of the these "flying saucers" on Friday June 26th, on another occasion there were 12 witnesses. |
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about a quarter of a mile out to sea, near Boianai station. "Stephen Moi told me "this thing stopped and remained stationary for about half a minute. Gradually it decreased in brilliance until the shape of an inverted saucer could be seen." "At his request and to his dictation I wrote a formal report of what he had seen. I sent a copy of it, along with my own comments, to the Rev. D. Durie Acting Principal of St. Aidan's College, Dogura. "I, personally, was still sceptical."
In his letter to the Rev. D Durie father Gill wrote, My simple mind still requires scientific evidence before I can accept the "from-outer-space" theory. "I'm inclined to agree that many unidentified flying objects are more likely to be some kind of electric phenomena", "I prefer to wait for some bright boy to catch one exhibit it in Martin Place." He signed his letter "Doubting William." With in days hours almost, Father Gill was to change his attitude. Or rather circumstances changed it for him. For June 26th he saw a flying saucer close up. AND THE CREATURES IN IT WAVED TO HIM! On the day of that fantastic experience he wrote to the Rev D. Durie again. But this time he said:- "I have changed my views somewhat. Last night we at Boianai experienced about four hours of unidentified flying objects activity. "There is no doubt whatever these things are handled by beings of some kind." "At times the whole |
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affair was absolutely breathtaking. What DID happen to make Father Gill Believe in "flying saucers" ? On June 26th at about a quarter to seven in the evening he happened to glance out of the front door. A bright light in the sky caught his attention. He walked outside to get a better look at it, and the light swiftly swept in closer, coming down to about 500 feet.
He sent messages to call the local natives, and kept a watch on the strange objects. he had a notebook and pencil in his pocket. While he watched he made hurried notes. Just before seven o'clock he saw a man-like figure moving about the top of the object. Then this figure was joined by two others. His rough notes, made on the spot, read:- P.M. 6.55 Now thread man - moving glowing, doing something on the deck. Gone. |
On June 26th, the flying object approached to within 450 feet of a crowd of observers, and remained overhead for approximately three hours. Observers waved to the "saucer" and their signals were answered by man-like beings in it.
WHO WAVED BACK AT THEM Let us emphasise that father gill is not a flying saucers enthusiast. Before June 26 he was extremely sceptical about all such phenomena. After June 26th his attitude changed completely. father Gill told POST "Earlier I had heard of a few of these so called "Saucer sightings" Natives claimed to have seen them. So did a friend of mine, a doctor. Of course, I laughed at them all. "Then, on June 21st, Stephen Moi a teacher at the mission school came to me claiming that he had seen a Brilliantly lit "something" flying and hovering in the sky. He said it was |
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one of the mission medical orderlies a girl saw a large bright object hovering in approximately the same spot as the big one the crowd had seen the night before. It was about 6.00 p.m. Here is father Gill's report:- "We watched figures appear on top four of them no doubt that they are human." "Possibly it is the same object that I took to be a "mother" ship that night. Two smaller unidentified flying objects were seen at the same time, stationary, one above the hill to the west, another over head. "On the large object two of the figures seemed to be doing something near the centre of the deck. They were occasionally bending over and raising their arms as though adjusting or setting up something (not visible to us). "One figure seemed to be standing and looking down on us (our group numbered about a dozen people). "I stretched my arm above my head and waved. To our surprise the figure's did the same. "One of the Papuan teachers waved both arms over his head and the two outside figures did the same. |
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Stephen Moi, one of the Papuan teachers who was present most of the time that the strange "flying Objects" were observation. This picture was taken outside the mission church. Moi was one of the men who waved at the figures that appeared on the "ship." | |||||||||||||||||||||
object began slowly to get bigger, apparently coming in our direction. "After a minute or two of this ceased, and it came no further. After another two and half minutes the figures disappeared. "At 6.25 two figures reappeared. The blue spotlight went on for a few seconds, twice in succession." At seven o'clock the "saucer" was still there but the observers left it to go to church for the evensong service. When they came out low cloud covered the sky, and visibility was very poor. There was no sign of the object.
Drawing and detailed statements of what they had seen were made by most of the observers. On the first night June 26th 38 who had been present went into a well-lighted room, immediately after the object disappeared. Three of the people who had seen the mysterious ship, Father Gill and two native teachers, went to different parts of the room, and working separately made sketches of what they had observed. The sketches when compared differed only in size of the drawing. Out of 38 people, 27 voluntarily signed statements giving details of the observations they had made. On Sunday the flying saucers were back again for four hours and in strength. Eight of them were seen at the one time. Father Gill said "The objects appeared to sparkle they gave off a kind of silvery light like children's sparklers. "A rough calculation of the size of the largest one, assuming the figures were about the same height as men would be, top deck about 20 feet in diameter. Bottom roughly 35 feet. "The figures on the "ship" appeared light in coloured but I can not be sure any more detailed that that." " There is no doubt that father Gill and at least 27 other people saw these strange flying objects and waved to them. That is unquestionable. Then the only question is WHAT WAVED BACK? |
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These two girls Daisy Kolauna and Annie Borewa were among the cowed of eyewitnesses. They are the medical orderlies at the mission station.
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"The teacher and I began waving and all four figures now seemed to wave back. " "There seemed to be no doubt that they were answering our movements. I heard the mission boys gasping." "Dark was beginning to close in sent Eric Kodawara for a torch and directed a series of long dashes towards the unidentified object. "After a minute of two of this, the U.F.O apparently acknowledged by making several wavering motions back and forth. "We repeated the waving, and flashed the torch again, then the | |||||||||||||||||||||