Many Australians were so convinced they had seen a flying saucer that they reported it to the government – usually the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) which had special forms to document the details. National Archives reference office Bill Edwards investigates – did UFOs really visit our planet?
The public's fascination with flying saucers in the postwar years resulted in the Commonwealth government recording possible sightings. While not convinced of little green men from Mars, they thought it worth taking an interest in the subject. With the Cold War and the space race in full swing, it was prudent to keep an open mind – if only for the sake of national security.
RAAF records of possible unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings have been retained in the national archival collection.
Sightings by members of the public were often dismissed as the result of an overactive imagination – or identified as aircraft or ordinary celestial objects. The moon and Venus cropped up regularly. But sightings by highly trained defence personnel were not so easily dismissed.