UFO sightings at weapons testing site, Woomera

Transcript

[Page 1]

[Handwritten in blue ink in top right corner:] 2A

[Stamped in red ink:] CONFIDENTIAL

COPY [underlined]

M.518.1

24th July, 1960

[Underlined heading:] Unidentified light – Wewak Area

The Range Commander,

Maralinga. [underlined]

At Wewak, the site of the Vixen "A" tests, approximately 15 miles from Maralinga Village, are a number of static balloons used in instrumentation. At 7.15 p.m. on 15th July, 1960, a telephone report was received from Constable Hubert Dave SCARBOROUGH, who is stationed on the site, that a balloon had burnt in the air. The Balloon Officer made an inspection and found that all balloons were intact.

2. The Constable was questioned and said that he was sitting in his caravan at approximately 7.5 p.m [sic]. when his attention was drawn to a light, of approximately the power of bright moonlight, playing on the ground. He left the caravan and saw what he described as a white light travelling from East to West. As it appeared to come nearer, or grow larger, it turned to a red colour. Because of its position and height he thought, at first, that it was a balloon afire and reported it as such. Owing to lack of knowledge as to distance away it was found difficult to estimate the size of the light. The only fact contributed that could assist was that the light appeared to occupy 1 ½ to two degrees of the horizon. The Constable thought that the light burned for thirty seconds.

3. Constable Richard Henry MAXWELL who was outside the caravan at Roadside, thirteen miles from the Village, saw a light out of the corner of his eye at about 7 p.m. He thought that the light appeared to come from the direction of Wewak a distance of 2 ¼ miles. As far as he knows the light did not play on the ground in his immediate vicinity. The light had made so little an impression on his mind that he failed to mention it to his companion when he returned to the caravan and recalled it only when he received a telephone call from the Constable at Wewak inquiring if the light had been witnessed at Roadside.

4. The light was observed from the Village at about the same time by the following personnel –

2/945 Capt. Keith Angus ROSS, Catering Officer.

Trevor James HOSKINS, Technical Assistant, Health Physics Group,

Russell McFarlane KINGSLEY, Fitter, Department of Mines, and

Ian Kenneth HASKARD, Supervising Technician, P.M.G’s Department.

All gave, more or less, the same description. They saw a light over the R.E.M.E Workshop Building in the Village and coming from the general direction of Wewak. There was some disagreement as to the duration of the light; this varied between two and fifteen seconds. The discrepancy could be explained by some people seeing the light some seconds after it had first appeared. The person who saw it for fifteen seconds was able to reconstruct his movements at the particular time and it is thought that his estimate is reasonable. While an agreement could not be reached as to the exact time all agree that it was some time after 7 p.m.

5. Inquiries, with negative result, were made of Womera in case a firing had taken place and was witnessed in this area. The same source was used to contact a survey party from Exoil Pty. Ltd. who were camped in the vicinity of Emu in an effort to discover if they had witnessed any phenomenon such as a meteor. The result was negative.

[Stamped in red ink:] CONFIDENTIAL

/6. A

[Page] -2-

[Stamped in red ink:] CONFIDENTIAL

6. A suggestion that the light could have been produced by a photo-flash from a high-flying aircraft was discounted. No aircraft was heard at the time and, in any case, no known photo-flash has a duration of anything like fifteen seconds.

7. Scientific personnel who would have the "know-how" were questioned in case the light was a practical joke. Assurances were given that no member of the Scientific parties were responsible.

8. One practical suggestion was made by a Scientific Officer that the light could have been caused by "St. Elmo's fire". The Balloon Officer said that, although the balloons are "earthed" sometimes static electricity does build-up sufficiently to electrify the anchor vehicle. Three balloons are in line with the position where the light was observed from Wewak and approximately half a mile distant from the caravan. At such a distance it is understood that 1 ½ degrees of the horizon could be calculated to approximately 40 feet. Opportunity was taken during a visit to Adelaide to attempt some research into static electricity at the Adelaide Public Library. No reference book produced gave much useful information. The following description of “St. Elmo’s fire” was extracted from an encyclopedia –

"…the glow accompanying the brush-like discharges of atmospheric electricity which usually appears as a tip of light on the extremity of pointed objects such as church towers or the masts of ships during stormy weather. It is commonly accompanied by a crackling or fizzing noise."

9. Mr. Oliver Harry Turner, Health Physics Officer, who possesses and inquiring mind, made an independent investigation and extensive calculations. He is of the opinion that the light was not the result of a natural phenomenon but caused by an unidentified flying object; either a cone from a satellite or a "flying saucer."

10. It is felt that all avenues of inquiry at Maralinga have now been covered and that it is not possible to possibly identify the source of the light. It is felt, however, that the light was the result of either a meteor or static electricity.

11. Submitted.

SGD. J.J.A. HANLON

Security Officer, Maralinga [underlined]

About this record

The file of which this document is a part was transferred to the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia in 1984-85.

This confidential two-page report details sightings on 15 July 1960 of an unidentified flying object (UFO) near Wewak, a nuclear weapons testing range some 24 kilometres from Maralinga Village, South Australia. The report was written on 24 July 1960 by security officer JJA Hanlon, and originally formed part of a Department of Supply file on the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) in South Australia.

Educational value

This document outlines the comprehensive investigation into reports of UFO sightings in the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA), where in 1959–63 more than 40 top-secret nuclear weapons tests, code-named Vixen, were conducted under tight security. The Wewak site and nearby Taranaki mentioned in the report are situated in the 270,000-square-kilometre WPA, which includes the Maralinga and Emu Field testing sites.
There were a number of reasons for the thoroughness of the investigations – control of unwelcome public interest, national security and scientific curiosity. Several dozen witnesses were interviewed for a number of reports associated with the Wewak sightings, including Commonwealth Police, WRE staff, armed forces personnel, a 'native patrol officer' and members of the public.
At the time of this report tests were underway at sites within the WPA, and WRE was also developing a space program at the Woomera Rocket Range. From 1952 to 1963 the British Government, with the agreement and support of Australia, conducted nuclear tests at three sites in Australia – the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia and at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia.
UFO sightings became common during the Cold War (1945–90) against a background of political and military tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies. The anxiety and paranoia generated by espionage, weapons and satellite tests found expression in Hollywood science fiction films depicting humanity under attack from hostile aliens determined to destroy the American way of life.
Scientific experts who were consulted for this and other reports on the Wewak sightings offered a range of explanations for the phenomena, ranging from flying saucers and satellite cones to a meteor, the effects of static electricity on the weather balloons at Wewak, and a 'reflection of distant vehicle lights on a low inversion layer'.
By the 1970s, UFO sightings had become so commonplace that the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), charged with the responsibility of investigating such phenomena, provided pro-forma questionnaires to members of the public who reported seeing a UFO, and summaries of recent sightings.

Acknowledgments

Related themes

Theme

A woman uses a dial indicator to check that a fuse liner is exactly cylindrical.

Defence equipment and weapons

Since the First World War, the Australian military has developed, tested and used defence equipment and weapons. During the Cold War, Australia allowed nuclear weapons testing and launched a satellite.