Disk-like object - Berrigal Creek, New South Wales - 1931

Hi readers,

Introduction

 

In 1969, the author of a soon to be published book called upon individuals to send in their sighting reports to him, for inclusion in the book. The author was one Michael Hervey; the book was titled "UFOs Over the Southern Hemisphere," and it was published by Horwitz of Sydney. Quite a number of individuals related their stories to Hervey, and they duly appeared in the published work. One of the accounts was as follows.

Since 1969, this observation has been referred to a number of time, by various Australian UFO researchers, including Sydney based Bill Chalker, e.g. on his blog. However, I have never seen any deep analysis of the event, such as I provide below.

 

The account

 

 "In the year 1931, at the age of thirteen, while out rabbiting one night on a property in Berrigal Creek, part of the Nandewar Ranges, I noticed the countryside lit up, as if by a yellowish moon light, yet there was no moon.

 

I raised my eyes and there, low in the sky in the north-west was a round disk-like object, yellowish in colour, travelling south, without a sound. It was rotating slowly, travelling at a steady pace, not fast, on a dead even course with no variation in altitude.

 

The object, which seemed to have small flames licking over it all the while, travelled over a peak of a hill about half-a-mile away and across a gap in the hills towards a mountain almost 2000 feet above sea level.

 

The object came to one of the peaks, went behind it and reappeared the other side and continued on to the largest peak and swooped towards the rear of it and disappeared.

 



At that time there wasn't any talk of flying saucers or UFOs. I heard about fireballs a little later and thought for a time it must have been one of these. However I have read some detailed reports of fireballs since, and the description doesn't fit. For one thing, it was a fine clear night with no clouds.

 

Jack Howlett, Baradine."

 

Research notes

 

1. Berrigal Creek is near Bellata, in New South Wales. Bellata's latitude is 29 degrees 54 mins south; longitude 149 degrees 48mins east.

Courtesy Google Maps

2. The Nandewar Ranges consist of numerous peaks, up to the 4885 foot (1489m) peak named Mount Kaputar. I found a list of ten peaks in the ranges, all about 3323 feet (1013m) tall, but no listed peaks of around 2000 feet high.

Courtesy Google maps

3. The book account mentions that it "...continued on to the largest peak and swooped towards the rear of it and disappeared." The "tallest" peak is Mount Kaputar, height 4885 feet which is at latitude 30 deg 16 mins south and longitude 150 deg 10 mins east.

4. I checked Ancestry.com and in the New South Wales 1948 electoral roll, I located a Jack Howlett, in the subdivision of Baradine, division of Gwydir, living with Ivy Helen Howlett in Wellington Street. The electoral rolls indicate they were living there in 1969 when the letter to Hervey was written. This Jack Howlett was born in 1918 and would have been 13 in 1931 the year of the sighting. He died in 1986.

Analysis

 

1. For an observer near Bellata, to see the object pass behind peaks, which are at a distance of at least 30 kilometres away, indicates that the object was at an extremely low angular elevation above the horizon, which agrees with the observer's statement that the object was "low in the sky."

2. The statement by Howlett that "I noticed the countryside lit up, as if by a yellowish moon light, yet there was no moon" reminds me of numerous descriptions I have read of the sudden appearance of a meteor. Indeed one night I was out in my own back garden when the whole area was lit up in brilliant blue light, heralding the arrival of a bright meteor.

3. I wonder if the comment that it looked like "...a round disk-like object..." refers to it appearing like a circle, and not to a "dish" or "saucer shaped" object. There has been some tendency among certain UFO researchers to look for pre 1947 "disk" shaped objects and shout "It's a UFO."

In their recent book, "Return to Magonia"  (2015. Anomalistic Books. San Antonio) authors Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, spent some time in chapter five, discussing the meaning when an early sighting report speaks of a "disc." On page 87 they write "Some writers have claimed that there is a tradition of saucer shaped anomalies, perhaps going back to antiquity. In our opinion the search for flying discs in old sources is often motivated more by a desire to promote the theory of ET contact than by dispassionate consideration of evidence in context."

4. The description "...which seemed to have small flames licking over it all the while,.." is certainly similar to a description of a meteor.

5. The observation ended when the object "...disappeared." It is uncertain from this whether the light from the object went out, or whether the object disappeared due to distance, and perhaps passed over the horizon.

6. I believe Howlett's comment about the description of "fireballs" not fitting his observation, may refer to the older term "fireball" which was associated with thunderstorms, and seems to fit the newer designation "ball lightning."

7. I looked for contemporary newspaper article about this object, via the TROVE electronic newspaper collection. I found the following, from the year 1931.

a. "Brisbane Courier" [Qld: 1864-1933] Friday 23 October 1931 p 18.
On the 17 October 1931 between about 1900 and 1930hrs there were reports of a bright object a "...little above the horizon north of west" from Roma, Qld.

"Daily Examiner" [Grafton, NSW: 1915-1954]Tuesday 20 October 1931 p. 5.
Reports at 1900hrs 17 October of a phenomenon north-west of Mitchell Qld.  Yellowish white in colour. Lasted 30 minutes.

"The Longreach Leader" [Qld 1923-1938] Friday 23 October 1931 p.5.
Phenomenon seen from Mitchell in south-west Queensland and Winton, Queensland.

There were even two photographs taken of this 17 October 1931 event; see my previous Magoniadownunder blog post.

However, looking at the locations of these observations and the details provided, it does not fit in with the Berrigal Creek data.

b. "Murray pioneer and Australian River Record" [Renmark, SA: 1913-1943] Friday 26 June 1931 p.5.
Multiple reports of a bright meteor and ground shaking. The colour, direction of flight and other characteristics do not fit in with the Berrigal Creek observation.

Despite a fairly wide search, I was unable to locate any TROVE newspaper article which matched the Berrigal Creek sighting.

8. In my opinion, the best fit for this observation is a bright meteor.

I welcome comments from blog readers.  

  

"A strange light" - Rockhampton, Queensland - 17 October 1931

Hi readers,

When searching the National Library of Australia's TROVE digitised newspaper collection using the keywords "strange light" I came across the following article.

"A strange light
Seen in the west
Independent observers.

Hlamy writes: Please allow me a small space in your valuable paper to write of a strange trail of light seen in the western sky between 6.30 and 7pm Saturday evening October 17th. When first seen, this trail of light was shaped like a capital "I" or figure "7", then it changed into a long wavy line like a great serpent. Much brighter and bigger at the lower end. It stayed in the sky about twenty minutes and then suddenly disappeared. The two snapshots enclosed are time exposures of one minute, taken at fifteen minutes to 7 o'clock. Note the small star at the lower end of the trail.

Another observer

Stockman: Who else besides myself saw the wonderful sight in the western sky on Saturday evening 17th saw this dazzling affair. The sun was down a good time and the moon's light not very bright. The time must have been a little past 7 o'clock. The affair resembled a thick snake, head downwards, all brilliant white, while several clouds nearby were quite black. In fact there was not another white cloud in the sky. It held its shape for a while. Then the tail changed and it started to pale, turning pink as it did so. The head stayed strong and pink to the last, I had no watch but before it paled I had ridden a mile watching it all the time. I had an idea it came on suddenly, as I shut a gate several minutes before and saw nothing.

Superstitious people will be wondering what it fortells. I'm trying to believe our long delayed rain is close at hand.

Almost vertical

A mysterious phenomenon was witnesses by many residents as dusk was approaching on Saturday evening last, says our Winton correspondent. It took the form, when first observed of, a pencil of white steam-like substance.

Photo

It was located in the sky, south of Winton, at an altitude of about half way between the horizon and the zenith close to the two pointers of the southern cross. The mysterious white streak stood almost vertical and unravelled slowly downwards at the same time growing thicker, until it was about the length (to the eye) of the distance between the southern cross pointers.

After about ten minutes it began to bend as if blown by an air current, and assumed the shape of a reverse mark of interrogation. The lower end was now in the shape of  an arrow head and drifted lower and in a westerly direction, until a s darkness came on, it faded from view.

Enormous meteor

An enormous meteor or falling star, which fell in a north-westerly direction was observed in the Winton district. It reached the dimensions of a huge electric light and had a brilliant red sword-like tail. Meteors have been seen in the Alpha district recently."

Source: "Morning Bulletin" [Rockhampton, Qld: 1878=1954] Wednesday 21 October 1931 p6.

Notes

1. Rockhampton, Queensland is at latitude 27 deg 24 mins south; longitude 150 deg 30 mins east.

2. The sun set that night at 6.03pm [UTC plus 10 hours.]

3. At 6.45 pm the sun was 9 degrees below the horizon at azimuth 15 deg south of west.

4. The moon was at 69 degrees elevation; azimuth 29 deg south of west.

5. From Rockhampton it was seen to the west, and from Winton it was seen to the south. Looking at a map this seems to indicate it was the one object seen from these localities.

6. All the details suggest that the observers were watching the trail of a bright meteor, distorted by high altitude winds.

The first published Australian report of a UFO sighting?

Hi readers,

"From their own research, Australian ufologists believe that the first published report of the sighting of an unidentified flying object in this country occurred as far back as October 1874, at Beechworth in Victoria."

So wrote author Stephen Holledge, on page two of his 1965 Australian book titled "Flying Saucers Over Australia" (published by Horwitz. Sydney.) However, no one to my knowledge has ever been able to precisely pin down what was seen, and when in October 1874, this happened. In version three of my catalogue of Australian pre 24 June 1947 sightings, I mentioned that I had been unable to ascertain further details.

I therefore recently conducted a search of TROVE newspapers for the Beechworth area of Victoria, for October 1874, and located one article which may have been the source of the observation referred to by Holledge.

The "Avoca Mail" dated Thursday 13 October 1874 on page 2, reported that at 6.15pm on Sunday 4 October 1874, inhabitants of Beechworth reported an unusual sight in the sky. The sun had already set when at 60 degrees elevation in the north-north-west appeared what seemed a flash of lightning. A "...brilliant and beautiful meteor" appeared, with its head said to have been larger than Venus. It left behind a silver tail which stretched from 60 degrees elevation to the horizon. At one point this trail looked like the "shape of a gigantic snake." This took some 15 minutes to disappear. The sky was clear at the time. The article mentions that the same thing was seen from the localities of Chilton and Wagga Wagga.

Similar accounts are to be found in the Melbourne "Argus" dated Monday 12 October 1874 page 6; and the "Sydney Morning Herald" dated Friday 9 October 1874 page 2.

The wide geographic distribution of sightings indicates that the object was most probably a meteor leaving a vivid trail in the sky, blown about by high altitude atmospheric winds.