31 March 1907 - Cairns, Queensland, Australia - an Easter Venus?

Hi all,

The recent book "Return to Magonia" by Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, features a number of observations from Australia. One of these (on pages 228-229) was from North Queensland in 1907, as described in the "Morning Post" Cairns, dated Tuesday 16 April 1907, page 4.

The account

 

 



The text of the article reads as follows:

"A brilliant spectacle.
(From Port Douglas 'Record.')

A very brilliant comet was observed from Port Douglas on Easter Sunday morning at about half past three. We presume it was the one predicted by Professor Matteuci to strike the earth with disastrous results at the latter end of last month, and judging by the description given below, must have been perilously close. Our exchanges the Kuranda make no reference whatsoever to the matter, so it appears not to have been a subject of general observation. So far as we can learn the only person in the district fortunate enough to witness the astral body in all its glory were the Misses Hasenkamp, one of whom (Miss Dora) has kindly written the following description for the 'Record.'

At about 3.30am on the 31st March (Easter Sunday morning) I was awakened by my sister Florry calling me to get up and look at the comet.

I arose and saw in the eastern sky a large dazzling bright star which appeared to be as large as a football. Its brilliant light dazzled my eyes for a few seconds. When I looked again it had thousands of small glittering spikes of silvery light, and on the top right hand side of it, a long rod resembling the flame of a candle-light, about two foot in length, appeared with another tail in the shape of a half-circle - which faced down towards the earth - attached to it.

The circle shaped rod had a couple of lights like red hot coals. I was looking at the comet for about a quarter of an hour when it gradually faded away into the sky, and the atmosphere became very cold. The comet again appeared shining as before, the lights on the lower rods getting fainter.

The moon was shining bright all the time and had three black spots on it. The comet was moving very slowly and appeared to be going in the direction of the moon. I watched for about another half hour and then it disappeared altogether. It was the most brilliant sight I ever saw."

What was it?

 

In looking to identify this "comet,"Aubeck and Shough wrote:

 

"The interesting and perhaps educative thing about this case is that at the time reported the planet Venus, with a respectable magnitude -3.6 had just risen over the eastern horizon and would have been a prominent sight in the pre-dawn sky, just where the strange object was. The moon was bright, as stated, approximately full and about 30 degrees west of the zenith; and Venus climbing on its normal motion along the ecliptic would have progressed "very slowly in the direction of the moon" until it faded in the daylight. So it is hard not to conclude that Venus was the culprit in this case, and the peculiar structures of rods and red lights must have been an illusion caused by glare or some sort of

ocular or instrumental defect."

Just checking

 

1. Port Douglas, is north at Cairns, Queensland at latitude 16.5 degrees south; longitude 145.5 degrees east.

 

2. On the 31 March 1907, sunrise that morning was at 0623 hours. Therefore the start of the 45 minute observation, was almost three hours before sunrise.

 

3. A check using an electronic sky chart reveals that the Sun was about 41 degrees below the eastern horizon at the time; the moon was at 53 degrees elevation, azimuth 18 degrees north of west; and Venus was on the horizon rising at azimuth 13 degrees south of east.

 

4. Interestingly, the witnesses did not report seeing both the planet Venus and a "comet."

 

5. There are some oddities in the account. What are we to make of the observer's description that "The moon was shining bright and had three black spots on it?" It's a pity that we have no idea as to whether or not Dora had been prescribed spectacles, and whether or not she was wearing them at the time.

 

6. Were the Hasenkamps historical figures?

 

A search of TROVE electronic newspapers revealed two article mentioning them.

 

a. Page 4 of the "Townsville Daily Bulletin" dated Tuesday 30 November 1926 stated that a Dora Hasenkamp managed the central Hotel in Port Douglas and indicated that she "...has been in Port Douglas for some time."

 

b. Page 11 of the "Cairns Post" [Qld:1909-1954] dated 25 May 1933 referenced a Miss Dora Hasenkamp and her sister Flo, who were both included in a wedding party.

 

Therefore, it would seem that they were historical figures, and that there is not reason to suspect that the letter to the editor is not genuine.

 

7. I could not locate any weather details for Port Douglas for 31 March 1907.

 

8. The original account appears to have come from a newspaper named "Port Douglas 'Record." The TROVE collection doesn't have issues of this newspaper.

 

9. Are there any other local references to comets, that would explain why the 16 April 1907 article referred to what was seen, on 31 March 1907, as "A very brilliant comet?" Indeed there are.

 

a. On page 3 of the "Morning Post" Cairns, paper dated 27 February 1907, there is a short piece about an approaching comet, citing a Professor Matteuci who "...declares that about the end of March...the comet...will come in contact with the earth's atmosphere, causing some damage."

 

b. Further discussions about this comet appear on page 6 of the "Morning Post" Cairns dated 11 March 1907; and page 4 of the 22 March 1907 edition of the same paper.

 

It would appear reasonable, given these three articles about a comet; for the editor of the "Morning Post" Cairns, on the 16 April 1907, to suppose Miss Hasenkamp's observation was that of a "comet."

 

10. In conclusion, given all of the above information, I support Aubeck's and Shough's view that what was seen was most likely the planet Venus.

Port Augusta, South Australia - "flying eggs" - 1947 - witness deceased

Hi all,

Thanks to an observant Adelaide individual, I have now found out that Ronald Ernest Ellis, the main witness of the pre Kenneth Arnold, "flying eggs", at Port Augusta in 1947, passed away on 15 July 2008, aged 87 years. He is buried in the Stirling North Garden Cemetery.

The same Adelaide man, also directed my attention to a photograph of Ellis, which I reproduce below.

Source: http://www.portaugusta.rslsa.org.au/gallery/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_main&GalleryTypeID=4017&OrgID=1247

In another previous post, I advised that I was aware that an Adelaide researcher, whose first name was Mishelle, managed to locate and interview Ellis in 2006. Although a preliminary report was available of this interview, no final report is known. I believe that Adelaide researcher Jeff Fausch, has now located Mishelle. Jeff is awaiting direct contact with Mishelle, to see if we can obtain a more detailed report of her interview with Ellis.

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.  

  

Flying eggs - Port Augusta 1947 - main witness was interviewed in 2006

Hi readers,

There has been renewed interest of late, in an event which happened on 5 February 1947, at Port Augusta, South Australia. The case recently featured as chapter 21 in "Return to Magonia" by Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough (2015. Anomalistic Books. San Antonio.) You might care to refresh your memory of the details I published in an earlier post before reading further.

Main witness interviewed

 

Adelaide based researcher Jeff Fausch conducted his own "cold case" investigation into the Port Augusta event. One previously unknown aspect, is that the main witness, Ron Ellis was located and interviewed in 2006 by a researcher whose first name is Mishelle.  In a recent email to me, Jeff informs us:

 

"After I had been to the State Library in June 2006 to view the Adelaide newspaper article for myself and to make copies, I contacted Mishelle to give her a copy of the original accounts. She told me that the man interviewed in the article from February 7th 1947, Ron Ellis was alive and only lived a couple of streets away.

 

Mishelle interviewed Ron Ellis in June 2006 sending me a couple of updates, but in September 2006 told me that her husband was being transferred to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. When she moved to Kalgoorlie I lost contact with her and have not heard from her since. The information I am using for my project is from emails sent to me before loosing contact with her.

 

In an email sent to me on June 29th 2006 Mishelle said that she had interviewed Ron Ellis who was at the time, 86 years old. His report of the incident conflicts with that of the media article in terms of what he witnessed, who was spoken to etc. Mr Ellis first told Mishelle he saw nothing at first, then changed his story, and was then adamant that what he witnessed was a weather/observation balloon. This is as told to him by unknown benefactors after the article was published.

 

During a phone call, Mishelle told me that Ellis was approached by two men who told him that it was a weather balloon and to leave it at that. Mishelle felt that there was much more to this sighting than met the eye. I believe when Mishelle approached him, he had been taken by surprise as no one had brought this up for nearly sixty years. Unfortunately I lost contact with her after this email so I have not seen the finished report on the interview with Ron Ellis.

 

In Mishelle's last email she also mentioned that she had contacted the department of Meteorology, specifically the climate services section, and was informed that the closest area to Port Augusta in which weather balloons were launched was Woomera, but interestingly, upper air observations did not begin at Woomera until March 1st 1949, two years after the Port Augusta incident."

Unknown spherical body - Tasmania - 6 January 1923

Hi readers,

In my last post, I presented information about an "Extraordinary Phenomenon" seen at Alpha. Queensland on 17 September 1900. This concerned a "travelling star" seen in the daytime. I noted that in this instance it might have been a wind borne object.

Today's post concerns a daytime, revolving "...spherical body" travelling "...against the prevailing wind."

 

The account

 

"An Unusual Phenomenon.

To the Editor of "The Mercury."

 

Sir - I am interested to know if any beside myself and  daughter witnessed an extraordinary appearance in the sky at about 12.30 on Saturday. The sky was intensely blue with an occasional formation of cloud scudding over from the north-west.

 

On a clear patch of sky, a spherical body, creamy white in colour was revolving on its own axis, and speeding in a northerly direction at an great pace against the prevailing wind. The object was above the clouds as occasionally it was observed to repeatedly appear further on. It was not luminous like a star, or a meteor and was seen for nearly half an hour until eventually obscured by rain clouds.

 

Yours etc.

E.W."

 

Source:  "The Mercury" [Hobart, Tas: 1860-1954] Thursday 11 January 1923 p9.

 

 

Notes

 

1. If the location of sighting was Hobart, then Hobart is at latitude 42 deg 50 mins south; longitude 147 deg 20 mins east.

 

2. Based on Hobart, the Sun was at elevation 70 deg azimuth north.

 

3. The planet Venus was at 41 deg elevation; azimuth WNW.

 

4. According to "The Mercury" 6 January 1923,  page 15, the forecast issued at 9pm on 5 January 1923, for the next 48 hours, forecast the winds blowing from the north-west to west.

 

5. There is an apparent contradiction between the use of the words "...speeding...at a great pace" and it being visible for "...nearly half an hour."

 

6. However, based on the available information given in the letter to the editor, I am at a loss to suggest a mundane explanation for this object.

 

Have readers any suggestions?

Update 2 January 2016

Several members on the Magonia Exchange Yahoogroups forum discussed the possibility that the object seen may have been the planet Venus. It was 43 degrees away from the sun at that time and very bright. Could the scudding clouds have given the illusion of a stationary (moving some 7.5 degrees towards the west in a half hour) Venus speeding along?



"Extraordinary phenomenon" - Alpha, Queensland - 17 September 1900

Hi readers,

There are numerous keywords which you can use to search the National Library of Australia's TROVE digitised newspaper collection. Another set I have used was "extraordinary phenomenon." One of the article which these words turned up was about "a travelling star."

"Extraordinary Phenomenon
To the Editor.

Sir - We witnessed this morning at about nine o'clock what to us seemed an extraordinary phenomenon. A travelling star rose from the south and travelled right across the sky to the north-west horizon in about ten minutes.

When first seen it was some distance up, and looked more like a white bird than a star. It appeared to oscillate for two or three seconds, and then sailed steadily across the sky till lost sight of in the distance. I should be pleased if you could inform me if this is an usual or unusual occurrence. Thanking you in anticipation.

E Donaldson.
Alpha, September 17th 1900."

Source: "The Western Champion & General Advertiser for the Central Western Districts." [Barcaldine, Qld: 1892-1922] Tuesday 2 October 1900 p12.

Notes

1. Alpha, Queensland is at latitude 23 deg 36 mins south and longitude 146 deg36 mins east.

2. The sun was at elevation 37 deg, azimuth 24 deg north of east.

3. Weather. At nearby Barcaldine at 9am on 17 September 1900, the maximum temperature was 87 deg F, the minimum was 55 deg F; and the wind was from the south-east.

4. I did a TROVE search for an E. Donaldson but found nothing.

5. What was the object? Note that the wind was probably from the south-east, and the object travelled south to north-west, indicative of the fact that it may have been a wind borne object of some kind. Have readers any suggestions?

Two unusual high speed, large, black objects - Adelaide, South Australia - 23 March 1920

Hi readers,

In February 1947, several South Australian newspapers carried articles relating to the observations of five egg shaped objects in the sky, as seen from Port Augusta, and Lock, both in South Australia. For my post on this intriguing event click here.

One of the articles, by an amateur astronomer, appeared in "The Advertiser" [Adelaide, SA: 1931-1954] on page 2 of the Tuesday 25 February 1947 edition, see the image below.

 

A second letter to the editor that day

 

What very few people will be aware of, is that a second letter to the editor appeared in that same issue on that same page. It referred to a much earlier intriguing observation. It would appear that the appearance of articles about the Port Augusta and Lock observations, caused H N Wicks of Balhannah, in the Adelaide Hills, to write in about his own sighting.

 

The account

 

"Objects in the sky.

To the Editor.

 

Sir - When the late Sir Ross Smith was covering the last phase of his epic flight from England to Australia, and was scheduled to arrive in Adelaide during the early afternoon, the late Harry Butler left Adelaide in his small monoplane , nicknamed the Red Devil to meet the big Vickers Vimy over the Adelaide Hills. Being a little ahead of his schedule, Harry Butler filled in his time with aerobatics and stunting. Most of which occurred over our nurseries situated just S.E. of Mount Barker.

 

While watching him very intently, two large black objects travelling at terrific speed in a parallel course, passed very high above him, travelling from north to south. These were quite large and were very high but nevertheless their speed was such as to make Harry Butler's machine appear as if it were stationary.

 

The day was cloudless and for a moment I thought my eyes were playing tricks, but subsequently my foreman, who was a half a mile away at the time, asked me what the two black things were that passed Butler's machine. During the evening of the same day my father-in-law who lived about a mile away, asked an identical question. Both these people gave the same  description and direction of flight which exactly coincided with my own observations.

 

The speed and density of the objects definitely precluded any possibility of their being a mirage.

H.N. Wicks.

Balhannah Nurseries Balhannah.

 

 

My research notes

 

1. When was this observation of two high speed, large, black objects?

 

A search of Internet sources determined that Sir Ross Smith and crew left England on 12 November 1919 and arrived in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia on 10 December 1919.

 

 

Image source



The "Barrier Miner" [Broken Hill: NSW 1888-1954] Tuesday 23 March 1920 page 4, describes the arrival of Sir Ross Smith in Adelaide on 23 March 1920 in his Vickers Vimy biplane. The article also mentions Captain Harry Butler, a famous stunt pilot, in a monoplane, flying alongside Smith at 1.23pm on that day. A third aircraft, piloted by Captain J R Moore was also present.
 

It would therefore appear, that the observation by H N Wicks, as described in the "Advertiser," Adelaide, dated 25 February 1947, was made around 1.23pm on 23 March 1920.

 

2. Who was H. N. Wicks?

Can we establish him as a real, historical figure in Adelaide in 1920?

 

A search through TROVE located an article on page 8 of the "Daily Herald" [Adelaide, SA: 1910-1922] for Friday 13 February 1914, which places H N Wicks at Balhannah, helping establish an orchard and nursery.

 

 

 



 



H N Wicks appears in the book "Who's Who: South Australian Centenary, 1936." He is also mentioned in the 21 March 1934 ( page 13) edition of the "The Advertiser" Adelaide, as at the Balhannah flower show, see the image below.

 

 

It is therefore, a reasonable assumption that H N Wicks may have been present on 23 March 1920 in Adelaide, at Balhannah, as he states in his 1947 letter to the editor.

 

3. The weather

 

H N Wicks' 1947 letter to the editor, described the day of his observation, as "cloudless." Can we confirm this?

 

I checked the weather section of the 23 March 1920 "The Advertiser," Adelaide for the state forecast. This read "Lower South Australia Fine with warmer temperatures and light, variable winds, chiefly south-east to north-east." There is no mention about the state of cloudiness. Fine, merely means, no rain.

 

Advertiser, Adelaide 23 March 1920.

 

4. Discussion

What might the two objects have been?

a. My first thoughts were that, could Wicks have possibly confused the aircraft he thought was Butler's, with Ross Smith's? If this were so, perhaps the two black objects were in fact Butler's and Moore's aircraft? However, Butler's aircraft was a monoplane, and Smith's was a much larger biplane. In addition, Smith's plane would not have been performing acrobatics and stunting, whereas Butler's smaller, monoplane was capable of acrobatics and stunting; in fact, Butler was renown for his acrobatic performances. It would seem, from the available facts, that H N Wicks was indeed watching Butler's aircraft when the black objects went by.

b. Could the two black objects have been birds? High speed black objects in the sky could indeed have been birds. However, if we accept that three independent witnesses all saw large objects at around the same time, from distances up to a mile apart, this suggestion would seem unlikely.

c. I note that there is no mention of the two black objects leaving a condensation trail. There is also no associated noise reported from the objects.

5. In summary

 

We have confirmed that H N Wicks was a real, historical figure, almost certainly living in Balhannah on 23 March 1920, the date he reports his observation occurred. The other details of the day, e.g.. the arrival of Sir Ross Smith, are historically correct.

 

Here then we have an observation, dated 23 March 1920,  of "...two large black objects travelling at terrific speed in a parallel course, passed very high above him, travelling from north to south. These were quite large and were very high but nevertheless their speed was such as to make Harry Butler's machine appear as if it were stationary." These were reportedly observed by three people who were a considerable distance apart, albeit belatedly reported in February 1947. There, however, appears to be a valid reason why H N Wicks only reported it to the newspaper, in February 1947. The observation predates Kenneth Arnold's sighting, by several months.

 

 On the reported facts, I have no suggestions as to a mundane stimulus for this observation.

 

Have any readers, ideas?


Update 29 Dec 2015


Sydney based researcher Bill Chalker forwarded me his thoughts:

http://australianhistoricaluforeports.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/a-probable-explanation-for-recollection.html