The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in Oceania. Its capital city is Canberra. Australia ranks 13th place in GDP. Australia’s official position on UFOs is that it lost all of its UFO files[1] (A dingo ate their UFO reports).
UFO situation[]
Australia is an original member of the United Nations. In the mid 1970s, the United Nations addressed the UFO phenomenon. The UN “adopted a resolution in 1978 asking all nations to pay close attention to the UFO problem.”[2]
U.S.-Australian connection[]
Victorian groups VUFORS and PRA invited Dr. J. Allen Hynek to visit Australia. He accepted the invitation and in 1973 arrived in Australia, spending four days in Melbourne, followed by short stops in Sydney, ACT, Brisbane and Papua New Guinea. While in Victoria, Dr. Hynek also met with Rev. William Gill,[3] who was involved in the famous "close encounters of the third kind" case that occurred in the Anglican mission village at Boianai, Papua, New Guinea. He also journeyed to Papua, which enabled him to undertake a detailed on site investigation into this famous case. Victorian members of VUFORS and PRA arranged that, during his stay in the ACT, he was able to talk with Shamus O'Farrell, discussing O'Farrell's famous 1954 Sea Fury incident.[4][5]
In 1974, Harry Griesberg and David Seargent established the Australian Co-ordination Section (ACOS) of the US-based Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). This followed the 1973 visit to Australia of Dr J. Allen Hynek, who requested that Australian ufologists forward copies of interesting Australian sighting reports to CUFOS in the US.[6] [7]
All the while, The Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (1972–75), was threatening to close Pine Gap, a ‘satellite surveillance’ base jointly operated by Australia and the United States. The CIA had helped to set up Pine Gap as early as 1966. According to Victor Marchetti, the threat to close Pine Gap caused apoplexy in the White House and a kind of "coup" was set in motion.[8] On 11 November 1975 – the day Whitlam was to inform parliament about the secret CIA presence in Australia – he was summoned by the governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr. Invoking archaic vice-regal “reserve powers”, Kerr sacked the democratically elected prime minister.[9]
UFO files[]
UFO files prior to 1979 had been available to Defence personnel and Civilians Defence personnel for years, but remained closed to outside UFO researchers. With extensive efforts by VUFORS and Fl/Lt Brett Biddington[10] (later Group Captain - RAAF), the RAAF invited Victorian researchers to visit the Intelligence Cell at RAAF Headquarters Support Command, Victoria Barracks, Victoria, to view the majority files collection and copy what they wished, in October 1979.[11] This was a significant 'turn around' by the Defence Force, in a period of remarkable co-operation between government departments and civilian groups. In 1981, another change in policy allowed a selection of general UFO files to be sent to Defence HQ, Russell Office, Canberra, when requested. The limited selection became open to other civilians for research after being vetted by a second controlling officer. After their inspection, they were returned to the Victorian collection.[12]
However, since the turn of the millennium, Australia’s Defence Intelligence officially “lost” their UFO files.[1][13]
UFO groups[]
The earliest UFO group to form in Australia was the "Australian Flying Saucer Bureau" under the direction of Edgar Jarrold and Andrew Tomas, in the early 1950s. Meanwhile, Fred Stone inaugurated the "Australian Flying Saucer Research Society" in Adelaide. After approximately two years the Bureau closed down and was regarded as a branch of the "Australian Flying Saucer Research Society" under Andrew Tomas. This shortly broke from Adelaide and became the "Australian U.F.O. Investigation Centre" with Dr. Clifford at its head until 1958, when the Presidency passed to Dr. Lindtner.[4]
The "Australian Flying Saucer Research Society (Victorian Branch)" was formed on the 17th of February, 1957 as a branch of the "Australian Flying Saucer Research Society" and later that year was re-organised as the "Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society" with Mr. Peter E. Norris L.L.B. as President. In 1968 the name was again altered - this time to the "Victorian U.F.O. Research Society" (VUFORS).[4]
UFO Files[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Space.com, Australian Government Loses All Its UFO Files, By Natalie Wolchover, June 07, 2011
- ↑ CIA.gov, China UFO Society meets; to continue scientific study, [unclassified, Aug 1997]
- ↑ DEATH - Reverend William (Bill) Booth Gill (1928-2007) - Died 13 June 2007 - age of 79. His funeral service was held at the Church of Holy Trinity, Anglican Parish of Surrey Hills, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Magee, Judith, The History of VUFORS, Victorian UFO Research Society (VUFORS), 1998, pp1
- ↑ Magee, Judith, VUFORS 40th Birthday (1957 - 1997), Victorian UFO Research Society (VUFORS), 1997, pp1
- ↑ Mark Moravec "Journal Cuadernos de Ufologia", 1997-98 then reprinted in the UK journal "Fortean Studies", 1999, Vol6 ISBN 1-902212-20-7, para 1 p110
- ↑ Dr Martin Gottschall, ACUFOS - "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091015022239/http://www.acufos.asn.au/index.html. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
- ↑ Pilger, John (2014-10-23). "The British-American coup that ended Australian independence | John Pilger" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-whitlam-1975-coup-ended-australian-independence.
- ↑ "The forgotten coup - how America and Britain crushed the government of their 'ally', Australia". http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-forgotten-coup-how-america-and-britain-crushed-the-government-of-their-ally-australia.
- ↑ Bendigo Advertiser, 25 May 1983, front page
- ↑ File note: “Note for further Intelos lumbered with questions about F…. V…. “In 1983 all paper work on V…..’s disappearance was photocopied by the UFO Research Society in Victoria and all enquiries should be directed to them.” CINTO. 10 Feb 1989. File 5/6/1/AIR Part 8. 9755-4 “UFO-reports” HQ Support Command. Folios 10 Jan 78 to 10 Feb 89
- ↑ Auchettl, John, The Roots of Australian Ufology, Victorian UFO Research Society (VUFORS), 1985, pp34
- ↑ See Area 51 disclosure