SUBJECT: NORTH QUEENSLALND UFO SAGA FILE: UFO2387

SUBJECT: NORTH QUEENSLALND UFO SAGA FILE: UFO2387

��
This is a transcript from the original article printed in the
'FLYING SAUCER REVIEW', Volume 15, No. 3, May/June 1969 issue.
It is part of the 'official' Tully report which includes a report
by Stan Seers, ex-president of QFSRB (now URQ), letters between
people involved in the investigation, newspaper articles of the time,
the below article, etc.. etc...

NORTH QUEENSLAND UFO SAGA - By Stan Seers and William
Lasich.

The sparsely-populated coast of North Queensland opposite
the Great Barrier Reef abounds in vegetative growth. Tall reed
or cane concealing "flying saucer nests" form a notable feature
of the UFO saga which began(1) with the adventure of George
Pedley, a 27-year-old banana farmer of Euramo near Tully, some
95 miles south of Cairns.
At about 9.00 a.m. on the clear sunny morning of Wednesday,
January 19, 1966, Pedley was driving a petrol tractor across
the property of a friend and neighbour, Mr. Albert Pennisi,
cane farmer and resident of some 19 years.
The farm track along which he drove wound its way towards,
and thence alongside, what is locally known as Horseshoe Lagoon.
This contained an area of still water about 5ft. deep and an
acre or so in extent, much of which was covered by a thick
growth of water reeds, the stems of these, about 1/2in. in
diameter protruding above the surface to a height of
approximately 2ft.
As he approached the lagoon, which was to his right, with
the sun by this time well up in the sky to his left, he thought
he detected a misfire in the tractor motor. Almost immediately
over the noise of the tractor he heard a sharp hissing noise,
and then to his amazement he saw rising from the reeds,
approximately 25 yards to his right and slightly ahead of him,
a saucer-shaped object which ascended fairly slowly to an
estimated height of 60ft., tilted a little to one side and then
with a burst of speed quickly vanished in a south-westerly
direction. Except for the original hissing noise, no other
sound was heard. The total time of observation was estimated at
4 to 5 seconds.
Mr. Pedley stated that the object was approximately 25ft. in
diameter, about 9ft thick at the centre, silver-grey in colour
and generally sharp in outline. He jumped from the tractor and
hurried across to the lagoon from whence the object had
ascended and immediately discovered a circular flattened area
within the tall green reeds. The flattened stems were radially
distributed in a noticeably anti-clockwise manner(2). He was
emphatic that the swathed reeds were at that time quite green,
as were all other reeds outside this area. The swathe of
newly-flattened reeds formed a "nest" of 30ft diameter.
He further noted an area of giant water couch grass
immediately outside the perimeter of the "nest", about a square
yard of which had been apperently clipped short and the
clippings removed. Pedley is positive in recollection that the
water of the "nest" was STILL SWIRLING slightly in a circular
motion at the moment when he first saw it.
After a few minutes he returned to the tractor, started the
motor and went on his way. When questioned later, Mr. Pedley
stated that he could not remember whether or not he switched
the motor off when leaving it, stalled the motor when stopping,
or whether it just cut out after he left it, but is quite
certain that the tractor motor was "dead" when he returned
since he clearly remembers restarting it. The motor electrical
ignition system was the conventional one for the model.
Later in the day he felt that he should tell someone of what
he had seen, so called on Mr. Albert Pennisi, owner of the
lagoon and surrounding property and related to him his
experience. At about 4.00 p.m. they returned together to the
lagoon. Mr. Pennisi stripped, waded out to the "nest" and found
that it was possible to swim through from side to side BELOW
the flattened area, without meeting with any obstruction,
indicating quite clearly that the whole mass of the "nest" was
actually FLOATING on the surface.
Shortly afterwards, at about 5.00 p.m., Mr. Pennisi, using
colour film took a series of photographs. The prints
subsequently obtained, clearly substantiate a remarkable
feature which both witnesses had observed and remarked on. The
flattened reeds in the "nest" had turned noticeably brown, but
ONLY ON THE UPPER SURFACES. The underside of each reed nearest
the water still remained quite green. this "browning" of the
upper surfaces of the reeds had quite obviously taken place
since 9 a.m. that morning.
A resurgence of "nest" phenomena at the same Tully lagoon
has occurred recently (January/February 1968). Sometime
earlier, noting a prediction of sunspot maximum for May 1968 by
the Swiss authority M. Waldmeive, QFSRB [Queensland Flying
Saucer Research Bureau - now; UFO Research Queensland. M.W.]
were primed(3) to the possibility of increased UFO activity in
1968.
With this in mind, it was decided to set up two monitor
stations, No. 1 in the Tully district (North Queensland) and
No. 2 in the South, some 20 miles out of Brisbane. The precise
location of sites must remain undisclosed, since the monitors
operate virtually unattended at some distance from habitation.
The equipment at No. 1 station was set up by Mr. Vince Mele
with the assistance of an electronics friend. The monitor is
built around a photo-cell and sensitive magnetic compass. The
photo-cell light beam is interrupted if magnetic dusturbance is
present, and the fluctuation of photo-cell current then
activates the cine-camera release. The camera (Eumig 8mm auto.)
is energised so long as magnetic field disturbance continues
(five frames exposed per 2-second interval).
During February a spontaneous magnetic field disturbance was
actually recorded during initial trials. On the same day a UFO
sighting was reported by an isolated witness, some eight miles
from the base. Heavy cloud cover in the area impeded further
observation of the UFO flight trajectory. The information was
not enough to provide 100 per cent proof that the detector was
UFO-triggered on this occasion. Nevertheless things looked
quite promising.
At the end of February both monitors were fitted with
cameras, tested and operating. On March 2, Tully lagoon
contained four nests, then about three weeks old. The camera
site was screened from view some 50ft. from the nearest "nest".
On this date radio 4KZ broadcast an arresting news flash! An
airliner en route Cairns to Iron Range had been paced at
6,000ft. for some minutes by a UFO some 2,000ft above the
aircraft. Both airline pilots witnessed the event. Somewhere
over Cooktown area the UFO broke contact and shot off at
enormous speed (described as something like 1,500 m.p.h.). An
inspection of the No. 1 monitor found the camera still in
motion although all 25ft of colour film(4) had been run through
and the batteries were nearly exhausted. The roll of 16-mm film
was removed and reversed for a second run, and new batteries
installed. (Technically this indicates the field perturbation -
cum UFO - was present for the whole 10 minutes the film was
run.)
On March 4, two days later, quite a number of local
inhabitants reported the passage of another UFO. An inspection
of the monitor again revealed that it had been "triggered", but
this time, for some unknown reason, only some 15 or 16 frames
had been exposed. An examination of the batteries which had
been carefully tested and were fully charged when fitted,
revealed that they were quite flat.
The remainder of the film was wound through by hand, removed
from the camera, sealed in the usual container and addressed to
Kodak Ltd., Melbourne, for processing, all of this in the
presence of two reliable witnesses. It was then conveyed to
Tully for posting, the packet was weighed, and the charge was
14 cents. Some 10 days later a letter was received from Kodak
stating that the container, which was returned to the sender,
HAD BEEN EMPTY ON ARRIVAL! The empty container still had the 14
cent stamp attached, and a quick check at the Post Office
established that the postage on an empty container was 5 cents
only. Further exchanges with Kodak Ltd. produced no results.
The loss of the film was reported to the civil police who
were very co-operative, but after a careful detective
investigation interstate, were unable to shed light on the
mystery of the vanished film so far as can be quoted from
official statement. Unofficially, however, a hint was thrown
out by a person of reliable character and seemingly well
informed in police matters, that it was likely that
Commonwealth authorities had taken possession of the film and
therefore it would be useless to pursue enquiries further.
To complete the "cloak and dagger " atmosphere, even more
bizarre was a seemingly casual suggestion conveyed to one of
the UFO investigators by an individual undoubtedly
knowledgeable in government intelligence activities. This
"contact" advised our UFO researching colleague that NEXT time
the UFO camera ought to be loaded with black and white film. Is
this too incredible? No, probably just the verdict of hard-won
experience in the photographic lab. of "salvaging" difficult
aircraft images, under-exposed and diffused by grain and
distortion. Even perhaps of UFOs?
It is not without interest also to record, shortly after
loss of the film, circa March 13, two R.A.A.F. [Royal
Australian Air Force] helicopters were observed for some time
deploying over the site of the very lagoon significant to the
events described, by the owner of the properties concerned.
Several "saucer nests" were still visible at this date.
Mr. Colin Bennett, M.L.A., [Member of the Legislative
Assembly] Barrister, after studying complete documentation of
the incident, expressed keen interest and promptly offered his
every assistance in inquiries. Mr. Bennett then wrote to
Canberra [Federal Government] concerning the missing UFO film,
presenting, he stated, "a submission to the Commonwealth
Authorities in rather strong terms."
In a reply from Canberra dated August 29, Mr. Gordon Freeth,
Minister for Air stated he was unable to offer any suggestion
as to the fate of the film. He denied positively the Department
of Air had ever, at any time, removed from Kodak Ltd., material
relating to UFOs.
So far a disappointing outcome for UFO researchers. Could it
be that sensible lifemanship indicates the affair might as well
be allowed to fade into limbo? Let the UFOs "buzz-off" so we
can get on with our own affairs. A public philosophy endorsed
by our officialdom!
MORE VISITATIONS

However the UFOs must be immune to exorcism, or have ignored
the message, since the Cairns-Tully area continues to sport its
UFO-active events. A further "nest" was discovered soon after
on April 25 in a cane field close to Cairns (25 miles north of
Tully). Flattened stems lay in an oval-shaped area 70ft. by
30ft. These were described by a horse-riding party as
completely screened by standing cane.
A more recent close encounter with a UFO (October 1) was
reported by Louie Maule, 35, a Tully district farmer. Near on
8.00 p.m. he was headed north driving home from South
Johnstone, when he saw descending from the night sky, a large
black object ringed with red lights. "I got a shock", Maule
said. "It was GIGANTIC and looked to be slowing up."
The headlights of a passing car momentarily obscured his
vision, and he slowed to a stop. "When I looked again it was
travelling towards South Johnstone at maybe 100 m.p.h."
Interviewed by Vince Mele, the motorist Louie Maule stated
the UFOs' altitude was about 500ft. It was circular in shape,
and about 60ft. in diameter, as clearly out-lined by the red
lights around the perimeter. The red-ringed disc was last seen
to bank and proceed towards the clouds at very high speed.
On the same evening, some 3 miles to the north, Vince Mele
had set up his mobile detector on a hill site overlooking the
surrounding area. Promptly at 8.00 p.m. his detector alarm
sounded and it was two minutes before the alarm re-set itself
automatically. After this, it was quiet for the rest of the
evening.
Although it must be noted that Vince Mele did not himself
see any lights, the October 1 incident now seems to provide
the first good evidence for independent visual sighting
correlated with triggering of the detector by the ambient field
of a UFO.(5)

A Continued Mystery

The Tully UFO photographs (presuming something WAS on the
film) are by no means the first UFO shots to disappear from the
Australian scene. A recapitulation made at the CAPIO Convention
(Canberra, July 1968) produced the following list:
1. 11.00 a.m., August 23, 1953, of nine photographs taken at
Port Moresby by T.P. Drury, Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation,
the five best shots were "lost" by CAD, who had loaned them
to the United States Air Force, Washington. **[I will type
up and post the full report on this particular sighting
shortly. It is contained in the complete, original 45 page
report entitled "Flying Saucers Over Papua - A Report on
Papuan Unidentified Flying Objects." dated March 1960, by
the Revd. Norman E.G. Cruttwell, M.A. Oxon, of the Anglican
Mission, Menapi, Papua, New Guinea, and documents a lot of
the 79 Papuan sightings of the time, including the full
report on the 'Father Gill' case. M.W.]**

2. Daytime, Easter 1954, some 200 photographs, cine and
stills, of an object pacing three young men in an Austin
sedan, driving through the interior near the Western and
South Australian border. "Borrowed" by the R.A.A.F. and
never returned.

3. 11.00 a.m., July 7, 1961, 6in. by 3in negative of the
"Thing" observed by scores of North Queenslanders and
photographed by R.T. Sheward of the Cairns Post. This
negative was sent to Kodak Melbourne by Mt. Stromlo
scientists. This time the container did not arrive empty -
according to Kodak, IT JUST DID NOT ARRIVE.

4. 3.25 a.m., May 27, 1965, several photographs taken by an
airline pilot (Ansett-ANA) of a UFO pacing an air liner in
flight for 10 minutes over Bougainville Reef en route to
Port Moresby. Film confiscated by the authorities.

5. Actual time unknown, March 4 of this year, Tully, North
Queensland, Missing cine film. We wonder where they all
are?

NOTES
-!!!-
(1) 'Queensland Again' by Judith Magee, FLYING SAUCER REVIEW,
March/April 1966 (Vol. 12, No. 2.)
(2) Clockwise swirl observed contrary to hypothetical ground
effects from a helicopter landing. Rotor blades are driven
with left-hand screw motion.
(3) A study of the graphs (1851 to 1961) contained in the work
'Anatomy of a Phenomenon' by Jaques Vallee strongly suggests
the possibility of peak UFO activity being related to maximum
and minimum sunspot activity and/or geo-magnetic activity. The
latter could well be the significant factor, in view of the
UFOs' well-known electro-magnetic effects.
(4) Film was Kodachrome II, ASA speed 25.
(5) No electric cables, geophysical prospecting, etc., are
present in the area to act as source of magnetic field
disturbances.

****End****

**********************************************
* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
**********************************************