Was it aliens, a top-secret government test balloon, or just “hyped up kids” spreading a wild tale of a flying saucer?

 

Was it aliens, a top-secret government test balloon, or just “hyped up kids” spreading a wild tale of a flying saucer buzzing their playground?

Nearly 60 years on from the incident that has been dubbed “Australia’s Rowell”, the federal government is facing fresh calls to come clean on what it knows about the world-famous Westall UFO mystery.

Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the incident known as Australia’s largest mass UFO sighting. It’s been the subject of documentaries, books and countless news articles and YouTube videos, with scores of witnesses sharing their stories over the years.

But six decades on, the ageing former students have never been given an official answer about what they saw — or why they were told to keep quiet.

The incident sparked a flurry of headlines. Picture: Shane Ryan

“They just want to know what it was and why they were told to shut up about it,” said UFO researcher Grant Lavac, who has created a petition to parliament calling for an independent inquiry into the Westall incident.

On Wednesday, April 6, 1966, at around 11am, more than 200 students, teachers and members of the public observed three “metallic discs” or “flying saucers” with no obvious markings moving silently through the sky over Westall High School and Westall State School in Clayton South, about 25km southeast of the Melbourne CBD.

It was just before recess when a girl came running into the Year 9 science class of a young teacher, Andrew Greenwood, 20.

“This student bolted into the classroom and said, ‘Mr Greenwood, Mr Greenwood, there’s a flying saucer outside!’ The recess bell rang and there was a mass exodus of students onto the sports oval,” said Mr Lavac.

Australian UFO researcher Grant Lavac. Picture: Supplied

Witnesses claim they watched as one of the objects descended towards a wooded area about 1km south of the school, known as The Grange.

The object landed among the pine trees before quickly flying away, leaving large circles of flattened grass with well-defined, discoloured edges behind.

Mr Lavac, who spoke to a number of witnesses for a 2023 YouTube documentary, noted they “all very compellingly recalled that what they saw was not a weather balloon” but rather a classic “flying saucer in the shape of two saucers up-ended and turned facing each other”.

Marilyn Eastwood was 13 when she watched the three objects as she stood on the school sports oval.

“Kids were screaming and so forth, get out into the oval and there was flying saucers,” she told Mr Lavac. “Looked up in the air and there was one just hovering in the playground.”

She said she was among the group of kids who ran over to The Grange.

Flying saucer themed children’s park at The Grange. Picture: Chris Eastman

“I saw where it actually landed, the grass was flattened in a circular area,” she said.

“The speed that these flying saucers moved at was incredible. It was just unbelievable. Straight up and gone — vertical, horizontal, gone. Just amazing.”

Joy Clarke was 12 at the time and vividly remembers the events of that day.

“I was in class when students rushed in and told us the story,” she told news.com.au in 2016. “We rushed down to the oval and I saw three flying saucers on that day. My personal belief is they weren’t of this world. They were definitely from somewhere else because I have never seen anything like it all.”

Ms Clarke said the army and police then arrived.

“We were told we were hysterical and it didn’t happen, while men in black interviewed some of the other kids,” she said.

Terry Peck was playing cricket on the school oval when she saw the saucer and decided to chase it to The Grange.

“I was about six metres away from it,” she told the Herald Sun.

“It was bigger than a car and circular. I think I saw some lights underneath it. Two girls were there before me. One was terribly upset and they were pale, really white, ghostly white. They just said they had passed out, fainted. One was taken to hospital in an ambulance.”

Coverage in The Dandenong Journal. Picture: Supplied

Every year on April 6, a number of Westall witnesses gather for a reunion at The Grange.

“They use it as an opportunity to share memories and keep them alive, but also to voice their frustration that the government has not provided an official explanation for what they observed,” Mr Lavac said.

“More importantly they want to know why they were told to shut up about it.”

In the hours after the sighting, the area was flooded with emergency services, military personnel and media outlets.

The Dandenong Journal ran with coverage of the incident on its front page for consecutive issues and Nine News also reported the story on its 6pm bulletin.

Speaking to the Greater Dandenong Leader in 2005, former Year 10 student Ken Stallard described watching the 20-metre round craft fly over the school.

“So many of us saw it,” Mr Stallard said.

“It never occurred to us that it didn’t happen or was an optical illusion. If it was, it was a pretty good optical illusion. It was 1966 … the space race was at its best. It was a mysterious time.”

Witnesses have consistently claimed they were told privately and collectively not to speak about the incident.

Joy Clarke aged 12, standing at the scene of the sighting. Picture: Supplied

“Shortly after the incident an ad hoc assembly was called and the headmaster told all the students, ‘You’re not to say anything about this event, you’re not to talk about it,’ essentially saying ‘shut up’,” Mr Lavac said.

“That was reiterated individually to a number of students individually by people they thought were government officials or members of the military. That has been a source of their frustration for so long.”

Jacqueline Argent said she was one of the first three kids over the fence to look for the UFO landing site.

“Originally I thought it must have been an experimental-type aircraft, but nothing has emerged like that after all these years,’’ she told the Herald Sun.

Ms Argent claims she was called into the headmaster’s office and interrogated by three men immediately following the incident.

“They had good-quality suits and were well-spoken,” she said.

“They said, ‘I suppose you saw little green men.’ I spoke to my parents about it at the time and they were pretty outraged.’’

In 2021, Mr Greenwood came forward publicly for the first time, confirming he also witnessed the objects — and claiming he was “threatened” to keep quiet.

“I can remember running out into the oval, looking into the sky, and seeing these things, and just standing there absolutely transfixed,” Mr Greenwood told Seven’s Spotlight.

Former Westall science teacher Andrew Greenwood. Picture: 7News Spotlight

“I haven’t seen anything in my life like it before, haven’t seen anything since.”

However Mr Greenwood, who passed away earlier this year, had a different recollection to the students. “It was a grey, almost cylindrical or cigar shaped object which moved with some degree of precision in the sky,” he said.

According to Mr Greenwood, two weeks later he was visited by two senior Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) officers, one in a uniform and the other in a civilian suit.

He claimed the men threatened his job if he spoke about what he saw.

“Absolutely, I was threatened,” he said. “I was told that I should not say anything about it.”

Mr Greenwood said it “beggars belief for me, in Australia we’ve never had an official investigation and, flatly, I think there has been a cover-up”.

“I think someone has buried the Department of Supply report which I know exists,” he said.

In his petition, Mr Lavac writes that “allegations of a government cover-up, including the rapid response of military personnel, confiscation of evidence, witness intimidation and nondisclosure of a comprehensive report compiled by the then Department of Supply” warrant an investigation.

“Despite the risks posed to people, property and safety of flight, no official explanation has ever been provided by the government as to the source, identify and intent of what was observed at Westall,” he writes.

An animation from the documentary Westall ’66: A Suburban UFO Mystery. Picture: Supplied

He has called on the RAAF to revisit its long-held position since 1996 that it sees “no scientific or other compelling reason” to investigate or collect reports of UFOs, now referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).

“As this continues to be the official position of the Department of Defence today, an investigation may help inform a formal review of this long-held position,” he writes.

The petition has attracted more than 350 signatures. If a petition reaches more than 50 signatures, it is usually forwarded to the relevant minister for a response.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has been contacted for comment.

Hazel Edwards was an English and maths teacher at Westall High on the day of the incident and believes it has been blown out of proportion.

The self-proclaimed sceptic suggests overly excited kids made up the story and were responsible for the media hype.

“I think there were a lot of kids that were hyped up,” she told news.com.au in 2016.

“Look at the so-called evidence, most of it is just hearsay.”

Although federal and state government agencies refused to comment about the incident at the time, government documents unearthed in 2014 offer an explanation for the sighting.

A sketch by researcher Bill Chalker. Picture: Supplied

The documents revealed a secret radiation-testing project known as the HIBAL program — a joint US-Australian initiative developed to monitor atmospheric radiation levels using large silver balloons equipped with sensors between 1960 and 1969.

Each balloon was equipped with a 180kg payload and was followed by a light aircraft tasked with tracking it and triggering its 12-metre parachute via radio signal.

UFO researcher Keith Basterfield said examinations of the documents held by the National Archives and former Department of Supply indicate the mysterious flying object may have been a test balloon that was blown off course after being launched from Mildura.

“My hypothesis is that the incident involved not a UFO, but a high-altitude balloon, its parachute and large payload,” he told News Corp in 2016.

“The Westall object was described as being a white/silver colour which could describe the colour of an HIBAL balloon or parachute.”

Mr Lavac said if that explanation were true, “surely if it’s classified 60 years later that is now not the case”.

“And if it is prosaic, whether it was a high-altitude balloon or some other technology that was being tested, why doesn’t the government come out and admit what it was?” he said.

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“If it was something that was maybe not prosaic, it’s a compelling reason for the RAAF to consider devoting resources to the investigation and reporting of UAP.”