The Westall UFO

In April 1966 the Westall UFO caused panic in the suburbs of Melbourne: was it a weather balloon, an experimental plane, or: something else?

Westall, south east of Melbourne, is an average outer city suburb.

Established in 1929 as the city expanded, the area today is a modest, middle class location. One of Melbourne’s best universities, Monash, is nearby, as is one of Australia’s best golf courses, Kingston Heath.

Otherwise the area is largely suburban housing, with most of the properties dating from the 1960s and 70s.

But Westall has as extraordinary footnote in the history of the city, one that has brought it global attention. It is the location of one of the world’s largest mass UFO sightings, an incident still unexplained and debated to this day.

April 6, 1966 started as a typical day for the teachers and students heading into Westall Secondary College, and the adjacent Westall primary school. The two schools shared a property line and were brand new: they had only opened the year before, reflecting the suburb’s growing population.

Classes began as normal at 8.30am.

Mid-morning, the students were out on their first break for the day, milling around the schools’ ovals and quadrangles. One group were playing a game of cricket on Westall High’s sports field.

Around 11.00am, an object was suddenly seen in the sky. Described as a silver-grey disk or saucer, it was moving slowly over the school, heading south.

‘We were out playing sport on the oval. One of the kids yelled out, “Look! Look up in the sky! It’s flying saucers!” And I remember we all looked up and it really was; a flying saucer.’

 – Terry Peck, eyewitness

The shock caused by the saucer’s appearance was immediate. Children began to shriek, running around in panic, while several threw themselves to the ground in fright.

The commotion drew the attention of teachers, who ran outside to see what was happening. People looked up at the sky, stunned, staring at the unlikely object hanging above them.

More than 100 witnesses at the school would later testify that they saw something in the sky that day. Although their descriptions do vary widely.

Andrew Greenwood, a science teacher, said he saw a silvery-green disk, about twice the size of a family car.

Joy Clarke, a second form student, said she saw ‘three flying saucers.’

Some witnesses reported hearing engine noise coming from the object, or that they saw light aircraft nearby. Others refuted these aspects.

Whatever it was, the object’s trajectory took it over the high school and then the primary school, where its appearance again caused pandemonium.

Children in both schools ran around chaotically: crying, yelling, pointing at the sky.

‘All the students were just running all over the place, hysterical. My girlfriend and I just sat on the fence – climbed the fence at the school boundary – and we were crying, thinking it was the end of the world.’

– Mary Eastwood, eyewitness

A short distance from the primary school was a patch of vacant, overgrown land, called Grange Reserve. The object flew in this direction, then lost height as it crossed over the park, gradually descending behind a stand of trees.

A number of excited students climbed the school fence, in pursuit.

After a short pause, the object ascended from the trees again and departed the area, heading north west. A teacher who witnessed the ascenation described the object as moving erractically, zigging and zagging, then accelerating away at tremendous speed, disappearing from site in an instant.

Witnesses who made it into Grange Reserve shortly after the object’s final disappearance, reported seeing a flattened circle on the ground.

Back at the high school, in the immediate aftermath, Principal Frank Samblebe called an assembly. He told the panicked students to calm down, and warned them that the incident was not to be discussed.

‘He didn’t want to hear any more about this nonsense. We were not to discuss it ever again.’

  – Susanne Savage, Westall student

Students were shortly dismissed, and sent home for the day.

The UFO sighting appeared in the newspapers, the following day.

The local paper, ‘The Dandenong Journal’, made the ‘Flying Saucer Mystery’ its front page. But ‘The Age‘, a larger citywide newspaper,  ran a smaller, more measured item in its local news section; this speculated that the object was actually a damaged weather balloon.

This is the story would become the most accepted version of events.

Other people would guess that it was a military exercise, or some kind of experimental plane. Some of the student witnesses would later report seeing officials in military uniform at the school, and military vehicles in the parking lot.

State and Federal governments have both denied involvement, in any capacity. And there is no official record of a weather balloon going missing that day.

Local historian Shane Ryan has become one of the foremost experts on the Westall UFO. Over many years, Ryan has researched the incident, spoken to aeronautical experts, and tried to pry any relevant information from the government.

In 2010 he produced a documentary – ‘Westall ’66’ – covering his investigations, and he would later contribute material to ‘The Phenomena’, a documentary about UFO sightings globally.

Ryan also spoke to many witnesses. One of the most intriguing is Andrew Greenwood, the Westall College science teacher quoted earlier.

Greenwood was one of the few witnesses interviewed by the press immediately after the incident, where he described the object as ‘like a disc’ and glowing brightly. He did not speak on record again until many years later, when interviewed by Ryan.

Greenwood told Ryan a strange footnote to the story, claiming he had been interrogated by two older men in uniform, who threatened him if he did not keep quiet about what he had seen.

‘They told me that I hadn’t seen anything, that I had made it all up. Possibly because I was drunk. And they would have to report that fact to the Education Department and I would lose my job.’

– Andrew Greenwood

Unsettled, Greenwood stayed out of the spotlight until recently. But he has always stuck by his story.

Another person Ryan spoke with, was James Kibel.

Kibel was an engineer who lived in Balwyn, to the north of Westall. Four days before the mass sighting, on April 2nd, he was out in his backyard when he saw a flash of light, then something unusual in the sky.

Grabbing his polaroid camera, Kibel was able to snap one photo: now among the most famous of a UFO, ever taken. The image is blurry, but shows a disc shaped object, seemingly standing on its end.

Kibel would later be interviewed by Ryan and documentary film maker James Fox. He described what he saw as ‘metallic’, ‘engineered’, and that it appeared to be rotating; it was only before him for a moment, before disappearing at high speed.

Kibel did not say the object was a spacecraft, simply that he has no idea what it was.

In response, skeptics have dismissed the photo, claiming it to be an everyday object tossed in front of the camera, possibly a bicycle bell. Expert studies of the photo have proved inconclusive.

Exactly what it is, and what connection it may have to the Westall UFO, remains unknown.

This year the Westall UFO turns 60. To mark the anniversary, ABC’s ‘Australian Story’ recently ran an episode on the incident.

Many witnesses were interviewed, who reiterated their version of events. Shane Ryan also appeared, and recounted his investigations, and discussions with Greenwood and Kibel.

Everyone – even a representative from the Australian Skeptics – seems to agree: something happened in Westall, in April 1966. Exactly what, remains unclear.

The ABC episode concludes with a note that the Australian Defence department was contacted, and refused to comment.

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