By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
STAR News Group was graced by an old friend on Thursday when Channel Ten’s The Project dropped in for a chat with resident Westall UFO expert and journalist Cameron Lucadou-Wells.
Project producer Tania Palich took the long journey out to Pakenham to chat with Dandenong Journal reporter Cameron Lucadou-Wells who has been covering the developing Westall flying saucer incident for the past 10 years.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Tania said when she found out where she was going.
“It was like going back in time when I drove in,” she said because it was Star News Group that handed Tania her first electrical typewriter.
“My dad was part owner at Barry Bourke Holden Warragul and he advertised with the Pakenham Gazette, so that’s how I go the internship,” Tania said.
Spending two months as an interning journalist, Tania learnt the ropes from Star owner and editor at the time, Dot Thomas.
“I remember going out on jobs in a big Ford sedan, having just got my licence without any P plates on,” she said, laughing.
But with a hard earned regional start in journalism, Tania has forged a successful career working for some of Australia’s top media firms, including Seven News and the Herald Sun.
“I was here at the Pakenham office 23 years ago – I was tossing up whether to become a teacher or a journalist,” Tania said.
And it’s Melbourne’s keen interest in what played out on the morning of 6 April 1966 near Westall High School, now Westall Secondary College, in Dandenong that had Tania back on her old stomping ground.
The exclusive interview with Cameron discussed what he’s learnt about the mysterious flying figure from eyewitnesses and just how vivid their memories are today, 50 years on.
Look out for the Journal’s special report on the Westall UFO incident in the Journal online on Friday 1 April and in the Journal newspaper on Monday 4 April.
The Project special report will go to air at 6.30pm on Tuesday 5 April.
See Cameron Lucadou-Wells being interviewed by The Project.
