By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
IF MOBILE phones had been in the hands of frenzied Westall High School students in 1966, who knows how Dandenong Journal reporter Des Carroll may have covered one of the world’s most enduring UFO mysteries?
Fifty years on, Mr Carroll’s conspiratorial stories of up to three silver flying objects hovering and vanishing from the skies above a paddock beside the Clayton South school still ring true.
The question of what more than 100 people saw in broad daylight on 6 April 1966 remains unanswered.
There were, however, no photos or videos of the awesome event and nothing more elaborate than a hand drawing of a flying saucer shape graced the Journal’s front page at the time.
The official explanation proffered was that it was just a weather balloon.
But Mr Carroll extracted vivid eye-witness descriptions of these objects which pointed to something more strange – despite the media clampdown by defence department authorities and a “terrified” school principal.
Teacher Andrew Greenwood described to Mr Carroll at the time that the saucer was playing “cat and mouse” with pursuing aircraft.
Mr Carroll recalled: “The kids were excited – abuzz with excitement, not terrified. I could see what a big buzz it was for them.”
Mr Carroll, now 78 years old and living in Castlemaine, remembers getting the call-out to the high school after a tip-off from a Clayton stringer that day.
He was led to a nearby grassed area where the objects allegedly landed.
“The grass had been pressed down in a large circle but it looked bloody impressive.”
Theories flourished. Talk of a US military exercise or experiment probably stemmed from the increasing American defence presence on Australian soil and chatter of Communist threats, Mr Carroll said.
A former Air Force member in the Journal office thought the incident was just a military target practice exercise.
“But I said to him there are no military airports anywhere nearby,” Mr Carroll recalls.
“I didn’t really come out with any opinion at all.”
For many days afterwards, he found himself sidelined from the looming federal election.
He often had to field interrogatory phone calls from a “mad Yank” from a Moordialloc UFO society.
“It was a fun story to do.”
The story endures, marked by a flying saucer playground in Grange Reserve, which is where the object landed and was then a paddock called The Grange, and more than 100 eyewitness accounts collected by Canberra-based researcher Shane Ryan.
He says the ongoing conspiracy such as the unexplained presence of Department of Defence officers at the scene helps keep the story alive.
“We know there was some sort of air force involvement. There was no paper trail to tell us why they were there and what they were doing.
“If a solution came forward we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
After 11 years of collating eyewitness reports, Mr Ryan feels he is piecing together the jigsaw.
“It’s gradually putting a degree of pressure on who may be holding the keys to the mystery.
“Maybe the keys are in another country, maybe no one around has the keys or no one ever had the keys – the box was empty.
“My hope is it will put more pressure on those people, if they exist.”
The story still captures national media – a spread in Woman’s Day, a feature on The Project and a Studio Ten feature this week to coincide with the 50th anniversary.
In January after a TV segment, Mr Ryan heard from witnesses who hadn’t contacted him before.
One of them was Oakleigh firefighter John Williams who was among the first responders to the high school.
He is shy of the event’s controversy but vividly remembers the day.
Expecting to find a fire, Mr Williams and crew-mate ‘Mopey’ drove to where a group of excited kids were milling around at the high school. They were pointed to where UFOs had landed.
An older man and his wife standing on the corner of Westall and Fairbank roads directed the fireys to The Grange’s orchards.
“We didn’t find a fire. We found an area of grass that’s flattened, about twice the size of your lounge room.”
Deep down, the two firefighters knew they’d found “something” even though their colleagues dismissed the event.
“We tried to keep an open mind. We haven’t got an answer for it but we thought something has happened here.
“All of these people can’t be wrong.”
Anyone who can provide information is asked to contact Shane Ryan on 0402 085 553 or shaneljryan@iinet.net.au, or visit Westall Flying Saucer Incident Facebook page.
More details go to the Westall ’66: A Suburban UFO Mystery documentary.
See more in the Journal, out on Monday 4 April.
