The Westall UFO Incident

One of Australia’s most compelling and unexplained UFO cases

Name	Westall UFO Incident
Occurred on	April 6, 1966
Seen by	Westall High School students and teachers
Investigated by	No documented formal military investigations were known

The Westall UFO incident of 1966 can be considered the “largest daylight mass sighting of flying saucers that has ever happened.” However, it had been deliberately suppressed, suggesting a cover-up, by the military and government.

Years passed, and many of Westall High School’s former students and teachers have come forward, insisting they saw a flying saucer. They had seen the unidentified object land in a nearby field, which they call the “Grange,” and then rise before vanishing. 

The witnesses’ accounts of the event remain consistent, a fact that Shane Ryan, the principal researcher of the Westall UFO incident, who has interviewed many of them, can vouch for.

Interestingly, to commemorate the 1966 UFO incident, the Kingston City Council had installed a children’s playground called The Grange Reserve UFO Park near the landing site. There was also a documentary film about it titled Westall ‘66: A Suburban UFO Mystery in 2010.

What Happened at the Time of the Westall UFO Incident?

On April 6, 1966, several students and teachers at Westall High School in Clayton South were having their morning break when they unexpectedly saw at least one, possibly up to three, flying saucers.

They described this unidentified object as silver or grey in color, round or slightly cylindrical in shape, and with a domed top. It flew silently and rapidly, then descended behind a row of pine trees in the nearby open area they called the Grange, which was located just south of the school.

A few moments later, it was seen again, this time being pursued by five small aircraft that looked like Cessnas. The object and the aircraft continued flying overhead, as if in a game of cat and mouse, for around 20 minutes before disappearing from view. 

Some students ran toward the Grange and reported finding large circles in the grass that were either burnt, pressed flat, or singed where the object had landed. 

Then, within 40 minutes of the sighting, the military, the police, and two fire brigades appeared at the scene. These authorities also warned the witnesses not to speak about what they had seen to anyone.

Days later, it was reported that the landowner had burned the field of the landing site to prevent onlookers from damaging his property.

The Media Coverage Following the Westall UFO Incident

Two notable newspapers had covered the Westall UFO incident: The Age and The Dandenong Journal.

The Age: “Object Perhaps Balloon”

The day following the incident, April 7, 1966, The Age reported that what the witnesses saw might have been a weather balloon, not a UFO. The article stated that the Weather Bureau released a balloon from Laverton at 8:30 am, and the wind might have blown it toward the area where the UFO was seen.

The Dandenong Journal: “Flying Saucer Mystery: School Silent – What Was It?”

Published on April 14, 1966, this news story informed the public that the reported Westall UFO incident remained unexplained.

The article mentioned that the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society (now the Victorian UFO Research Society) had shown interest in the matter. However, investigations and witness interviews were limited, as the school hadn’t allowed students or staff to speak to them or the media. They had to rely on secondhand reports to piece the UFO case together, including reports from:

• Department of Civil Aviation, stating that no unusual aircraft had been in the area
• Bureau of Meteorology, stating that the weather balloon from Laverton might explain the sighting

Regardless, the VFSRS would continue its investigations and seek firsthand accounts.

The Witnesses’ Accounts

Back then, authorities told the students and teachers not to speak about the Westall UFO incident. Now, decades later, these very people are coming out to tell the public what they had seen.

The following are some of the key witnesses to this incident:

Andrew Greenwood

Greenwood, a teacher at Westall High School, shared that a young girl came into the classroom, exclaiming, “Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Greenwood, there’s a flying saucer!”

He and the class ran out into the oval, and when he looked up, he saw this object in the sky at the far side of the school oval. He described it as a classic cigar-shaped object made of grey metal. 

Two weeks later, he was visited by two people: one in plain clothes and the other a senior Air Force personnel. They told him he was wrong, and he didn’t see anything unusual. He tried to explain himself, describing what he had seen, but they threatened to take away his job.

Tanya Vasi

Vasi described the object as a shiny, two-story disc. “It certainly wasn’t anything that we’d ever seen,” she stated.

Two days later, the headmaster took her to a little office where two gentlemen were waiting. They questioned her for about 15 minutes, then asked her not to speak of the incident to anybody. 

They also told her that what she saw was a special weather balloon, but even at 12 years old, she knew better, and it definitely wasn’t a balloon.

Terry Peck

Peck ran toward the Grange, where one of the objects landed. She got close in front of it, where she saw purple lights around it and felt a heat and heard a buzzing sound coming from the object. 

A minute or so later, she said the object slowly lifted to about 3 to 4 meters off the ground, turned to its side, and then shot straight up into the sky before disappearing. 

Jacquie Argent

Argent didn’t recall there was more than one, as everyone else did, but she did see a flying saucer over at the oval. She described that the object was silver and round. 

It performed some aerial maneuvers that drew her and everyone else’s attention. Later, it came down to the Grange, and they took off after it, where they saw the marks it left on the grass.

The Investigations and Explanations From Civilian UFO Researchers

To date, no official report from the government, military, or any agency has explained what occurred at Westall. “The silence from them is deafening, perplexing, and very frustrating,” Shane Ryan told Ross Coulthart in 7News Spotlight.

Fortunately, we have people like him and Brian Dunning (from Skeptoid) to help research and understand what happened that morning of April 6, 1966.

Shane Ryan

Shane Ryan is known in the circle as the principal researcher of the Westall UFO incident. He had interviewed more than 200 witnesses, with 89 claiming to have seen a flying saucer and 138 claiming to have seen the circle marks where the object landed.

After nearly 20 years of research, he still cannot determine exactly what the object was, but he is certain about what it was not: it was not a balloon, a kite, or a drone. Instead, “it was something that, in a sense, should not have been there that day.”

He’s also convinced that there was some sort of cover-up here. Someone in the government didn’t want the Westall UFO incident story to get out. He’d love to know why the authorities applied such pressure to the witnesses to keep the incident under wraps.

He did an extensive search on who the police and military officials who came to the scene were, as well as documents that the government agencies might hold. However, he was unable to find them. 

Brian Dunning

Brian Dunning is the host and producer of Skeptoid, a non-profit podcast that discusses the true science behind popular pseudosciences, including UFOs. 

In his analysis, he divided the sighting into two phases and researched plausible causes for each.

The First Half of the Sighting

• The Situation: When the object descended behind the pine trees
• The Plausible Cause: The weather balloon

Dunning considered two objects as the cause: an experimental military craft and a weather balloon. 

He wasn’t convinced that it was an experimental military craft because Australia’s aircraft industry in 1966 only provided service and support to existing planes. 

Regarding the weather balloon (as mentioned by The Age), he found it a plausible candidate because “if it continued southeast near Clayton South, the balloon could likely have disappeared from view behind the row of trees, very close to 11:00 am when the sighting happened.”

The Second Half of the Sighting

• The Situation: When the object and the five small aircraft were caught in a game of cat and mouse
• The Plausible Cause: The nylon target drogue exercise

Dunning learned that a former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) navigator wrote to The Dandenong Journal’s editor that what Andrew Greenwood, the teacher who reported the cat-and-mouse game, stated accurately describes a nylon target drogue. It was an exercise used by the local RAAF where a plane towed a drogue for the others to chase.

When he searched for evidence to support this, Dunning found none. Yet, he couldn’t overlook that just because there’s no record didn’t mean that they didn’t conduct the drogue exercise. 

Regardless, it could still be considered a possible cause at this time.

The Westall UFO Incident’s Significance in Ufology 

Until this day, the Westall UFO incident remains unexplained. But perhaps with witnesses now speaking out, with their statements uniform and consistent, they can inform the curious public of what they had witnessed.

Such action demonstrates that despite official dismissals and the passage of time, the desire to know the truth about UFOs stands. The government should simply acknowledge UFOs/UAPs and launch formal investigations and disclosures whenever encounters happen. 

If you are fascinated by UFO sightings and want to stay informed, visit UFO Connect to explore more stories and research on credible UFO news and investigations.

FAQ

Why does the Westall UFO incident still raise questions? 

It’s not so much about the UFO incident itself, but of the alleged deliberate suppression that the government and the military did at the time to keep this from getting out. 

What role did the media play in the 1966 Westall UFO incident story?

The media became the medium for the public to know what little piece of news about this UFO case, including the investigations UFO enthusiasts and organizations conducted. 

Do Australians see the Westall UFO incident as a historical event?

Yes. In fact, the Australian Teachers of Media created a study guide on the Westall UFO incident⁹ in 2011, which would be used in the national history curriculum as a way to keep this historical event alive within the local community.