TUFOIC

Magazine Overview

This document is the October 1985 edition (Issue 46) of the TUFOIC NEWSLETTER, published by the TASMANIAN U.F.O. INVESTIGATION CENTRE. The newsletter covers UFO sightings reported across Australia and Papua New Guinea from January to October 1985, with a focus on local Tasmanian cases and broader national and international reports.

Year to Date Sightings

The newsletter begins by summarizing UFO activity across Australia. West Australia and South Australia are noted as having the most reports, with Papua-New Guinea also contributing significant events after a quiet period. Queensland and Victoria had fewer cases, and Tasmania had only a few, with one possible new case near Fingal eluding investigation.

Australia

Western Australia: A car pace incident at Beechboro on January 4th involved bright lights. Later, a motorist near Roleystone saw a bright red/orange object that moved overhead in a falling leaf motion, causing sore eyes, nausea, and a headache. Another bright light was seen over a Maryland's flat, with two yellow and one blue light observed nearby. Two pilots flying out of Newman observed a bright orange object that stopped dead, then lost altitude. Another motorist reported an orange light following his car for an hour, during which the car became hot inside.

Queensland: Bright lights were reported from the Cairns district, described as 3 or 4 lights in a row, with the center lights pulsating orange to green.

New South Wales: Two cases from Davistown involved witnesses in a car seeing a five-sided object with lights pass overhead, accompanied by a smooth humming noise. A man on the beach at Umina sighted a soundless 'mass of lights' estimated to be the size of a jumbo jet at an altitude of 300m. A security guard at Campbelltown reported frightening off a flying saucer by flashing his torch at it, causing it to zigzag and then shoot off into space. Another incident on May 26th involved a security guard who saw a huge bright saucer, flashed his torch, and it started zigzagging before shooting off into space.

Victoria: An ABC item mentioned an object with a red light viewed by many witnesses from North Eastern Victoria. A plane from Benalla could not get closer to the object at 15,000ft. The object was tracked by Melbourne Airport radar and seen from an oil rig in Bass Strait.

South Australia: A witness in Goolwa reported a bright light resting on the Murray River, emitting beams of light. On May 17th, a motor-mechanic on the Yorke Peninsula reported a blinding white light appeared, shining into his car, with the car radio crackling. Near Victor Harbour, a hiker saw a bluish-white light approaching at speed, passing with a loud roar.

Papua New Guinea

South Fly area: A 'foreign object' was reported in February.

Kundiawa: On February 24th, twelve UFOs were seen by villagers.

Tasmania

Glenorchy: A nocturnal light report was noted.

West Penrat Hills: Two teenagers allegedly sighted a UFO as large as a house. It rose behind trees, settled down, and then beams of light shone on their car, with beings with long arms approaching them. They drove off at high speed.

Richmond and Fingal: Two cases occurred in May.

Fingal: A resident reported a round orange object with a bright orange beam hovering over the road. The Examiner initially reported it as a weather balloon, but subsequent investigation by the Weather Bureau suggested their balloons did not go near Fingal, leaving the source uncertain. This incident was potentially confused with the August 9th high-altitude balloon event over the south of the state.

Westbury area: A triangular golden shape was seen, followed by a cigar-like object that disappeared.

International Reports

Buenos Aires: Passengers and crew on a commercial airliner saw two darting, pulsating unidentified flying objects over Santiago Del Estero.

China: The crew of a Chinese airliner spotted a huge unidentified flying object travelling at high speed over north-west China. More than 600 unidentified flying objects have been sighted in China in the past five years, according to a seminar.

Soviet Union: The Soviet Academy of Sciences officially discussed an encounter by the crew of an Aeroflot airliner (Flight 8852). The co-pilot noticed a huge, bright yellowish star emitting a ray of light. The object descended and stopped behind the airliner, identified as a giant, needle-nosed, wingless aircraft following them. A whistling, blazing fireball swept southern Siberia in February 1984, with scientists theorizing a link to Halley's Comet.

Analysis and Trends

Weather Balloons: The newsletter frequently discusses weather balloons as a potential explanation for sightings, particularly in Tasmania. An ABC item mentioned an object tracked by Melbourne Airport radar and an oil rig. Another event involved a silver object tracked by Hobart Airport radar at 30,000m, identified by the Hobart weather Bureau as a high-altitude research balloon released at Pine Gap. A silver oblong object was sighted by Neville Wran, Premier of NSW. Another silver object was tracked by Perth weather Bureau at 30,000m over Coffs Harbour and identified as a high-altitude weather balloon.

Sighting Chart Update: The 'Sighting Chart Update' shows that the 1980s have been less productive for UFO sightings compared to the 1970s. Despite critics predicting huge flaps due to media exposure, the trend has been a low volume of sightings, with only a slight hiccup in 1982 due to cases uncovered at George Town. The newsletter expresses hope that unexplained cases will not drop further.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The newsletter adopts a diligent, investigative stance, attempting to verify reports and provide explanations where possible, often citing official sources like weather bureaus and radar data. There is a clear acknowledgment of the difficulty in finalizing or tracking down some cases. The recurring theme is the reporting and analysis of UFO sightings, with a particular focus on distinguishing between genuine unexplained phenomena and misidentified conventional objects or atmospheric events like weather balloons. The editorial stance appears to be one of open-minded inquiry, seeking to document and understand these events while maintaining a degree of skepticism and reliance on evidence.

Contact Information

Readers are encouraged to write to the TASMANIAN UFO INVESTIGATION CENTRE at PO Box 99, Nth Hobart, to report sightings, and to telephone Keith Roberts on Home 236009 for further information. The centre is a member of the AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR UFO STUDIES (ACUCG).