UFO’s over Port Augusta

UFO’s over Port Augusta

Railway yards at Port Augusta, South Australia 1914 SLSA:[PRG 280/1/14/43]

Railway workers in Port Augusta witnessed five objects, described as “white or light pink, and shaped like an egg” fly in formation at great speed, through the sky on Wednesday the 6th of February 1947.

Ron Ellis, an ex RAAF employee was working in the train yards when he spotted the strange sight flying through the sky. Owing to his previous work in the air force, he was able to rule out aircraft of the day as being the culprits. His estimation of the size of the object was that each would have been the size of a locomotive!
Ellis also stated that the objects cast shadows, so could not have been an optical illusion.

Ellis was not the only witness, with other railways workers coming forward with their own sightings of the phenomenon. It was speculated that the objects were at of height of about 6000 feet, they moved erratically, and seemed to ‘pulse’. The objects moved extremely quickly through the sky, being out of sight in just a few seconds.

Further weight was added to the men’s story when Government Astronomer, Mr G.F. Dodwell, stated that the witnessed phenomena did not fit with any known astronomical events, and was most likely not a meteor. A meteorite, according to Dodwell, would have travelled at great speed, would not cast a shadow, being as they are very small, and would also create a deafening roar. Witnesses of the phenomena did not report any sounds associated with the objects.

The Port Augusta UFO incident predates the July 1947 UFO incident at Roswell, New Mexico that would eventually lead to the American pop-culture phenomenon that captured the attention of the world.



Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018


References:

1947 'C.R. Workmen See Phenomenon', Transcontinental (Port Augusta, SA: 1914 - 1954), 7 February, p. 1. , viewed 28 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168306418
1947 'Objects in Sky Not Meteorites', Quorn Mercury (SA: 1895 - 1954), 13 February, p. 3. , viewed 28 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213698389
1947 'Objects in Sky Not Meteorites', Transcontinental (Port Augusta, SA: 1914 - 1954), 14 February, p. 1. , viewed 28 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168306511
1947 'Objects In Sky Not. Meteorites', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1931 - 1954), 8 February, p. 1. , viewed 28 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30511359
1947 'SEEING THINGS', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1931 - 1954), 10 July, p. 2. , viewed 28 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35986623
1947 'Strange Objects In Sky', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA: 1895 - 1954), 13 February, p. 6. , viewed 28 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93346874
1947 'Strange Objects Reported In Sky', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1931 - 1954), 7 February, p. 1. , viewed 28 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30511159
SLSA: Railway yards at Port Augusta, South Australia [PRG 280/1/14/43] • Photograph retrieved from https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+280/1/14/43