Gawler -“Flying Saucer”

Gawler -“Flying Saucer”

In 1954 the town of Gawler, South Australia reported its first publicly witnessed 'Flying Saucer'. 

On Wednesday the 20^th of January 1954, Mrs J Tait was at her home south of the Gawler Racecourse. At about 11:20am she witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object flying at incredible height and speed over the foothills to the South East.

Mrs Tait was not alone, her daughter, Rotha and Rotha's school friend, Shirley Struck were also present and witnessed the same unidentified object. The object made an incredible sound, which triggered the curiosity of the witnesses, so they headed outside the home to see what the noise could be coming from.

The object, which at first resembled a feather, soon took on the shape of a saucer. It sped through the air at “great height and speed” and was “pure white”. It remained in the air for a very brief amount of time before it shot off at incredible speed in a southwesterly direction.

15 minutes later a jet plane flew across the sky heading in the same direction as the UFO.

The RAAF was contacted by a local UFO investigator to confirm witness accounts. The RAAF stated they had indeed sent a jet aircraft off at the time stated. The jet was doing around 600MPH at 10, 000 feet.

Another witness, Mrs W.C. Harrington of Gawler South also the flying object from a different viewpoint. Her report was consistent with other witness reports.

When presented with the RAAF's opinion of it being simply a jet, Mrs Tait stated that she is perfectly sure that the first object did not resemble an aircraft in the slightest. The first object was round and the second object was easily identifiable as a jet aeroplane!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2014