=== Page 1 of 2 The discovery of mystery marks in a barley paddock near Ogilvie has led to speculation that they might have been made by an unidentified flying object or UFO. Bulging newspaper cutting files show that UFOs are not unknown in Australia which has the highest frequency of sightings in the world. They have caused a stir over Meekatharra and been shot at over Eucla--to mention just a couple of stories. MICHAEL PARRY talked this week with a leading Perth ufologist and to others who are firm believers that there really is something out there besides space. # 'It landed for repairs' Perth Weekend News (Australia) June 28, 1980 (Continued) Mystery marks reported last week on a farm near Geraldton--probably were left by a UFO which landed after malfunctioning. That is the personal theory of George Hume, spokesman for the Perth UFO research group, who visited farmer Eric Parker's property at Ogilvie, 80km from Geraldton, to examine the marks. He found the four circular marks, 1.3m across and evenly spaced 8.7m apart, had left depressions 10cm deep in the barley paddock. "I believe it was a UFO which put down to repair a malfunction," Mr Hume said. "In my own experience they don't land unless they have to. "They are obviously of a superior technology, but they do have malfunctions." Mr Hume believes in UFOs and that they come from other worlds. This belief is based on more than 30 years' study of the subject. Mr Parker, on the other hand, was very sceptical about such things--until he found the marks three weeks ago. ## Quiet At first he kept quiet about them. He wanted to be sure they were not a hoax. But then, when he could find no earthly explanation for them, he contacted the UFO group. Mr Parker drives a 14-tonne truck and even when fully laden it leaves little impression on the ground. He believes whatever made the marks would have had to weigh 100 tonnes. "We didn't find radiation in our tests but we did find extra carbon deposits from earth from the last ring." The research group will record the Ogilvie markings and hope one day it will all make sense. "The trouble is there is never any conclusive proof, but I believe there are so many different types," Mr Hume said. Mr Hume . . . "Other worlds" Note: My UFOs put their "signature" on working with me to end the Australian drought. Owens "Whatever it was couldn't have been man-made," Mr Parker said. "I never believed in UFOs before. But I do now." Mr Hume, who visited Ogilvie with the group's investigator, Jim Cooper, took samples of the earth for analysis. He also interviewed a neighbouring farmer, Kevin Chick, who saw a light rising from the general vicinity of the marks on the night of June 1. "This was at 1am but he didn't say much at the time because he thought he might just have been tired and imagined it," Mr Hume said. "But he did mention it to his wife who corroborated this. He said he saw a light going up, which is unusual. We get them reported coming down but rarely going up." Mr Hume said the marks were unique and he knew of no other reports of anything similar. There were no approach marks of any sort and he was convinced something had landed, then taken off again. There were no burn marks near the depressions, unlike the five indentations or rings found in Sawyer's Valley last year and studied by the group. === Page 2 of 2 PERTH WEEKEND NEWS DATE 28 JUN 1980 ---------- ANZ PRESS CLIPPING SERVICE G.P.O. BOX 1730, SYDNEY. 2001 # UFO Actual photos of UFOs are few and far between, but this picture is a classic of a sighting on July 16, 1952. It was taken by a photographer in the U.S. Coast Guard at the Salem, Massachusetts air station. The objects flying in V formation were reported as being brilliant white and circular in shape. The picture was taken through a window screen with a size 4/5 camera at infinity, 1/50 of a second, and the sighting was corroborated by a companion witness and later officially released. # They all laughed at sighting story In the early hours of June 17, 1969 Vern and Wendy Durant, of Coolbellup, saw a flying object hovering over the Wesfarmers warehouse in South Fremantle. The incident was not reported in local newspapers -- the Press, radio stations, police and other bodies all laughed at the Durants. I saw an account of their experience in Flying Saucer Review, an unspectacular little British publication which investigates and reports unusual UFO cases. Today, 11 years after the sighting, Wendy Durant is still a firm believer in UFOs and is adamant that the events she saw that night actually happened. "We had a cleaning contract at Westfarmers and were busy inside about 5am when a man came in and said he'd just seen a UFO," she said. "I didn't hear him properly, but Vern told him to go away, we were busy. "The man went out then rushed in again to say the thing was taking off. "We went outside and the whole sky was lit up like daylight. We saw this thing shaped like a barrel about 10 metres long go up and move towards the Newmarket Hotel. "Then it swooped back again and my husband picked up a brick to throw at it." The Durants, who had their children with them, decided to go home. They pointed the object out to a number of early-morning travellers, including a milkman who panicked and drove away at the sight of the UFO. "The man who first told us about the UFO was a big fellow, usually so calm and self-assured," she said. "That night he was terrified. He had run his car into a ditch avoiding the thing which he said was battleship grey in colour and on the ground at one point. "I never believed in UFOs before but I have since. I can understand people who have never seen anything doubting us--friends still pull our legs when we mention it--but it did happen." * The Perth UFO research group meets on the second Thursday of each month at 14 Aberdeen Street. Visitors are welcome. The group's office number is 2716604. (Continued)