=== **Page: 1 of 5** 84 Acton Avenue, RIVERVALE WA 6103. July 8th, 1980 Mr. B. Kell, 4 Torrington Road, STRATHFIELD NSW 2135. Dear Bruce, Thankyou for your letter of July 6th. I am sorry to say, that I do not have any documented material on the case you mentioned. To my knowledge, there were radio reports about the sighting and very little appearing in our press. During a newscast on radio, mention was made of a truck driver who claims to have seen an unusual solid object land in a paddock, in the area of the reported sightings. As I have been unsuccessful in locating this witness, my investigations are at a complete standstill. Should I uncover more data I shall be more than happy to forward the information to your friend in the U.S. Sorry I have not been of much help and I do thankyou for your interest. Yours sincerely, Jeff Bell UFO RESEARCH (W.A.) === **Page: 2 of 5** World "Power" and Rain Attack Australia 158 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, JULY 6, 1980 158 CROWDS JAM SKI RESORTS AFTER HUGE SNOW FALLS RECORD crowds poured in to ski resorts this weekend after the first big falls of the season. Following a week of blizzards and huge snowfalls, resorts saw sunshine for the first time in seven days. Blizzard conditions have prevailed in the NSW Alps since last Friday week, bringing with them the best falls of snow since 1968. When the sun peeped through yesterday thousands of skiers poured into the snowfields. Accommodation was at a premium and hundreds of visitors spent the night camped in their cars outside the National Park's limits. At daybreak they moved in to the resorts and by 7.30am ski lift ticket offices were doing a roaring trade. At Thredbo all but the sponars and Karel T-bars were operating. High winds, icy roads But visibility was reduced to 100m on the high Crackenback area. At Perisher more than 8000 people poured in by 9.30am to use the 12 T-bars operating. High winds prevented the use of the chairlifts and skiers were restricted to the lower levels. The average depth of snow at Perisher was 109 cm - 67cm more than at this time last year. Thredbo reported an average depth of 85cm and both resorts had excellent skiing on 12cm of new, overnight snow. Visitors to Guthega had to contend with icy roads, blocked in parts by drifts of snow up to one metre. Roads into Thredbo were open and although chains were not required to get in to the resort, the Alpine Way became jammed with skiers who had panicked. Instead of following instructions, they put chains on their vehicles and a long line of traffic banked up in the early morning. Skiers stranded Department of Main Roads workers used all available machinery to open the road to Perisher Valley and Smiggin Holes and traffic flowed freely all morning. On Friday night about 50 skiers were stranded in the Perisher area by an enormous two-hour dump of snow and had to use tracked vehicles to get back to their lodges. The road to Smiggin Holes had drifts up to one and a half metres and many cars became snowbound. They were towed out of the area at first light so that traffic could flow freely. The present high hanging over New South Wales is locking the resorts in to continuous snowfalls and although the weekend was fine, more snow has been predicted for this week. An added bonus for NSW skiers visiting both Thredbo and Perisher is that draught beer is flowing freely. The areas are being supplied from Victoria. While the NSW Alps are experiencing these huge falls of snow, New Zealand is suffering. Snowfalls on both islands have been poor and have restricted the ski tourist trade All Victorian resorts have reported excellent falls. === **Page: 3 of 5** Australia MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1980 Sydney Morning Herald 32 PAGES 20 CENTS* Wind tears through Blue Mts By RICHARD MACEY Strong winds which lashed the Blue Mountains yesterday left widespread damage estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Police, State emergency workers, fire-fighters and volunteers, some from as far away as Blacktown, had answered 96 calls for help by 6 pm. The wind, which reached 110 km/h, spent most of its force in Wentworth Falls, Katoomba and Blackheath, where dozens of homes, shops and buildings were unroofed. 'Roof going up and down' More than 20 girls were sleeping in their rooms at The Assembly of God Commonwealth Bible College in Katoomba when the wind began tearing at the roof about 3 a.m. "The roof was going up and down and we knew it was going to come off," the - World "Power" and Rain Attack - "We had to get one elderly couple from a house in Tablelands Road, Wentworth Falls, because the windows had blown in," the State Emergency Controller for the Blue Mountains, Mr David Sanson, said. "The whole place was vibrating in the wind and we thought it was going to come down," Mr Sanson added. "The winds were incredible," Mr Sanson said. "They were the strongest I have seen in my six years up here." The roof of another home in Tablelands Road was torn away as a workman, Mr Paul Janovics, hid inside. Two hurt as wall collapses "I was really scared," he said. "The wind only lasted a second but that was enough to rip off the roof and do about $2,000 damage." Builders completed the house only on Friday. Two State Emergency Service workers suffered minor abrasions when part of a garage wall collapsed on them as they were trying to secure the roof of a house in Wentworth Falls. In the Snowy Mountains, the worst blizzard for eight years blocked roads and stranded weekend travellers. A spokesman at the Cooma Visitors' Centre said the whole of the mountains area was covered with an average 75cm of snow after heavy falls which began on Friday night. Travellers at Guthega were still snowed-in last night. Many people had to be carried from Thredbo in cross-snow transports. The weather bureau expects snow to continue above 1,000 metres in the Snowy Mountains. PAGE 3: Pictures of damage; story of rescue in high seas. === **Page: 4 of 5** PERTH WEEKEND NEWS DATE 28 JUN 1980 ANZ PRESS CLIPPING SERVICE G.P.O. BOX 1730, SYDNEY. 2001 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. "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." 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 Wesfarmers 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. • 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) === **Page: 5 of 5** 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. Bulking 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' 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 skeptical 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. Mr. Hume... "Other worlds "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. "Whatever it was couldn't have been man-made," Mr Park er said. "I never believed in UFOs before. But I do now." Mr Hume, who visit ed Ogilvie with the group's investigator, Jim Cooper, took samples of the earth for analysis. He also interviewed a neigh bouring farmer, Kev in 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 be cause he thought he might just have been tired and imagined it," Mr Hume said. "But he did mention it to his wife who cor roborated this. He said he saw a light going up, which is un usual. 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 any thing 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 indentations of five equally-spaced rings found in Saw yer's Valley last year and studied by the group.