Talk:Westall UFO

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Archives

Archive 1

Sources

This article has a lot of quotes and info about ufologist's Shane Ryan's documentary but also seems to provide some clear facts like dates and places:

Topsfield, Jewel (3 June 2011). "Our 'Roswell' now one for the history books". The Age. Retrieved 8 January 2024.

Rjjiii (ii) (talk) 02:39, 8 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Some more okay-but-not-high-quality news sources:

Kachor, Kate (6 April 2018). "Westall flying saucer: One of Australia's baffling mysteries still unsolved 52 years on". 9News. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
UFO playground makes contact with past. (2013, December 18). Moorabbin Glen Eira-Kingston Leader, 3. [1]
- Flying saucers have returned to Westall, but this time there’s a lot more fanfare. A UFO-themed playground has opened at The Grange Reserve, site of the 1966 flying saucer sighting. Kingston Mayor Paul Peulich officially launched the $300,000 redevelopment of the park, including the spaceship-shaped junglegym, in front of a crowd that included some witnesses of the original sighting. Cr Peulich said it was a great amenity to help attract “visitors of a terrestrial kind” to Kingston. Children were treated to alien face-painting, and students from Westall Primary School were let loose on the new playground. A sign has been erected, telling of the incident in 1966 when more than 90 people, including a school class playing cricket, reported seeing flying discs hovering above or landing on the reserve. Shane Ryan, who made a documentary about the incident, said the new playground was a recognition of “the landing” and the effect it had on the witnesses and the area.“But this is turning all that on its head and making it a place of enjoyment and recreation and it’s saying to people that no matter what happens to you in you life you should be able to talk about it,” he said. His film Westall ’66: A Suburban UFO Mystery was first broadcast on the Australian Sci Fi Channel in 2010.There is a web page for those involved that day and a Facebook page dedicated to the incident.
Mark Dunn. (2014, August 7). UFO all hot air. Herald Sun (Melbourne), 23. [2]
- An almost 50-year-old mystery when more than 200 people believed they had a close encounter with a UFO landing in Clayton may have finally been solved after government documents revealed a secret radiation-testing program. Although federal and state government agencies refused to comment about the 1966 “Westall” incident at the time, it is now believed what landed was an errant high-altitude balloon used to monitor radiation levels after the controversial Maralinga nuclear tests in South Australia. The HIBAL (high-altitude balloon) program was a joint US-Australian initiative to monitor atmospheric radiation levels using large silver balloons equipped with sensors between 1960 and 1969. Documents held by the National Archives and former Department of Supply indicate a test balloon launched from Mildura might have been blown off course and came down in Clayton South in a paddock near Westall High School, alarming and baffling hundreds of eyewitnesses. But researcher Keith Basterfield, who has spent years investigating unexplained phenomenon in Australia, said a “runaway” balloon from the HIBAL project was the likely answer. “My hypothesis is that the incident involved not a UFO, but a high-altitude balloon, its parachute and large payload,” Mr Basterfield said.“The Westall object was described as being a white/silver colour, which could describe the colour of an HIBAL balloon or parachute. “The Department of External Affairs files on HIBAL reveal there was considerable discussion on possible damage to property or personnel by a HIBAL balloon.”

And some primary sources likely not needed but relevant:

https://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/collections/james-e-mcdonald-papers (only in-person access to McDonald interview recordings)
https://web.archive.org/web/20121111210012/http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Westallhighschoolufo/ (early 2000s discussion group ran by Shane Ryan)
https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2017/10/westall-document-located-which-shows.html (launch document scans from Keith Basterfield)
I've updated the 1966 citation in the article to link to a scan on archive.org.

I'm not interested in trying to update while a dispute is ongoing, but these 4 news sources, the Skeptoid source,[3] and the (primary) government source about the park[4] should allow for more clear references going forward. Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 00:22, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

(Copied from above to its own section for clarity per WP:FTN discussion.) Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 15:23, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Rjjiii. The only WP:FRIND secondary source we have is Brian Dunning, and I'm leaning towards using it to help create the framework of the "Reports" (or whatever we want to call it) section, using it as a rough guide for what's DUE and UNDUE. Dunning notes that the story has been embroidered over the years, so we want to stay away from such embroidery/sensationalism where we find it. Agree that The Age and the other sources you suggested can help pin down dates/places. I hope some additional useful sources can be unearthed. It's hard to write an NPOV article when the bulk of the coverage presents the topic as a "mystery" and a "cover up". I'm not interested in trying to update while a dispute is ongoing. Seems the disruption has ended. I'd like to eventually see this article in better shape with the unused WP:SENSATIONAL sources removed, but there is no WP:DEADLINE. - LuckyLouie (talk) 17:11, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Agree on WP:FRIND and general source quality. I've been checking various related books to see if I can find mentions of "Westall" or even "Australia"; if I do I'll post back here. Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 20:42, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Edit by a brand new editor conforms to Dunning's analysis, is an improvement, and not a sock. - LuckyLouie (talk) 14:05, 13 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed edit - newspaper time frame

With the perspective of a first-time reader of the article, this line wasn't clear to me regarding a time reference, contemporary or later story: Australian newspaper The Age described it as a weather balloon:. I'd like to propose this addition: Australian newspaper The Age described it at the time as a weather balloon:. 5Q5|^✉ 13:06, 28 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@5Q5: Sounds good, Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 23:25, 28 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done with explanation in the edit history. 5Q5|^✉ 13:29, 30 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]