UFO Investigation Centre Australia

David Buching - friend and catalyst for active investigation in UFOIC (1946 - 2010)

2010-05-06T01:16:00.008+10:00

David Buching, who was one of the key people in the transitional period of reorganisation of the Sydney based group UFOIC – UFO Investigation Centre - in the 1970s, passed away on 29 April 2010. I was lucky to have David as a friend during this period. He was a forceful and active agent of change who energised the faltering group and helped kick-start it again into an active investigative group after a period of limited activity.

UFOIC had lost its active focus with the accidental death of its long time dynamic president Dr. Miran Lindtner in August 1969. David Buching had gone to a UFOIC meeting a few months before - his first UFO meeting. He was impressed with Miran Lindtner and was starting to get into the UFO subject in an active way. David eventually joined a new group formed by Frankh Wilks UFO Research Projects of Australia (UFORPA) which seemed to have a more active focus on research and investigation, than the faltering UFOIC. David was joined in this UFO adventure with his wife Penny. Together with other active researchers he eventually found he wanted to focus more specifically on in depth UFO investigations. This focus eventually resulted in a reinvigorated UFOIC, with active members from both the remnants of UFORPA and UFOIC.

All of these developments were not really on my horizon. I was yet to make the move to Sydney and was originally a country member of UFOIC – my home town being Grafton. From 1971 to 1974 I was attending the University of New England at Armidale and took my UFO interests with me. It was an intense UFO flap on the Dorrigo plateau centred at the small village of Tyringham in 1973 that eventually brought me into contact with David Buching and his band of active UFO players. He had learnt of my extensive field investigations there and his team made a number of trips to the area.

I well remember the first meeting we had at a property at Tyringham where I was based during my investigations there. David and his team had arrived after the long drive from Sydney. As they opened the back of the station wagon is was clear that investigation equipment was not the only priority and that a large amount of space was taken up by crates of Cola Cola which was meant to sustain David’s addiction to it. I immediately took an enduring liking to David and his friends. When I eventually moved to Sydney in 1975 David and Penny’s place at Chatswood and the circle of friends that seemed to orbit around it was a very welcoming respite from the challenges of establishing myself in the big city, me being a country lad.

I enjoyed doing a number of investigations with David including the intriguing Bents Basin “robot” UFO encounter of 1972. We became aware of the incident in 1975 and conducted an on site investigation together. The location brought together two of David’s interests – UFOs and the “supernatural” – Bents Basin was haunted by a reputation for strange phenomena, including ghosts, “hairy men” (Yowies?), and other oddities. We found a fascinating body of information that seemed to contribute to the areas strange legacy. However it was the weird 1972 events that was the centre of attention for us. Six young people claimed they encountered a UFO on the ground. What followed seemed to be a very frightening entity encounter that featured the apparent apparition of a “robot” like figure.

Another impressive case that David investigated was a frightening encounter with a small UFO type object which appeared to issue smaller objects that seemed to attack a group of young people camping in the Norah Head area during 1975. Later I would investigate a striking case at the same location in 1973 where a larger UFO which also emitted smaller objects appeared to have an effect on a car nearby. The couple inside became very concerned when they were unable to start the car until the UFO departed.

David appeared in a UFO documentary made by Roger Climpson for TV station Channel 7 early in 1973 talking about UFO occupants expressing the opinion that we may be being visited by more than one race of extraterrestrials. By 1976 other life priorities took David attention. We saw each other intermittently over the years but by the time I started undertaking detailed research into the history of the UFO group around 2005 I had lost track of him. We eventually reconnected and in December 2008 met at my place where I did a lengthy oral history interview with him. I am glad we had that opportunity to talk about times past and some of our current activities. I was shocked to hear he was in hospital and immediately went to visit him on Tuesday April 27. We talked for a couple of hours on a range of matters. Even though he wasn’t well we parted with the intention of catching up again to further discuss things when he was out of hospital. Sadly that was not to be. David passed away only two days later. I’ll miss David. His was a life well lived. He pursued things that interested him and we are the richer for that.

David Buching's funeral service and farewell will take place at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Delhi Rd, North Ryde, Sydney, Northern Chapel, 12.15 pm, Friday May 7.

Photos: The black & white photo shows David Buching in action investigating a UFO event at Wentworth Falls in 1974; the colour photo is of David in my study during our December 2008 discussions.

UFOIC mates - then and now - retro blast from the past

2008-05-19T16:24:00.007+10:00

During the mid to late seventies the UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC) conducted a lot of major investigations of some striking cases. I was reflecting on some of these with my old friend David Reneke. Dave has transited from his consuming interest in UFOs at that time back in the seventies to focus on an active stellar involvement in the world of astronomy as the news editor of Sky and Space magazine. He also issues a regular internet based Astronomy News Service which delivers a weekly newsletter of astronomy and space news. This can be accessed by emailing Dave at Dave.Reneke@SkyandSpace.com.au

While astronomy and space are Dave's main interest today he reminded me that he still feels strongly about the UFO subject, reflecting a statement that I often make, that UFOs deserve better scientific strutiny that they have got to date. He understands that mainstream astronomy rejects the UFO subject, but feels that this has come from limited exposure to the depth of the UFO subject, and too much exposure to the superficial commercialisation of the subject and the lunatic fringe aspects of the controversy.

From our time together in UFOIC (aka UFOR(NSW) until 1991) during the 1970s he felt for him that there were many cases that were particularly impressive. In particular 3 stood out:

1969 the suburban Sydney Greenacre entity encounter

1967 the daylight near landing near the suburban Sydney Canterbury bowling green

1976 the Ben Boyd national park UFO footage case taken during the total eclipse of the sun

Each of these cases are described in my 1996 book "The OZ Files - the Australian UFO Story"

I have included two contrasting pictures of Dave and myself.

One from an early 1978 UFOIC (aka UFOR(NSW)) press conference in which we were highlighting that even before the massive breakout of UFO fever that occurred with the extraordinary disappearance of pilot Frederick Valentich over Bass Strait during a UFO encounter in October 1978, we already saw 1978 as a "Year of the UFO".

The other photo of us was from 2007 at the Sydney Observatory where Dave gave a spirited defence of the "planet" Pluto in the Great Pluto Debate - a fun night, which included some comet watching as well.

I also have included reproductions of the UFOIC group's publication the "Australian UFO Researcher" which evolved from the UFOIC Newsletter - The "Year of the UFO?" cover shows some of the UFOs examined by UFOIC (aka UFOR(NSW)) during that incredible year, and the Ben Boyd movie film issue.

Images: Copyright Bill Chalker/UFOIC

The UFOIC Thread – the ties that bind, past & present, East & West....

2007-12-05T00:52:00.000+11:00

I recently revisited Nicolas Jose’s evocative fictional literary embrace with the Chinese classic “Six Chapters in a floating life”, namely his novel “The Red Thread.” I mused over the back cover description: “An intimate, lyrical story about the ties that bind people together, past and present, East and West, physical and spiritual.”

I reflected on my past and present journey with the UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC) – country member from the late 1960s, committee member from 1975, co-coordinator and director from 1976. I helped steer UFOIC through a group name change in 1977 which was in keeping with broader currents of change in the Australian UFO research community. By the early 1980s I steered the group through another more profound change – from a public group to a low profile networking group, again a change many researchers were adopting, which saw working in a looser networking format, with national networks was a very productive path to pursue. Through the 1980s this fundamental change allowed myself and other associates to pursue a number of major projects such as extensive research into the Australian government UFO files and deep research into the alien abduction controversy, which continued into the 1990s. In 1991 we readopted the UFOIC name.

Looking back at my post “The evolution of UFOIC” I noted by coincidence it had 6 ‘phases’ or ‘chapters.' In “Six Chapters (or records) of a floating life” of course there are two missing chapters. Jose’s novel “The Red Thread” utilises the idea of the missing chapters resurfacing.

Fragments of the UFOIC thread are missing as well, but not whole chapters – as I indicated UFOIC itself went missing, at least in name only, between 1977 and 1991, when it existed in both thought and deeds, reformed and re-imagined, under another name, UFO Research (NSW). Circumstances gathered in late 1991 and the group name UFOIC was readopted, embracing the “floating life” of a group thread. UFOIC was now re-envisioned as a continuation of the successful ‘low profile’ networking model embraced in the early 1980s, which itself had developed from the UFOIC of the 1970s.

The UFOIC thread has weaved its way from its formal beginnings in 1956 and earlier foundations, through the decades, going through changes of focus and format. Each of these changes contributed to the UFOIC thread, which for me provided the foundation fabric of my own involvement. UFOIC has been a backbone of my body of interest in the UFO subject and continues today.

Throughout all this “floating life” of UFOIC there were many ties that bound numerous people together, past and present, indeed even “East and West, physical and spiritual.”

I reflected on my own deep research into the Chinese UFO scene – my East West nexus. Given my current and past UFOIC connections I pondered this Chinese connection – a “Dragon Seed” – from its earliest manifestations through pioneer UFOIC researcher Andrew Tomas. Prior to his UFOIC association from 1955 to 1965 he was writing about strange aerial objects when he was in China in 1935! He would embrace a spiritual path somewhat anchored in the physical world. Here I am in 2007 researching physical dimensions of the Chinese and Asian UFO scene, occasionally embracing the spiritual depths of the oriental alien experience.

A strange, lyrical and fascinating UFOIC thread.

Ufologists Defiled? UFOIC, ASIO and alien McCarthyism

2007-09-18T00:28:00.000+10:00

by Bill Chalker

An ASIO (Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation - Australia’s domestic spy service) file exists on its monitoring of early UFO research groups. The ASIO file has been known about for quite some time and it has been up on the National Archives of Australia web site as a viewable file since at least early 2006.
What it shows is that the UFO community was targeted like a whole lot of other diverse communities, all because of largely innocent flirtations with matters that fell within the paranoia of intelligence organisations. It didn’t take much to fall within this net, and very rarely did it have anything to do with the UFO phenomenon itself.
Most prominently in the ASIO file the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau was the subject of monitoring and intrusion, seemingly because some members of the group took an interest in Russian investigations of the 1908 Tunguska event that suggested it may have been caused by a spacecraft. The group’s president Stan Seers described the bizarre situation that evolved from ASIO’s attention in his memoir “UFOs - the case for scientific myopia” (1983). See also my document “UFOs Sub Rosa Down Under” (1996) at: http://www.theozfiles.com/ufos_subrosa.html and Timothy Good’s books “Above Top Secret” (1987) and “Beyond Top Secret” (1996).

The rest of the file is more fragmentary. One letter in the file was of particular interest for me because it raised a dubious “rumour” about the Sydney based group the UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC). The letter was written by Fred Stone, president of the South Australian civilian group Australian Flying Saucer Research Society (AFSRS), around 1960 to the RAAF, and passed onto ASIO by them. Therein Stone writes, "This may appear trivial, but (…) we have very good reasons for not altogether trusting this group (he was referring to the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society - VFSRS) due to its very close association with the Sydney one (Stone was referring to UFOIC) which has some folk in its control who have "pink" tendencies ..."

By "pink tendencies" Stone was suggesting communist tendencies. I suspect that Stone was still harboring some ill will with the late 1956 UFOIC break away from AFSRS and VFSRS 1957 departure from the AFSRS national vision agenda.
Stone may have thought he was being patriotic in passing on his "innuendo" to the RAAF, or it was inspired by negativity that flowed when the NSW branch of his group decided to separate from the SA group and operate as an independent group namely the Sydney based UFOIC. The difficulty with such slight "rumours" and "innuendos" is that they had the potential to feed the paranoia of the era. The ASIO file with exceptions can be accessed via the Australia National Archives on line. Ironically Stone even asked the RAAF to do security checks on some of his own SA AFSRS members. The RAAF declined to assist him. What RAAF/ASIO did "sub rosa" is not clear, if anything.

In the case of UFOIC I have no direct evidence of infilitration. Indeed Stone's circa 1960 missive came at the end of the intense period of "red" inspired surveillance. Certainly a few years earlier it didn't take much to come under ASIO's "red" or "pink" watch, and in that context Stone's letter was very unsound and extremely unhelpful to the cause of open ufology. Fortunately it seems it had little impact, although full access to the ASIO file in question is still denied.

In those days it didn't take much to be tarnished with this label, or worse still the "red" connection. Anyone with pacifist, intellectual or radical thoughts seemed to come under suspicion. Andrew Tomas worked closely with Fred Stone in organizing the remanents of the Sydney based Australian Flying Saucer Bureau into a NSW branch of the AFSRS during late 1955. Tomas, a "white Russian" may have been the focus of the Stone "rumour." It did not seem to reflect any substantial realities.

I brought this “pink tendencies” claim by Stone to the attention of an early UFOIC member who knew all the early key UFOIC and AFSRS (NSW branch) people. The member responded:
“Concerning Fred Stone's comment in his letter to the RAAF - I am shocked! …that was the first time I had ever heard of such a suggestion (about "pink tendencies").
I suggest also that Mr. Stone's remarks were made in consideration of the rift which had occurred with the Sydney group, and they were uncalled for and completely out of place.

“I am well aware of the paranoia that existed during those years, but I do believe that any suspicion of the Victorian and Sydney groups by any individual, or body, could not have been further from the reality. While it is true that Andrew Tomas was indeed Russian, along with George Tararin (who I believe was from the region now known as Belarus), Dr. Lindtner (Slovenia) and Joseph Gjerki (Croatia) and for all I know, maybe a few others also from Iron Curtain countries, the fact is that these people had all gone to Australia to get away from that sort of thing. George used to tell me he was "stateless", having come more or less the same route as Andrew, which is to say, by way or Harbin or Shanghai. The latter two men had been educated by Americans - they had rather quaint accents with strong American overtones! Any perception (by anybody) that these very fine people reflected or harbored a so-called "pink bias" is one of broad ignorance and very misplaced.”

I agree with this assessment. The "pink" labeling was inappropriate. Here were some basically good people from a broad range of backgrounds, united in a fascination for the UFO/flying saucer mystery. The paranoia of the times was often misplaced or just rooted in uninformed politicking.

"Writers Defiled - security surveillance of Australian Authors and intellectuals 1920-1960" written by Fiona Capp (1993) describes the era very well. ASIO’s 1950s surveillance was in part informed by the 1921 Pitt-Rivers “Memorandum on the Revolutionary Movement in Australia” with is bizarrely loaded lexicon of such strange concepts as “alien adulteration” and “revolutionary incubus”. “The Red menace” mentality led to an extraordinarily skewed view of pacifist, liberal or alternative activism in Australia and indeed elsewhere in western countries. Fiona Capp indicates, “ASIO estimated that there were over 500 clubs, societies, committees, councils, associations, movements, unions, federations, leagues, conventions, forums and fellowships that were ‘more or less penetrated, influenced or dominated by Communists’. Such was ASIO’s vague definition that any community-based group was likely to be suspect and any liberal or progressive philosophy was treated as a vehicle for Communist ideology.”

Ufologists Defiled? The 1950s was the high point of McCarthyism in the Australia particularly with the Petrov affair. Unfortunately, even if you were a "white Russian" (such as Andrew Tomas), and clearly not sympathetic to communism, the mentality of the era meant one was probably watched. Andrew Tomas was passionate about Shambhala inspired "peace doctrine", most evident in his "Planetary Doctrine" (1935) He was still circulating similar things in the 1950s. Pacifists of any persuasion would have got attention. It seemed that logic sometimes was not high on the agenda with our intelligence groups then, paranoia certainly was. Things have changed but sometimes, even now, you have to wonder. The new book by Clive Hamilton & Sarah Maddison called "Silencing Dissent - How the Australian government is controlling public opinion and stifling debate" gives cause to reflect on the strong sense of historically sustained deja-vu. Different times, different suspects?
Despite the dubious basis of Stone’s “pink” suggestions I would be surprised if ASIO did ignore UFOIC given the type of "flags" they were looking for, particularly during the 1950s. Ignoring logic and reality for the moment (which is what ASIO seemed to do some of the time, if "Writers Defiled" is anything to go by), the linkage between Edgar Jarrold and Andrew Tomas could have been one "flag". Jarrold already had a wartime security file on himself, with his wartime internment on the Isle of Man under the assumed name of Roy Peter Simpson. Upon his return to Australia he seems to have slipped under the radar except for his "novel" emergence in 1950 as a mystery writer, and then by 1953 as director of Australia's first public flying saucer group. Andrew Tomas met him in January 1954 as Jarrold was coming under direct attention of government over his persistent enquiries on the Drury UFO film (taken in Papua New Guinea in 1953). Tomas showed Jarrold his 1935 book “The Planetary Doctrine”, written under his Russian name A. Boncza-Tomaszewski (Bon-tcha Toma-shevski), which had been published in Shanghai China. He focused Jarrold’s attention on the passage: “Travellers and explorers often notice in the heights of the Himalayas strange shiny objects or creatures soaring high above the mountain crests, which are an eternal puzzle to Europeans. Whether these mysterious objects are vehicles belonging to supermen we dare not assert, though such an explanation is quite plausible. Cannot the reader believe that by such means, utilising unknown energies, communication is maintained from planet to planet...?”

Jarrold was moving into the centre of the Australian government’s uneasy embrace with the saucer problem. In mid 1954 the Minister for Air William McMahon (a future Prime Minister) invited him to Melbourne for a meeting with RAAF on flying saucers.

Andrew Tomas had made a request under the "Aliens Act 1947" for a name change from his Russian one in 1951 which was originally denied, but by 1954 he was using the name Andrew Tomas. It is ironic or something else to have this "Application by an alien for written consent to change surname", when one considers the following comment by Andrew at the end of an article he wrote for the last issue of Jarrold's Australian Flying Magazine, "Are you ready for a planetary Crash?", pg. 7 February 1955: "In the circles of the duly initiated Brethern of Space, fantastic stories are told of saucers, messages from space and cosmic decrees. Perhaps I could tell you a science fiction story from my life how a saucer zoomed over the National Park in Sydney to say "Hello" to an incarnated spaceman. But who would believe it? In these days of suspicion and witchhunts it is better to keep one's mouth shut. Frankly, I am not too enthusiastic about a psychiatric test either. Anyway, my cosmic friends tell me not to worry about what other people say, but just place this information before the public. "It won't be long now," they say. Jokes aside, let us think more of the stars. Let us all become the children of Heaven. Let us dream of an Utopia where there is no hatred and no wars. But before we see that Utopia a red sign will flash in the skies, "Tighten your belts." As Ripley says, "believe it or not," but we are heading for a planetary crash." Now was Andrew Tomas being tongue-in-cheek here, or trying to say something else. He did have a UFO sighting at the National Park on March 24 1954. An uninformed outsider might have read "a red sign" reference in an entirely different light.

Andrew Tomas continued his pacifist agenda theme. His widow Heather sent me Andrew's "Signs, Stars and Seers - An Experiment in Historical Prediction", a 48 page booklet published in Sydney in 1956. Therein he refers to warning Hitler, Mussolini & Hirohito through their embassies in China in 1935 (presumably via a copy of his “Planetary Doctrine” book) and being met "with hostility and ridicule, yet 10 years later the militarists had to sign humiliating treaties." Further he refers in the 1956 booklet forward to approaching "a responsible Soviet diplomat" 4 months after the defeat of Japan "with a project to establish friendly cultural relations with the USA and the British Commonwealth, long before the 'Cold War'. Though the offer was not accepted, the writer's mission on behalf of World Peace was fulfilled." The booklet includes the following "IF the national governments ignore this LAST WARNING, motivated by a desire to save this planet from destruction and mankind from self-annihilation, they will have to bear all responsibility for opposing the Cosmic Law of Unity." This theme was again revisited in March 1958, when Andrew, as secretary and organiser of the International Organising Committee of the Planetary Pact, sent a draft of the Pact to "top news agencies of the world." He would revisit this theme in his book "Shambhala: Oasis of Light" (1977).

These and other matters could well have been misunderstood by the likes of ASIO? If the surveillance of the Queensland group QFSRB was any guide (see the primary profile document dated August 1959), then if UFOIC came under similar attention its committee would have been similarly profiled and rated NT ("No threat"?), "U/I" (Under investigation"?) or simply commented upon. Any such documentation or surveillance would have been as seemingly pointless as the monitoring of the QFSRB group and the hundreds of other diverse groups activities around Australia.

Ufologists defiled? They were like so many other people with diverse interests simply traveling through the distorted lens of a “sub rosa” perspective, defiled by the misplaced paranoia of the times.

SAUCERERS IN SESSION

2007-03-22T01:01:00.000+11:00

Here's an interesting juxtaposition - an early member of UFOIC forwarded this 1965 clipping of a UFOIC meeting in Sydney with Dr. Miran Lindtner lecturing. The "saucerers", particularly from a British and social history perspective, are revisited in a new book by Dr. David Clarke and Andy Roberts "Flying Saucerers: A Social History of UFOs" from Alternative Albion press (2007), which can be acquired via Amazon UK. I look forward to a detailed reading of this title. "The Flying Saucerers" was used as a title in one of Arthur Shuttlewood's Warminster books in 1976.

(Images: Cover of "Flying Saucerers" from Alternative Albion; newspaper clipping from Daily Telegraph, Sydney, August 4, 1965)

UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC) - the young lady behind the name

2007-03-19T01:20:00.000+11:00

The young lady in the photo taken in January 1956 is 16 year old Judith Croser who came up with the name UFO Investigation Centre. Three months later on 4th April she and her sister Anne joined the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society (AFSRS) NSW Branch. She became the group secretary on 4th June. After the 14th November 1956 meeting which decided on the split from the AFSRS Judith came up with the UFOIC name.

Judith reflected:

"They were truly a wonderful group of people and treated me with a lot of respect, considering how young I was."

(Photo: courtesy of Judith Croser. Copyright Judith Croser)

UFOIC - its formation and naming - November 1956

2007-03-11T22:22:00.000+11:00

The various manifestations of UFO work that have occurred under the name of UFOIC - the UFO Investigation Centre - based in Sydney from 1956 to now are summarised in this web log in the posting "The evolution of UFOIC"(January 4 2007).

It was formed from the remanents of Edgar Jarrold's pioneering group the Australian Flying Saucer Bureau (1952-1955) and the transition stage as a New South Wales branch of the South Australian group the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society (AFSRS NSW branch: 1955-1956).

In a committee meeting at Dr. Clifford's home in Warrawee/Turramurra, a northern suburb of Sydney on Wednesday 14th November 1956 a significant decision was made. The young secretary Judith Croser recorded, "We are breaking off with Mr. Stone and are going to carry on independently."

Fred Stone was the national director of AFSRS in South Australia. Late in 1955 he had travelled to Sydney to discuss the future of Sydney based UFO work with the remaining close associates of Edgar Jarrold. Jarrold had left the UFO scene and because his organisation had a strong individual nature that focused around him, his departure left a fragmented and shattered group. Andrew Tomas, Jarrold's closest associate undertook to reorganise the remanents into the AFSRS NSW branch. Tomas acted as president.

Stone was in Sydney for a branch meeting on 3rd February 1956. Some 65 to 70 people were present. Stone returned again for a members meeting on 4th June 1956 and gave a lecture. Judith Croser volunteered to be secretary for the group. She recorded that there were 27 paying members of AFSRS in Sydney. Soon after this meeting Andrew Tomas went on a short overseas trip. Dr. Clifford became the new AFSRS NSW branch president.

Members of the Sydney group began to become concerned with the strong religious bias in Fred Stone's perspective on the UFO/flying saucer mystery. Even Stone would acknowledge years later that this was the key factor in the sudden decision for the Sydney group to go its own way. Of course the great distance between Sydney, NSW, and Adelaide, South Australia, would have also been a major issue. By the time of the 14th November 1956 meeting Andrew Tomas was quite adamant about initiating an independent group. A rather heated general member's meeting followed on 21st November 1956.

When the group decided to break with Fred Stone's AFSRS the members had to think of a new name. Judith Croser recollected she came up with the name suggestion of the UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC). She recalled:

A few suggestions were put on the table, and "UFO Investigation Centre" won the day ... It sounded right. It flowed well. Everybody agreed unanimously.

In "People" magazine January 9 1957 there was an article about UFOIC written by Justin Arthur:

"A 16-year-old girl was recently appointed UFO Investigation Centre secretary. She is pretty and earnest Judith Croser, of Balgowlah, Sydney, and she became interested in UFOs four years ago, when she was attending Cremorne High School and a saucer appeared in daylight.

"Judith says the saucer was in sight for about 10 minutes. "All the girls saw it. Our geography teacher couldn't tell us what it was. It shone with a brilliant, white light."

"Her theory is that the saucers' increasing appearances during the past 10 years mean they are approaching the earth to make observations before attempting landings. Like Miran Lindtner, Judith thinks the sightings are coming to a climax and that the landings will follow soon. The space people will come as friends, she believes - and hopes."

(Photos: from "People" magazine, January 9, 1957. The People photographer was present at the 14th November 1956 meeting and took these photos)

UFOIC and the 1959 Adamski visit

2007-03-06T00:36:00.000+11:00

A very helpful early member of UFOIC has assisted me in gaining a better understanding of some of the highlights of the group's past.

One episode was the controversial visit to Australia in 1959 of notorious American contactee George Adamski. The member provided me with a revealing diary entry which records that Dr. Greenwell resigned from the UFOIC presidency on the same day as the George Adamski public meeting at Adyar Hall Sydney on Friday 27 February 1959, apparently "because of all (the) trouble". It also indicated that there was much trouble with the arrival of June Marsden who "hosted" George Adamski's visit to Sydney. The diary records that Adamski and Marsden "were fighting like mad".

What was that all about? The following information explains what happened. The diary entry led me to re-examine the UFOIC UFO Bulletins and other sources to clarify this provocative entry. This confirmed I was incorrect on my understanding that Miran Lindtner became UFOIC president in December 1958. Dr. Greenwell's resignation was announced in the April 1959 issue "for personal reasons." Miran Lindtner became president in late February 1959.

June Marsden was "profiled" in the Jan 1959 issue of the UFOIC UFO Bulletin. Unstated in the piece was that June Marsden held the position that astrology had a signicant connection with UFOs. June was by 1959 a noted socialite, her real name Mrs. Erica Ingram-Moore, and she was also a prolific writer, particularly in the field of astrology. Her book "Follow Your Stars to success" was published in the US in 1956. It was originally published in Sydney in November 1936. June Marsden was featured in a Daily Mirror article Feb 19 1959 which described her odd ideas about astrology and flying saucers. I also have a letter dated Nov 13 1957 from Adamski to June Marsden which was pretty cordial. She had visited Adamski in California and this no doubt led to her being his hostess when he came to Sydney. Stan Seers gives an unflattering picture of the Sydney Adamski tour in his book "UFOs - the case for scientific Myopia" (1983). Stan was the Queensland Flying Saucer Bureau president at the time of the Adamski visit and he was in Sydney during the period. He makes some unflattering comments about "a well known Sydney socialite". Adamski himself in his book "Flying Saucers Farewell" (aka "Behind the FS mystery") refers to his hostess "an astrologer. She was endeavouring to associate astrology with the space people and their craft. I explained to her that no connection existed between the two, but she refused to accept the logical facts. Like many people, she had closed her mind to any ideas which differed from her preconceived notions." Adamski's book also describes problems in Sydney such as no "work permit" or the lack of UFOIC sponsoring, and an alleged run-in with "the censor's office" about the "saucer" films he was showing. I gather UFOIC was touchy about the issue of sponsoring Adamski, wanting to distance themselves. It seems that these issues came to a head at the Adyar Hall and Metropole meetings of 27 Feb 1959.

It seems clear that UFOIC was struggling to ensure it was seen as a credible organisation. Adamski's visit to Sydney in 1959, and the lightning rod it provided for all manner of bizarre takes on the flying saucer controversy, was putting all those efforts at risk. Dr. Greenwell's resignation from the UFOIC presidency was one apparent result. However Dr. Miran Lindtner took up the UFOIC presidency and his long energetic leadership facilitated a strong UFOIC group.

Photo: (Bill Chalker) Some of the coverage of Adamski's 1959 visit to Australia.

UFOIC Roll Call Update

2007-02-15T22:36:00.000+11:00

Thanks to a very helpful early UFOIC member (1956 - 1959) the following names of UFOIC members can be added to the earlier list:

Ken Parkin
Stefan Chorvat
Mary Matheson
Gordon Deller
Barrie Brettoner
Fred Dietz
Alan Light

Anyone who can contribute information about these members or about UFOIC in general are encouraged to contact me via P.O. Box 42, West Pennant Hills, NSW, Australia 2125 or bill_c@bigpond.com

UFOIC Transition with David Buching 1973 - 1974

2007-02-11T20:49:00.000+11:00

One of the key people in the transitional period of reorganisation of the UFOIC group in the wake of Dr. Miran Lindtner's untimely death in 1969 was David Buching. He was a member of Frankh Wilks' group UFO Research Projects of Australia (UFORPA) which had emerged in the early 1970s in part as a response to the slump in UFOIC activities that occurred after Miran Lindtner's passing. UFORPA sought to energise and revitalise active research and investigation, and found it difficult to do this within the existing structure and then current disposition of UFOIC. Members of UFORPA even tried to take UFOIC over in December 1972 in an effort to envigorate the lapsing activities of UFOIC. The attempt was unsuccessful, but within a year and half elements of UFORPA led by David Buching did achieve this objective, but without Frankh Wilks, who by then (early 1974) had to put his UFO group activities on hold for personal reasons. A number of members of UFOIC (including Fred Phillips, Bill Moser, and Michael Smyth) participated in this process and a revitalised UFOIC was underway by early 1974.

1973 was a year of tremendous flux in UFOIC activities. Limited investigations were being undertaken by UFOIC and UFORPA seemed to be more active in this area. This was reflected in a Channel 7 TV documentary which appeared in early 1973. Written, producted and presented by news veteran and the face of Channel 7 news Roger Climpson "UFOs Fact or Fiction?" presented a lot of sighting material from UFORPA investigations. UFORPA's attempted UFOIC "coup" in December 1972 further unsettled the remanents of UFOIC that had limped into the early 1970s. While UFORPA survived in a manner through 1973, Frankh Wilks' departure led to a diffusion effect between URORPA and UFOIC - a "marriage" that had been developing throughout 1972, then briefly aborted by years end because of the "coup" attempt. The visit of Dr. Allen Hynek to Australia in August 1973 helped the process of the diffusion of active and interested elements in UFOIC and UFORPA to combine forces in a reborn UFOIC. These were slowly nutured developments which were formalised by early 1974.

As a country NSW member of UFOIC I remained largely removed from these developments, but I remained very receptive to any active investigation and research developments in the "on and off" UFOIC/UFORPA "marriage". These were best communicated to me by David Buching. Early in 1973 I had visited Sydney and was disappointed with the lack of focus and activity that seemed evident in UFOIC. I even found a recent investigation report of a striking close encounter I had documented (which was later published in the British Flying Saucer Review Vol. 19, No. 5, Sept - Oct 1973 as "Tractor driver under "cold scrutiny" by UFO") languishing in a pile of UFOIC case files in a exposed outside storage shed. It seemed to me at the time that UFOIC was in a drastic decline. My pessimism was short lived when my investigations of the Tyringham Dundurrabin UFO flap of 1973 (see my post "UFO Flap deja vu" via the OZ Files blog site link opposite) attracted the attention of David Buching and his "UFORPA/UFOIC" investigation team. David and members of the team came up from Sydney (on 4 seperate occassions in July, August, October and November 1973). These visits and our close cooperation during them led me to re-evaluate the future of UFOIC. When I finally moved to Sydney in 1975 I quickly became more involved with UFOIC and joined its management committee.

David Buching left UFOIC by 1977 pursuing other activities. We have had contact a number of times since then, but recently I have been having difficulty relocating him. Given my current focus on developing a history of UFOIC I would like to make contact with David again. Hopefully we can meet again to catch up with "old times" and to discuss the history and activities of UFOIC. I look forward to it. At last report David Buching was working in the photography field probably still in Sydney.

(Photos: David Buching as he appeared in the Channel 7 TV documentary "UFOs Fact or Fiction?" which aired in early 1973. The image was facilitated by the film archivist and critic Jaimie Leonarder. Thanks Jaimie; the investigation photo on site at Dundurrabin on 7 October 1973 shows myself, a local witness and David Buching (left to right) discussing a UFO sighting; a photo from the same day at Dundurrabin of myself - hey it was the 1970s and I was a science degree uni student! Those were the days ...? - the last two photos are copyright Bill Chalker).

UFOIC 1969 Classic - the north coast NSW UFO "nest" saga

2007-01-12T12:47:00.000+11:00

1969 - the north coast of New South Wales (NSW) was the scene of widespread UFO reports and physical trace finds - "UFO nests". One of them was my primary entry point into the physical dimensions of the UFO phenomenon. I joined the curious throng that descended upon the strange crop damage site at Bungawalban, on the property of local parliamentarian Ian Robinson. The story became a nationwide media sensation. I would later learn of striking UFO encounters in the region such as at Harwood Island that seemed to involve levitation of the witness caught in the beam of light from a disc shaped craft. UFOIC actively investigated some of these reports.
Drawing copyright Bill Chalker UFOIC Photo: Sydney Sun newspaper 24 April 1969

UFOIC 1957 Classic

2007-01-12T12:19:00.000+11:00

I have reproduced UFOIC's Andrew Tomas' account of an early classic UFO saga from the pages of the Australian Flying Saucer Review, September 1960 - then a collaborative affair of 3 groups - the UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC), the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society (VUFORS) & the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau (QFSRB) A detailed account of these famous sightings appeared in UFOIC's earlier publication the UFO Bulletin, particularly the September 1957 issue, where it was concluded:

(The sightings) prove that a certain percentage of Katoomba sightings represents genuine UFO phenomena.

UFOIC history roll call - the early years (1954-1969)

2007-01-07T01:23:00.000+11:00

I joined UFOIC as a country member in 1969. Looking back over its early years the group's history can be fleshed out through its publications and other primary source material. I have had the opportunity to meet some of the people involved in this early era over the years, including Michael Duggan, Fred Phillips, Bill Moser, Nevill Drury and Tas Homan.

I have listed some of the key people from this early period of UFOIC. While some may have passed away I would be grateful if anyone can advise me of details about any of them or any others:

Andrew Tomas
Dr. W.P. Clifford
Michael Duggan
Fred Phillips
Dr. Miran Lindtner
David Moore
John Matasin
Tas V. Homan
Harry O'Brien
George Tararin
Mel Woods
Mr. Mueller-Sorau
Jack Thomas
John Derry
Judith Croser
Dr. J. Greenwell
T.W. Dutton
Noel Wheeler
Mr. J. Gjerki
Ken Hatton
Jack Kunst
John Mats
Mr. P.A. Edwards
Mr. S. Belin
Mr. E. Sayers
Dr. Don Herbison Evans
Mr. R. De Cusack
Mr. J. Blattman

UFO case material from Phase 1 (1952-1955) of UFOIC - its prehistory

2007-01-07T00:52:00.000+11:00

Reproduced here is the cover of the March 1958 issue of the UFOIC UFO Bulletin. The cover depicts the famous Drury film case of August 1953. The bulletin editor Andrew Tomas wrote:

The sketch was made from actual frames of the picture by Mr. A.P. Tomas (the editor) when he was Sydney Observer of the Australian Flying Saucer Bureau.

The affair assumed the apocryphal dimensions of a UFO "holy grail" saga with the "disappearance" of the footage. It occupied the attention of pioneer researcher Edgar Jarrold and numerous researchers in the decades that followed, including myself.
The controversy about the Drury UFO film can be followed in an extensively illustrated two part article I wrote for the Australasian Ufologist in 2001 - "The Drury UFO Film Affair - a study of a celebrated Australian Case". The text of the article can be accessed either via my OZ Files web site or via my UFO article archive at AUFORN link.

The evolution of UFOIC

2007-01-04T00:46:00.000+11:00

The group UFOIC has had 6 distinct phases in its evolution:

(1) 1952-1955 Edgar Jarrold's group the Australian Flying Saucer Bureau formed in July 1952. It was initially a one man operation. In January 1954 Andrew Tomas became AFSB's "Sydney observer" and an assistant to Edgar Jarrold. 6 issues of the Australian Flying Saucer Magazine (May 1953, August 1953, November 1953, March 1954, August 1954 and February 1955). Other future key UFOIC members became members of this first public Australian flying saucer group, including Dr. W.P. Clifford and Dr. Miran Lindtner. By July 1955 Jarrold had abandoned his AFSB work. Sydney based UFO work was adrift.

(2) 1955-1956 Andrew Tomas accepted the idea of making a New South Wales (NSW) state branch of the South Australia state based Australian Flying Saucer Research Society which was run by Fred Stone. This was a short lived arrangement. Soon the members from the remenants of the AFSB and those of the AFSRS (NSW) branch sort to establish themselves as an independent group.

(3) 1956- 1969 In November 1956 the group UFOIC continued the Sydney based UFO work first begun by Jarrold and Tomas. Dr. Clifford became the first UFOIC president, followed briefly by Dr. J. Greenwell (December 1958 to 27 February 1959).* Dr. Miran Lindtner then took on the UFOIC presidency position, continuing an energetic and dynamic period of research and investigation, until his accidental death in 1969. Fred Phillips took over as president. UFOIC published the UFO Bulletin (June 1957?, September 1957, December 1957, March 1958, June 1958, September 1958, January 1959, April 1959 and July 1959). In cooperation initially with the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society (VFSRS) and later also with the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau, UFOIC published the Australian Flying Saucer Review (January 1960, April 1960, September 1960, February 1961, July 1961, January 1962 and November 1962). The interstate cooperative effort lapsed. VFSRS began publishing its own Australian Flying Saucer Review Victorian edition in May 1964 . UFOIC published 3 issues of its own NSW edition (June 1965, November 1966 and the much delayed December 1969 issue). UFOIC also began publishing the UFOIC Newsletter beginning with Issue 1 in March 1964 and with Issue 26 by December 1969.

(4) 1970 - 1974 A transitional period followed, punctuated by some internal difficulties and cooperation & discord with the UFORPA (UFO Research Projects of Australia) group run by Frankh Wilks. Out of this process emerged a revitalised UFOIC committee with an energetic investigative team lead by David Buching. It continued the UFOIC Newsletter run beginning with issue 40 in May/June 1974. By this stage the position of president was largely honorary with Fred Phillips continuing in the role. The actual running of the group was undertaken by the newer members of the committee.

(5) 1975 - 1980 By 1975-76 Michael Smyth and Bill Chalker were coordinating the UFOIC group's activities. In line with a trend established by some other state groups UFOIC changed its name to UFO Research (NSW) . Fred Phillips continue as honarary president for a number of years. The last UFOIC Newsletter was issue 50 of January - February 1977 and the newsletter format continued with issue 51 appearing under the name UFO Newsletter (UFO Research (NSW)) in May 1977. Its name was changed for one issue to the Australian UFO Newsletter in the double issue N0.54 & 55 dated July - August 1978. With the No. 56 & 57 double issue dated January - February 1979 the name Australian UFO Researcher was adopted which continued until issue 60 dated November - December 1979. The Sydney based group as UFOIC and UFOR(NSW) had published 57 issues between 1964 and 1979 (3 issues 54&55, 56&57 and 58&59 were double issues) in a continuous numbered run. In 1980 UFO Research (NSW) (aka UFOIC) joined forces with the cooperative publishing venture UFO Research Australian Newsletter (UFORAN) edited by Vladimir Godic.

(6) 1981 - 2007 By the early 1980s the group was reconfigured, adopting a networking type approach, rather than continuing the traditional public group format. This change worked well with a good working relationship with national networking efforts, initially with the Australian Centre for UFO Studies (ACUFOS) and then UFO Research Australia (UFORA) from 1984 to 1995. The originial group name UFOIC was readopted in 1991 when a name change was forced by a new group registering the name UFO Research (NSW) as a business name. UFOIC continued its research and investigation, preferring a successful model of a "low profile" active network, rather than a public relations group format. This approach has served the group well and continues today under the ongoing direction of researcher Bill Chalker.

The brief outline of the evolution of the Sydney based group UFOIC reveals a complex and fascinating development, driven by changing research and investigation strategies and focuses. Many striking UFO cases have been investigated by the group during its rich half century history. UFOIC has made a potent contribution to UFO investigation and research in Australia.

* Correction (6 March 2007): Dr. Lindtner did not become UFOIC president in December 1958. The January 1959 issue of the UFOIC UFO Bulletin (page 18) indicates "At the annual Meeting held by UFOIC in December 1958 Dr. John Greenwell was elected President." The following issue (April 1959) reports "For personal reasons Dr. J. Greenwell has resigned from his post of President. His place has been taken by Dr. M. Lindtner, a man well-versed in science with a thorough knowledge of "ufology"." This transition appears to have occurred on 27 February 1959, as elaborated in my 6 March 2007 post "UFOIC and the 1959 Adamski visit". Because of the brief tenure of Dr. Greenwell as UFOIC president it seems I inadvertently introduced the December 1958 date for Dr. Lindtner's start as UFOIC president. I thank a very helpful early member of UFOIC for supplying information that helped correct the group history and also explain the apparent background to it.

The writer Bill Chalker is currently researching a history of UFOIC and would welcome contact and contributions to this effort from past members and observers of the group.

The UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC) 1956 to now

2007-01-02T23:46:00.000+11:00

This site is devoted to the Sydney Australia based UFO group UFOIC - the UFO Investigation Centre. It will be used to describe the history, research and investigation activities of the group.

During May 2006 Bill Chalker the long time coordinator of UFOIC gave a lecture on the group entitled "UFOIC - the UFO Investigation Centre (1956 - 2006) - an extraordinary odyssey" which had the following abstract:

Through the lens of the evolution of the Sydney based group UFOIC from 1956 to 2006 (fifty years), from historical to current cases and research, a rich harvest of UFO material is presented. History, controversy and research is covered in roughly equal measure. The 1868 Parramatta case will be covered, along with the 1927 Fernvale affair - a "prophecy" of the coming of the "flying saucer era" twenty years later in 1947, and the Mothman Prophecy events of around 1967. A Chinese connection - a "Dragon Seed" - will be examined from its earliest manifestation through the pioneer UFOIC researcher Andrew Tomas through to my research in more recent times, through to the strange breakthrough research into the unusual rare Chinese ethnic minority DNA turning up in the "Hair of the Alien" saga - a wild ride through an extraordinary odyssey spanning more than half a century.