Case · C-024

Tully 1966: the “nest” in the swamp at Horseshoe Lagoon

Horseshoe Lagoon, Euramo, near Tully (Queensland) · Australia · Jan 19, 1966

On land Civilian witnesses Physical traces

What happened

At about 9 in the morning the banana grower George Pedley, driving a tractor near Horseshoe Lagoon, heard a loud hissing sound and saw a gray object about 25 feet (7-8 meters) wide rise from the swamp, spinning, and quickly move off to the southwest. At the indicated spot there was a nearly circular area of reeds flattened in clockwise curves, recorded in the RAAF report as about 32 by 25 feet (about 10 by 8 meters). The Tully police took the report, inspected the site, filled out the RAAF form and collected vegetation samples, later examined by the University of Queensland; the case was followed by RAAF Base Townsville and the Department of Air.

Proposed explanation

RAAF Operational Command attributed the depressions in the vegetation to small, isolated tornadoes; the Department of Air wrote that the samples showed nothing significant, indicated downdrafts, whirlwinds or tornadoes as possible causes and, in February 1966, that there was no explanation for the reported visual phenomenon; a 1973 letter indicated the “willy-willy” (whirlwind) as the most likely explanation, without a definitive conclusion. The researcher Bill Chalker disputes the vortex hypothesis on the grounds of the topography of the site, the calm weather and the witness's description.

Official investigation

Queensland Police (Tully); RAAF and Department of Air (Australia); University of Queensland (analysis of the samples)

Official documents

1. Reports on Flying Saucers and other Aerial Objects, 1965-1966 (A703, 580/1/1 Part 5) · Department of Air (Australia) - National Archives of Australia · 1965

Sources

1. Bill Chalker, The 1966 Tully saucer “nest” (Project 1947, 1997) (analysis, pro-disclosure)
2. Keith Basterfield, Bill Chalker, A Catalogue of Australian Physical Trace Cases (Project 1947, 1998) (analysis)
3. Saucer hysteria: The case of the Tully crop circle (Australian Geographic, 2020) (press)

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