News Reports and Articles

The Death of Bert Riddell, MBE ED.

In 1954, Victoria was the centre of a UFO sighting wave that produced one of the most extraordinary close encounter events in the history of Australian Ufology.

Bert Riddell was the key investigator for this encounter that took place near Dandenong, Victoria at 6:20pm, on the 5th June 1954.

Bert was a chief investigator for the Government and produced two very detailed reports on the encounter. At the time he was very much involved in a number of important groups that investigated "flying saucers". He kept his beliefs to himself, but was a long time member of the first groups in Victoria, while being involved in the Government investigations.

As a young Army Engineer he was invaluable to each case he looked into and produced many interesting insights & reports on cases from the 1950 and 1960.

He told me on many occasions, that the Dandenong close encounter was fascinating and he was unable to find any reason to dispute the account.

It was his report about the two girls J. Brown (16y) and J. Johnston (13y) that made the press take notice.

In it he said, both girls were standing by the Princes Highway just East of Dandenong when they witnessed a large dark shape appeared over the Heinz Factory.

J. Brown reported:

I was standing on Princes Highway, opposite the 21 mile post waiting for Jeanette, about 6.20 pm. I heard a loud drumming noise, something like a motor cycle, but there were no carsor cycles around at the time. Then a large dark shape appeared over the partly built H.T. Heinz factory, and whirred towards me when I shone my torch. Just above the house where the caretaker lives it burst into light. It hovered about 20 yards away on top of the factory gate as if it deliberately wanted me to look at it - or it wanted to look at me. It was cylinder shaped, about 30 feet long and 15 feet high, with a canopy and window on top and a window at eachend.

J. Johnston reported:

A silvery coloured cylinder rose above the house then swept away in a wide circle to the International Harvester factory a few hundred yards away. It stayed on top of the factory for about one minute, then disappeared behind trees.

Bert was also a past member of PRA and a member of:

* Aeronautical & Meteorological Phenomena Research
  (AMPR 1949).
* Australian Flying Saucer Investigating Committee
  (FSIC 1953).
* Aeronautics & Phenomena Research Victoria (APRV 1956).
* Phenomena Research Victoria (PRV 1960).
* Australian Flying Saucer Research Society
  (Victorian Branch)(AFSRS 1957).

And a friend of Lieutenant General S.F. Rowell and Air Marshall Sir George Jones.

John Auchettl
Director

PRA WEB:
http://members.aol.com/praufo/PRA1/Pra1.htm

Phenomena Research Australia[PRA]
P.O. Box 523, Mulgrave,Victoria, Australia,3170
Australian & Asia UFO
1961-2001 - 40 YEARS OF RESEARCH SERVICE

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