Westall School UFO Sighting
Over 200 students and teachers at Westall High School in Melbourne, Australia, witness a silver disc-shaped object descend into a nearby field, land briefly, then ascend rapidly. Authorities quickly dismiss the event as a weather balloon.
Background
On the morning of April 6, 1966, over 200 students, teachers, and residents at Westall High School in Clayton South, Melbourne, witnessed a silvery, disc-shaped UFO descend toward the Grange field before lifting off at high speed. Many accounts persist despite official explanations like a weather balloon.
The Incident During a physical education session, students pointed to a silvery, disc-shaped object with a dome-like protrusion descending toward the Grange, an open field between the school and a neighboring property.
Some accounts describe five smaller aircraft seemingly pursuing the object during its approach.
The object appeared to settle into the grass before departing at high speed.
Witness Accounts More than two hundred witnesses, including students, teachers, and nearby residents, observed the event.
Students who ran to the Grange afterward reported a circular area of flattened or discolored grass, though descriptions varied.
Science teacher Andrew Greenwood, who observed through binoculars, became a key witness noted by journalists and investigators.
Investigation Within hours, men in uniform and civilian authority figures arrived at the school.
Students recalled being told not to discuss what they had seen.
The Age newspaper published a brief report attributing the sighting to a weather balloon.
Analysis Decades later, researcher Keith Basterfield proposed a wayward balloon from the classified HIBAL atmospheric monitoring program.
This explanation has not satisfied many original witnesses.
Several have maintained their accounts across more than fifty years of interviews and reunions.
Significance The community commemorated the event with a dedicated playground installation.
Significance
The Westall sighting stands out for its exceptionally large witness pool — over 200 people, mostly schoolchildren — and the consistency of their accounts over decades. It remains Australia's most significant mass UFO sighting and one of the best-documented school-based encounters globally, comparable to the 1994 Ariel School incident in Zimbabwe.