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| Artist's impression of the encounter by Australian missionary Father Gill and several of his native parishioners. (credit: Brookesmith) |
Summary: William B. Gill, an Anglican priest with a mission in Bosinai, Papas New Guinea, observed craft-like UFOs (one with humanoid figures on top) on two consecutive evenings, June 26-27, 1959. About twenty-five natives, including teachers and medical technicians, also observed the phenomena. They "signaled" the humanoids and received an apparent response. This was one of sixty UFO sightings within a few weeks in the New Guinea area.
Incident: According to J. Allen Hynek, during the years 1958 - 1959 there were over 60 UFO sightings reported in the Papua New Guinea area, with many of these sightings occurring in the area of Mount Pudi, near the mission station at Boianai. New Guinea was part of Australia until 1975, and the Australian Anglican Church sent many missionaries to the people of that island nation. One of these was Father William Booth Gill, who began the year 1959 as a skeptic.
That was soon to change. On April 5, 1959, Father Gill saw a light on uninhabited Mount Pudi that moved faster than any human could move, and then on June 21, Stephen Moi Gill, Father Gill's assistant, saw what he described as an "inverted saucer" in the sky above the mission.
Of these first sightings, Father Gill wrote to a friend:
“I do not doubt the existence of these ‘things’ (indeed I cannot, now that I have seen one for myself) but my simple mind still requires scientific evidence before I can accept the from- outer-space theory. I am inclined to believe that probably many UFOs are more likely some form of electric phenomena--or perhaps something brought about by the atom bomb explosions, etc. That Stephen should actually make out a saucer could be the work of the unconscious mind as it is very likely that at some time he has seen illustrations of some kind in a magazine, or it is very possible that saucers do exist, but it is only a 50/50 chance that they are not earth made, still less that they should carry men (more likely radio controlled), and it is still unproven that they are solids. “
“It is all too difficult to understand for me; I prefer to wait for some bright boy to catch one to be exhibited in Martin Square.“
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| This sketch by witness Father Gill shows the craft and occupants as they appeared from the position of observation. One to four "men" were clearly seen. |
These sightings were only a prelude, however, to the events of June 26 through June 28.
At about 6:45 on June 26, Father Gill saw a bright white light to the northwest. As thirty-eight people at the mission watched, a four-legged disc-shaped object that was approximately the size of five full moons lined up end to end hovered over the mission. On top of the object they saw four human-like figures that appeared to be performing some sort of task. At times one or more of the figures would vanish from sight, only to reappear a few minutes later. At regular intervals a beam of blue light shone upwards from the center of the craft. The object was visible until about 7:30, when it ascended into the clouds and vanished. At about 8:30, several smaller objects appeared in the sky, and at 8:50, the first object returned. The four-hour sighting lasted until 10:50, when clouds moved in and blocked the view.
Father Gill prepared a written report of the sighting, and twenty-five witnesses signed it.
The next day, the large object with "people" on board and two of the smaller objects, returned at about 6:00 p.m. Father Gill described it thus:
“On the large one two of the figures seemed to be doing something near the center of the deck. They were occasionally bending over and raising their arms as though adjusting or ‘setting up’ something. One figure seemed to be standing, looking down at us.”
Father Gill raised his arm and waved to the figure.
“To our surprise the figure did the same. Ananias waved both arms over his head; then the two outside figures did the same. Ananias and self began waving our arms, and all four seemed to wave back. There seemed no doubt that our movements were answered.... “
There was more waving, and signaling with torches, with responses from the UFO. At 6:30, Father Gill went in to dinner, but at 7:00, the object was still there, only smaller, as if it had moved farther away. When Father Gill checked again, after church at 7:45, the sky was cloudy, and they were gone.
The next evening, the UFOs made their final appearance. Father Gill counted eight of them at 6:45 p.m. Oddly, at 11:20, the quiet night was shattered by a loud bang on the roof. Father Gill went outside to check, and saw four UFOs in a sort of circle around the building, but at a very great height. They were still there when he returned to bed. When the roof was checked the next morning, June 29, no evidence of an impact was found.
The Boianai sightings was "analyzed" by astronomer and noted debunker Dr. Donald H. Menzel, who "explained" the sightings as being the plant Venus viewed myopically by Father Gill. Venus, he said, was very conspicuous in the west setting about three hours after the sun. He wrote:
I think it significant that, despite the brilliance of Venus, none of the sightings by Father Gill and the mission group refers to that planet.
Menzel based his conclusions on several purely speculative assumptions: that Father Gill was near-sighted and without glasses at the time, that he "probably" had a degree of astigmatism also (causing him to see a distorted image of Venus), plus blood cells on the retina of his eye producing an illusion of motion. Menzel seems to have believed that the Papuans were ignorant natives who worshipped Father Gill and merely went along with everything he said. (That's an easy way to dispose of 24 signed witnesses...)
Fred Beckman, a colleague of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who actually went to Papua and traveled with Father Gill to Boainai, notes in rebuttal that Father Gill was wearing properly corrected glasses at the time and that Venus was pointed out separately by Gill.
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An approximate chronology of the complex series of sightings follows (based on Father Gill's log of events and a summary report by his colleague, the Reverend Norman Cruttwell):
June 26--6:45 P.M. Large sparkling light seen by Father Gill in western sky. Called natives who also saw it.
6:55--7:04 P.M. Up to four illuminated humanoid figures seen on top of object off and on.
7:10--7:20 P.M. Sky now overcast at about 2,000 feet. Humanoid figures seen again, and a "thin electric blue spotlight" upward from the UFO, hovering below the overcast. UFO disappears in clouds.
8 :28--8:35 P.M. Skies clear again; UFO visible, appearing to descend and increase in size. Second object seen over sea, "hovering at times," and another over village.
8:50--9:30 P.M. Clouds forming again. Large UFO stationary, others (about three) like disks coming and going through clouds, casting a light halo on the clouds. Large UFO moves away rapidly across sea toward Giwa.
9:46--10:30 P.M. UFO reappears overhead. Hovering.
10:50--P.M. Heavy overcast; no sign of UFO.
11:04 P.M. Heavy rain.
June 27--6-7 P.M. Large UFO seen again. First sighted by medical technician at hospital, before dark. Closest sighting yet: seen clearly, bright and sparkling. Humanoid figures seen on top. Father Gill and about twelve others in group waved at humanoids and one of figures appeared to wave back. One member of the group waved both arms, and figures apparently responded by waving both arms. Two smaller objects remained visible, stationary at a higher altitude.
7:45 P.M. Sky overcast; no UFOs visible.
On the first night, Father Gill stepped out the front door of the mission house after dinner, about 6:45 P.M., and glanced at the western sky looking for Venus, which was conspicuous at the time. "I saw Venus," he said. "but I also saw this sparkling object, which to me was peculiar because it sparkled and because it was very, very bright. and it was above Venus and so that caused me to watch it for a while, then I saw it descend towards us.''
Father Gill estimated the object's angular diameter as about five inches at arm's Length. Stephen Gill Moi. a teacher, who joined Father GilI a few minutes latter, said that if he put his hand out closed, it would cover about half of the object.
In a signed statement, the witnesses agreed that the object was circular, had a wide base and a narrower upper "deck," had something like legs beneath it, at times produced a shaft of blue light which shone upward into the sky at an angle of about 45 degrees, an that four humanoid figures appeared on top. Some of the witnesses described seeing about four portholes or windows on the side. Father Gill saw what appeared to be bright panels on the side but did not interpret them as portholes.
"As we watched it," Father Gill said, "men came out from this object and appeared on top of it, on what seemed to be a deck on top of the huge disk. There were four men in all, occasionally two, then one, then three, then four; we noted the various times the men appeared . . . .
"Another peculiar thing was this shaft of blue light. which emanated from what appeared to be the center of the deck. The men appeared to be illuminated not only by this light reflected on them, but also by a sort of glow which completely surrounded them as well as the craft. The glow did not touch them, but there appeared to be a little space between their outline and the light.. . . ''
Father Gill described the movements of the objects, especially the smaller disks, as very erratic. They sometimes moved rapidly, sometimes slowly, approaching and receding, changing direction, and at times swinging back and forth like a pendulum. One object moved away and appeared to descend toward Wadobuna village, and everyone thought it was going to land. The Papuana ran down on the beach, but the object swooped up and away over the mountains, turning red as it disappeared.
When the large object disappeared at 9:30 P.M., Father Gill said it made a slight wavering motion, then suddenly shot away at tremendous speed, changing color to red and blue-green, and disappeared across the bay, vanishing. No sound was heard throughout.
The next evening, about 6 P.M., the same or a similar object reappeared while the sky was still bright, first seen by Annie Laura Borews, a Papuan medical assistant at the hospital. She called Father Gill, who in turn called Ananias and several other to watch. "We watched figures appear on top.'' Father Gill said. "Four of them. There is no doubt that they were human. This is possibly the same object that I took to be the 'mother ship' last night. Two smaller UFOs were seen at the same time, stationary, one above the hills, west, and another overhead."
Two of the figures seemed to be doing something, occasionally bending over and raising their arm as if "adjusting or setting up something [not visible]. One figure seemed to be standing, looking down on us (a group of about a dozen).'' This figure, he explained later, was standing with his hands on the "rail" looking over, "just as one will look over the rails of a ship."
"I stretched my arm above my head and waved. To our surprise the figure did the same. Ananias waved both arms over his head, then the two outside figures did the same. Ananias and self began waving our arms and all four seemed to wave back. There seemed to be no doubt that our movements wee answered. All the Mission boys made audible gasps (of either joy or surprise, perhaps both)."
As darkness began to settle in, Father Gill sent one of the natives for a flashlight and directed a series of signals (''long dashes") toward the UFO. After a minute or two, the UFO wavered back and forth like a pendulum, in apparent acknowledgment. They waved and flashed signals again, and the UFO appeared to Descend toward them, but stopped and came no closer. After two or three more minutes, the figures disappeared. Then, at 6:45 P.M., two figures resumed their activity, and the blue spotlight came on for a few seconds twice in succession. By 7:45 P.M. the sky was totally overcast and no UFOs were visible. Thus ended the sightings.
In his evaluation of the incidents, Dr. Donald H. MENZEL, a Harvard University astronomer who wrote three UFO debunking books, refers to the natives as 'uneducated" and to Father Grill as being their "great leader,'' to them "a holy man'' (implying that they were influenced in their testimony). He attributed the sightings to the plant Venus viewed myopically by Father Gill. Venus, he noted, was very conspicuous in the west setting about three hours after the sun. "I think it significant that, despite the brilliance of Venus, none of the sightings by Father Gill and the mission group refers to that planet."
Menzel then openly assumed that Father Gill was myopic and without glasses at the time, that he ''probably" had appreciable astigmatism as well (causing him to see a distorted image of Venus), plus blood cells on the retina producing illusory motion. He concluded. "Since a very simple hypothesis accounts, without any strain, for the reported observations. I shall henceforth consider the Father Gill case as solved. Moreover, 1 feel the same phenomena are responsible for some of the more spectacular unsolved cases in the Air Force files." (See HYNEK, J. A., The UFO experience, 1972.)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the former Air Force UFO consultant, notes in rebuttal that Father Gill was wearing properly corrected glasses at the time and that "Venus was pointed out separately by Gill."
Although any prolonged series of UFO sightings with excited witnesses may be "contaminated'' by coincidental sightings of aircraft, meteors, or stars and planets glimpsed through moving cloud, the report of a large structured object (with humanoid figures) below a low overcast is not easily explainable. - Richard Hall - www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk
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The Boianai Visitants of 1959
In 1959 Papua New Guinea was still a territory of Australia. June of that year saw the spectacular sightings by Father William Gill, an Australian Anglican missionary, and 37 members of his Boianai mission. Gill made notes about the experience, which the media obtained. Stories appeared in August, causing a sensation. I have had two extended interviews with Reverend Gill and was impressed with his quiet and certain manner in relating the events. What follows comes from his own account of the affair.
Only the day before the sighting, Gill had composed a letter to the Reverend David Durie, Acting Principal of Saint Aidan's College at Dogura, to accompany a report regarding a UFO sight- ing made by Stephen Moi, an assistant teacher at Gill's mission.
'Dear David, Have a look at this extraordinary data. I am almost convinced about the "visitation" theory. There have been quite a number of reports over the months, from reliable witnesses. The peculiar thing about these most recent reports is that the UFOs seem to be stationary at Boianai or to travel from Boianai. The Mount Pudi vicinity seems to be the hovering area. I myself saw a stationary white light twice on the same night on 9 April, but in a different place each time.
I believe your students have also sighted one over Boianai. The Assistant District Officer, Bob Smith and Mr Glover have all seen it, or similar ones on different occasions again, over Boianai, although I think the Baniara people said they watched it travel across the sky from our direction. I should think that this is the first time that the "saucer" has been identified as such.
'I do not doubt the existence of these "things" (indeed I cannot, now that I have seen one for myself) but my simple mind still requires scientific evidence before I can accept the from outer space theory. I am inclined to believe that probably many UFOs are more likely some form of electric phenomena, or perhaps something brought about by the atom bomb explosions, etc.
That Stephen should actually make out a saucer could be the work of the unconscious mind as it is very likely that at some time he has seen illustrations of some kind in a magazine, or it is very possible that saucers do exist, but it is only a 50/50 chance that they are not earth made, still less that they should carry men (more likely radio controlled), and it is still unproven that they are solids.
'It is all too difficult to understand for me; I prefer to wait for some bright boy to catch one to be exhibited in Martin Square. 'Please return this report as I have no copy and I want Nor, (Rev. Norman Crutwell) to have it. Yours, Doubting William Anglican Mission, Boianai. 27/6/59'
The events of the next day converted the Doubting William, as the next letter graphically indicates.
'Dear David,
Life is strange, isn't it? Yesterday I wrote you a letter, (which I still intend sending you) expressing opinions re: The UFOs. Now, less than twenty-four hours later I have changed my views somewhat. Last night we at Boianai experienced about four hours of UFO activity, and there is no doubt whatsoever that they are handled by beings of some kind. At times it was absolutely breathtaking. Here is the report. Please pass it round, but great care must be taken as I have no other, and this, like the one I made out re: Stephen, will be sent to Nor. I would appreciate it if you could send the lot back as soon as poss.
Cheers,
Convinced Bill'
As indicated by his notes, Gill saw a bright white light in the north western sky. It appeared to be approaching the mission and hovering about 100 metres up. Eventually 38 people, including Gill, teachers Steven Gill Moi and Ananias Rarata, and Mrs Nessle Moi, gathered to watch the main UFO, which looked like a large, disc-shaped object. It was apparently solid and circular with a wide base and narrower upper deck. The object appeared to have four 'legs' underneath it. There also appeared to be about four 'panels' or 'portholes' on the side of the object, which seemed to glow a little brighter than the rest. At a number of intervals the object produced a shaft of blue light which shone upwards into the sky at an angle of about 45 degrees.
What looked like 'men' came out of the object, onto what seemed to be a deck on top of it. There were four men in all, occasionally two, then one, then three, then four. The shaft of blue light and the 'men' disappeared. The object then moved through some clouds. There were other UFO sightings during the night. Gill described the weather as variable sky scattered clouds to clear at first, becoming overcast after. He estimated the height of the clouds at about 600 meters. The first sighting over the sea, according to Rev. Gill, seemed to be about 150 metres above the water all times. The main UFO was clearly visible and seemed mostly stationary during the twenty-five minutes of observation.
Astonishingly, the aerial visitor put in a repeat performance the following night, 27 June. Gill prepared another statement.
'Large UFO first sighted by Annie Laurie at 6 p.m. in apparently same position as last night (26/6/59) only seemed a little smaller, when W.B.G. saw it at 6.02 p.m. I called Ananias and several others and we stood in the open to watch it. Although the sun had set it was still quite light for the following fifteen minutes. We watched figures appear on top four of them, no doubt that they are human. Possibly the same object that I took to be the "Mother" ship last night. Two smaller UFOs were seen at the same time, stationary.
One above the hills west, another over- head. On the large one two of the figures seemed to be doing something near the centre of the deck, were occasionally bending over and raising their arms as though adjusting or "setting up" something (not visible). One figure seemed to be standing looking down at us (a group of about a dozen). I stretched my arm above my head and waved. To our surprise the figure did the same. Ananias waved both arms over his head then the two outside figures did the same. Ananias and self began waving our arms and all four now seemed to wave back. There seemed to be no doubt that our movements were answered. All mission boys made audible gasps (of either joy or surprise, perhaps both).
'As dark was beginning to close in, I sent Eric Kodawara for a torch and directed a series of long dashes towards the UFO. After a minute or two of this, the UFO apparently acknowledged by making several wavering motions back and forth. Waving by us was repeated and this followed by more flashes of torch, then the UFO began slowly to become bigger, apparently coming in our direction. It ceased after perhaps half a minute and came no further. After a further two or three minutes the figures apparently lost interest in us for they disappeared "below" deck. At 6.25 p.m. two figures re-appeared to carry on with whatever they were doing before the interruption. The blue spotlight came on for a few seconds twice in succession.'
Gill has described how he and the mission people called out to the men, even shouting at them, and beckoned them to de- scend, but there was no response beyond what has already been noted. Two smaller UFOs higher up remained stationary. By 6.30 p.m. the scene had remained largely unchanged, and Gill records that he went to dinner. Subsequently critics were to question this, why would someone walk away from such an extraordinary sight? 'I'm always asked this question,' Gill has said, 'either in puzzlement or with a sneer.
Having had about four hours of this sight on Friday night, we were not nearly so interested when it returned on Saturday night, especially after we were unable to persuade it to land. You must also keep in mind that there was nothing eerie or other worldly about any of this. It was all so ordinary, as ordinary as a Ford car. It looked a perfectly normal sort of object, an earth made object. I realised, of course, that some people might think of this as a flying saucer but I took it to be some kind of hovercraft the Americans or even the Australians had built.
The figures inside looked perfectly human. In fact, I thought they were human, that if we got them to land we would find the pilots to be ordinary earthmen in military uniforms and we would have dinner with them.
At 7.00 p.m. the 'No. 1 UFO' was still present, although it appeared somewhat smaller. The group of observers went to church for evensong. After evensong, visibility was very limited with the sky covered in cloud. Nothing else was seen that evening. At 10.40 p.m., a very penetrating, 'ear splitting' explosion woke up people on the station. It sounded like it had come from just outside the window of the mission house. Gill felt it did not sound like a thunderclap. Nothing had been seen, but the whole sky was overcast. Other less compelling activity occurred the following night. Then it seemed the Boianai visitants had gone. But the controversy had just begun.
Reverend Gill was at the time of his sightings already scheduled to return to Australia. This presented civilian groups with an excellent opportunity to assess the credibility of the reports.
All investigators found Gill to be very impressive. This led one of the leading civilian groups, the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society, to view the Gill reports as constituting the most remarkable testimony of intensive UFO activity ever reported to civilian investigators. They were unique because for the first time credible witnesses had reported the presence of humanoid beings associated with UFOs. The major civilian groups of the day, in a spirit of new found cooperation inspired by the significance of the Boianai observations, distributed copies of Gill's sighting report to all members of the House of Representatives of Australia's federal parliament.
A letter accompanied the report, signed by the presidents of the participating civilian UFO groups, urging members of parliament to press the Minister for Air for a statement about the attitude Air Force Intelligence had to the New Guinea reports.
On 24 November 1959 in federal parliament E.D. Cash, a Liberal member from Western Australia, asked the Minister for Air, F.M. Osborne, whether his department (specifically Air Force Intelligence) had investigated the reports. The minister's reply did not address this question, but instead focused on the general situation, indicating that most sightings of UFOs were explained and 'that only a very small percentage, something like 3 per cent of reported sightings of flying objects cannot be explained'. A representative of one UFO group was advised by the Directorate of Air Force Intelligence that the Department was awaiting 'depth of evidence' on the New Guinea sightings.
However, the department had not even interviewed Gill. Finally the Minister for Defence requested a report and the RAAF interviewed Gill on 29 December 1959, some six months after the sighting. Gill's recollection of the visit is that the two officers from Canberra talked about stars and planets and then left. He heard no more from them.
As one might expect, Gill's account was dismissed by the RAAF despite its extraordinary nature and the number of witnesses. The senior interviewing officer, Squadron Leader F.A. Lang, concluded:
'Although the Reverend Gill could be regarded as a reliable observer, it is felt that the June/July incidents could have been nothing more than natural phenomena coloured by past events and subconscious influences of UFO enthusiasts. During the period of the report the weather was cloudy and unsettled with light thunder storm. Although it is not possible to draw firm conelusions, an analysis of rough bearings and angles above the horizon does suggest that at least some of the lights observed were the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.
Light refraction, the changing position of the planet relative to the observer and cloud movement would give the impression of size and rapid movement. In addition varying cloud densities could account for the human shapes and their sudden appearance and disappearance'.
My own close analysis of the reports suggests that the RAAF 'explanation' of either known planets seen through fast moving cloud, or natural phenomena' does not bear up.
Over the years there have been a number of 'explanations' put forward to account for the Boianai sightings, including astronomical misidentification, hoax, cargo cult effects, and that Gill had myopia and astigmatism. (In fact at the time he was wearing correctly prescribed glasses). None of these satisfactorily address the evidence. Dr Alien Hynek, and staff at his Center for UFO Studies, went to great lengths to investigate and research the affair.
Hynek and Alien Hendry, the the centre's chief investigator, concluded the 'lesser UFOs' seen by Gill were at- tributable to bright stars and planets, but not the primary object. Its size and absence of movement over three hours ruled out an astronomical explanation. My own discussions with Gill led me to the same conclusion.
Most recently there was an attempt at explaining the whole affair away by suggesting that Gill and the other witnesses were confused by a false horizon, and that all they had been watching was a brightly lit squidboat and crew too busy to do more than just wave at the people on shore. This idea is not tenable when one realises that Gill was certain that the object he saw was at a 30 degree elevation in the sky. A more radical attempt to dispose of the Gill case came from UFO sceptic Daniel Cohen in his book Myths of the Space Age.
The Boianai visitations are enshrined in a classic piece of Australian fiction. Novelist Randolph Stow's 1979 book "Visitants", which has the Boianai visitations as a backdrop to a striking story of confrontation and disintegration, emerged from Stow's experience as a cadet patrol officer in Papua-New Guinea. He was an assistant to the Government Anthropologist. His novel opens with this sentence: 'On 26 June 1959, at Boianai in Papua, visitants appeared to the Reverend William Booth Gill, himself a visitant of thirteen years standing, and to thirty-seven witnesses of another colour.'
The Boianai 'visitants' still stand as remarkable evidence for an impressive aerial anomaly and are regarded as some of the best entity reports on record. At the time of writing I spoke again with Gill. He still remains puzzled by what he saw and was pleased that an authority like Dr Hynek had independently interviewed him and some of the other witnesses and travelled to the site. While he accepts that the sightings remain unexplained, he questioned my characterisation of some attempts to explain them as 'silly'. He felt that these 'explanations' were serious attempts to bring understanding to the events. I think that attitude encap- sulate the integrity of Gill and the reality of the affair.
In 1973 Alien Hynek visited Australia and Papua New Guinea and found six of the witnesses to the Boianai events. They all upported Gill's version of what had happened. - Bill Chalker, The 'Oz' Files
Click for video
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Was The “Father Gill” Sighting A Classified Aircraft?
What many may not know is that this event took place about 1200 miles from the United States military installation in the Kwajalein atoll, located in the Marshall Islands, which has been a semi-secret missile and rocket test facility since, coincidentally enough, 1959. Now, 1200 miles may seem like a long way, but in the geography of the immense South Pacific, as well as the distances covered by high speed aircraft and of course rockets, it’s a stone’s throw. New Guinea is also the nearest land that isn’t a micro-island in that area of the South Pacific (with the possible exception of Guam) which suggests that the object and apparent “crew” may have picked it in case they ran into any serious trouble with their equipment.
If you lend any credence to stories of unconventional aircraft (of the anti- or electro-gravitic type) and rumors about captured technology just after WWII, Gill and his fellow witnesses may have seen some sort of test flight stopover. Why the crew bothered to hover right over a beach in New Guinea in front of scores of witnesses is a question that remains unanswered.
Gill’s own account stresses the almost mundane nature of the encounter. There were no high-G or other strange movements made by the object. It apparently hovered over the small church complex and then slowly disappeared into the clouds. (There were two sightings on subsequent evenings.) During the second event, Gill went inside before the craft had left. While some investigators have expressed surprise that anyone would leave in the middle of such an extraordinary sight, Gill and his companions had been looking at the UFO for over four hours just the night before. After returning hand gestures and moving the object in answer to a flashlight, the “crew” had apparently lost interest in the witnesses as well, and repeated attempts to make it land were unsuccessful.
Father Gill died at the age of 79 on June 13, 2007 in Melbourne, Australia. - www.ufomystic.com
NOTE: another very good link to this incident can be found at Gill Again: The Father Gill Case Reconsidered...Lon
Sources:
Hynek, J. Allen - 'The UFO Experience' - Ballantine - 1972
NICAP
www.ufoevidence.org
www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk
Bill Chalker - 'The Oz Files' - Duffy & Snellgrove, Sydney - 1996
Normal Cruttwell - 'What Happened in Papua in 1959?' - 'Flying Saucer Review' - 1960
CUFOS
Jerome Clark - 'Close Encounters: History's Best Case' - Fate - February 1978
'Papua/Father Gill revisited' - International UFO Reporter - November = December 1977
www.ufomystic.com
