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A STUDY GUIDEBY ROBERT LEWIS & LEE BURTON

http://www.metromagazine.com.au

http://www.theeducationshop.com.au

A MASS UFO SIGHTING.

A FORTY-FOUR YEAR CONSPIRACY.A MAN SEEKING THE TRUTH.

DIRECTED BY ROSIE JONES PRODUCED BY CARMEL MCALOON

a suburban

mysteryUFO

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ON 6 APRIL 1966, IN THEMELBOURNE SUBURB

OF WESTALL, ABOUT

200 STUDENTS, STAFF

AND LOCAL RESIDENTS

WATCHED AS A STRANGE

OBJECT APPEARED

OVERHEAD, LANDED

BRIEFLY NEARBY, THEN

TOOK TO THE SKY AND

VANISHED. THE EVENTTOOK ABOUT TWENTY

MINUTES.

Witnesses described the object as

low flying, silver-grey and shiny, and

shaped like a cup turned upside

down on a saucer. There were five

light aircraft apparently tracking or

shadowing it.

A mass of excited students surged

out of school and ran after the ob-

ject. Many reported seeing a circle

of flattened grass on the ground

where it had landed one student

even claimed to touch it as it took

off. Photographs of the events were

also taken by a teacher. Others soon

observed men in uniforms cordoning

off the landing site and removing

soil samples by the truckload. Some

say they saw uniformed men burn the

area a few hours later.

The incident was reported on the tel-evision news that night and in the local

newspapers.

But despite the evidence that some-

thing had happened, the Westall princi-

pal called a special assembly at which

he told students and staff that they had

not seen a flying saucer in fact, they

hadnt seen anything at all. And they

were not to talk about it to anybody.

Afraid of being ridiculed or punished,many witnesses remained silent.

Some are still angry about being told

to lie. Others say the incident has

affected their lives and continues tohaunt them today.

More than forty years later, Shane

Ryan is stirring up the past. Not a

witness of the event, but motivated by

a deep sense of injustice at how the

students were treated, hes tracking

down former students and staff as well

as searching for the authorities that

presided over the day.

The 49-minute documentary filmWestall 66: a suburban UFO mystery

(Rosie Jones, 2010) follows Ryans

attempts to solve the mystery once

and for all. This contemporary detec-

tive story is set against the backdrop

of an Australian city, but it reflects

on a fascinating and pivotal period in

world history, a time when the rivalrybetween the United States and the

Soviet Union was played out in a

massive conventional and nuclear

arms race, the space race and the

Vietnam War.

With its undercurrent of cold war

paranoia, secret US air bases and a

strong military relationship between

Australia and America, this story raises

questions about the acceptability

of cover-ups and untruths deliveredby governments in the interests of

national security.

ABOVE:Teacher and investigator

Shane Ryan at The Grange Reserve

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CURRICULUMAPPLICABILITY

Westall 66: a suburban UFO mystery

is an intriguing real-life mystery. It is an

an excellent resource for introducing

middle and upper secondary students

to the problem of truth and the issues

surrounding how we know what we

know.

It can be used in:

- History / SOSE / HSIE:A case

study exploring historical method

and What is history? in the Na-tional Curriculum for History

- English: Narrative storytelling

- Psychology: The phenomenon of

group hysteria

- Politics: The cold war

- Media Studies: The nature of

documentary film.

Using Westall 66 as aWhat is history? casestudy

In effect, there are two types of history

that students are asked to do in class.

One is to gather and accept uncontro-

versial and accepted information for example, basic facts, dates and

chronological sequences. But students

are also sometimes asked to dohis-

tory, especially in individual projects.

This film can help students develop the

skills and approaches that are required

to do history effectively. It can be used

to help them explore the nature of

historical evidence and to practise the

steps and processes needed to criti-

cally analyse evidence.

BEFORE WATCHINGTHE FILM

Picture this scene:

- It is a school day in April, about

11.00 in the morning

- Students are in class at a subur-

ban secondary school. It could

even be your own school

- Suddenly, students are running

down the corridor calling out: A

flying saucer has landed near the

school grounds!

What is your immediate reaction?

A You believe that a UFO from outer

space could have landed.

B You believe thatsomethingstrange

has happened, but it could not

possibly be a UFO landing. Per-haps it is a meteorological oddity,

or some unknown electrical phe-

nomenon, or even a secret military

weapon. It is something, but not

little green men from outer space!

C You believe it is a hoax or a joke

being played by somebody.

D You believe that the students are

experiencing a group hysterical re-

action and feeding off each others

confusion and fear.

1 Discuss the options and decide

what you think is most likely.3

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1:Investigator Shane Ryan

2:A student patrols the Westall High

School corridor

3:Animation frame by Lee Whitmore

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3

2

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This situation has actually occurred,

and you are about to explore it.

In 1966, students at Westall High

School in the outer-Melbourne suburb

of Clayton South claimed to have

seen an Unidentified Flying Object aUFO or flying saucer land near the

school.

There is no doubt that students

claimed to have seen something. The

questions are what did they actually

see and what was its explanation?

The reactions above represent the

main possible explanations for this

event:

- a UFO from outer space, and

therefore associated with an alien

life form

- some other flying object, such as

an experimental and secret aircraft

- a natural phenomenon of light,

weather or electricity, or some

other natural element

- an elaborate and successful hoax

or joke

- an example of a psychological

phenomenon, of people being

influenced by each other andbelieving they saw something

when in fact they did not.

What you have done by choosing one

of them is to create your own hypoth-

esis: what you believe is the explana-

tion of what happened. You will now

be able to test this hypothesis and to

confirm or challenge it.

Your task is to look at the evidence

presented in the documentary Westall66: a suburban UFO mysteryand to

work out what you think really hap-

pened on that day.

In doing this, you will be exercising

the skills of a historian, or a detective,

and working out your own explanation

based on the best available evidence.

Can you solve the mystery? Watch the

film, carry out the activities, read the

resources and come to your own finalconclusion.

Good luck! 4

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1&2:Animation frames from Westall 66ABOVE: ShaneRyan at the south-west corner of Westall High School

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EXPLORING IDEAS ANDISSUES IN THE FILM

STEP 1

What happened? Findingout from the eyewitnesses

The map above shows the location

of Westall High School (now calledWestall Secondary College) and The

Grange Reserve. You should have

the map with you as you examine

the eyewitness accounts of what

happened.

2 Find Westall High School and The

Grange Reserve on the map and

highlight them.

3 After you have listened to all the

eyewitness accounts, mark the

witnesses probable locations on themap and also trace the path the UFO

is described as taking.

NORTH

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ABOVE:Photograph of school and surrounding area. Note that the housing

subdivisionbetween the school and The Grange Reserve did not exist in

1966. The distance between the bottom left corner of the school grounds

and The Grange Reserve is 300 metres.

WESTALL ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE WESTALL SECONDARY COLLEGE

WESTALL KINDERGARTEN

WESTALL PRIMARY

THE GRANGE RESERVE

WESTALL GOURMET CATERING

WESTALL CELLAR

WESTALL MEDICAL CLINIC

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The first step in an investigation is to

clarify the facts.

4 Watch the film. You could allocate

the task of summarising what each

witness says about the event to differ-

ent groups or individuals in your class.

The time codes listed in the table

below identify when each witness

appears in the film. For each witness,

summarise the following:

their status in 1966 (e.g. student,

teacher, etc.) (Column C)

their location at the time (do this

on the map on the previous page

using the numbers given for the

witness in the table) (Column D)

their description of the UFO (size,

shape, etc.) (Column E)

their description of the UFOs be-

haviour (flying or landing, direction

it was travelling in, etc.) (Column F).

The photograph on the previous page

will help you understand the different

locations mentioned by the witnesses.

Note that some witnesses are quoted

on several different occasions and that

some of the quotations are very brief.

SUMMARY OF EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE WESTALL UFO SIGHTING

A: TIMECODE/S

B:NAME

C:STATUS

D:LOCATION

E:DESCRIPTION

F:BEHAVIOUR

00:58 1JOY

CLARKE

01:0201:1103:3106:3308:0508:3209:02

2

TERESA

CLARKE

01:0802:0706:24

3

JEFF

HOLLAND

01:1401:2303:5505:18

4

MARILYN

EASTWOOD

01:19 5GERRY

SHEPHERD

03:1504:15

6

GRAHAM

SIMMONDS

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SUMMARY OF EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE WESTALL UFO SIGHTING

A: TIMECODE/S

B:NAME

C:STATUS

D:LOCATION

E:DESCRIPTION

F:BEHAVIOUR

04:55

05:30

7

CLAUDE

MILLER

06:05 8BRENDAN

DICKSON

08:1808:5509:13

9JACQUIE

ARGENT

09:58 10VICTOR

ZAKRUZNY

22:26 11PAUL

SMITH

25:22 12LES

MEDEW

35:25 13KEVIN

HURLEY

39:55 14NORM

BURY

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5 Having heard all the eyewitness

accounts, give your final description of

the reported nature and behaviour of

the UFO in the table below.

6 How certain are you of these

conclusions? Explain your reasons.

7 At this point, what do you think

happened at Westall in April 1966?

THE NATURE AND BEHAVIOUR OF THE UFO ON THE DAY

How manyobjects?

What did theylook like?

Where werethey?

How did theybehave?

What noise did

they make?

What effect didthey have on theground?

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STEP 2

Critically evaluatingeyewitness accounts

We cannot accept witness testimony

at face value. It is essential to ask

questions about it.

8 Go to

for a fun exercise highlighting issues

surrounding what we see and what we

dont see.

9 Now consider the eyewitness ac-

counts of the Westall UFO sightingin light of this exercise. You may add

some more aspects to consider in

evaluating the reliability of witnesses in

your discussions.

Were the witnesses actually in a

position to see the event?

Is there any chance that they could

be exaggerating or distorting what

they saw?

Could they have seen something

else and misinterpreted (considerwhat happens when you focus

on one thing, as in the exercise

above).

Could they have forgotten details

over time?

Could they have been influencedby other accounts and have had

their memories re-shaped? We

see, for example, a reunion at

the end. Would we need to know

which came first the interviews or

the reunion?

Do they have any reason for lying

or exaggerating?

Any other relevant considerations?

10 Does this change your conclusion

about what happened at Westall in1966?

STEP 3

Understanding the context

The events at Westall happened in a

local, a national and an international

context.

11 Explain how the following ele-

ments might be relevant in helping to

understand why the event occurred

when it did and where it did:

The cold war military tensions

between the United States and the

Soviet Union and their allies

The emergence of reports of UFOsafter 1947

Secret military experiments in

Australia.

12 Does this change your conclusion

about what happened at Westall?

STEP 4

Gathering other evidence

Evidence other than eyewitnessaccounts is included or referred to in

the film.9

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1:A grass circle described by witness Les Medew

2:Students on the western boundary of Westall High

School 3&4:Shane Ryan examines the evidence. 32

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4

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13 Discuss each of the following

elements, specifically how they influ-

ence what you think is the most likely

explanation of the event:

The drawings made by Victor

Zakruzny

The physical impact of the land-

ing the crop circle pattern left

behind

The official reactions after the

landing

The changes made to the sup-

posed landing site after the event

The silence or absence of poten-

tial witnesses. Was this silence

because they were intimidated or

because they did not see anything

happen? The fact that nearly all witnesses

were associated with the school.

Why didnt other people see what

happened?

The photograph taken two days

earlier in Balwyn, near Westall

The sighting described by Ron Sul-

livan four days before Westall and

the strange car accident two days

after that

The evidence of the experts

Lieutenant Colonel Neil Smith (onthe role of the military) and UFO

researchers Bill Chalker and Keith

Basterfield (on the absence of

official records).

14 How important is the report of the

events in the Dandenong Journal?

15 How might your assessment of theoral or eyewitness evidence be influ-

enced if there wasnt a written report?

16 What do you now think happened

at Westall in April 1966?

STEP 5

Critically evaluating thesource of information

All the information that we are work-ing on is from one source the film

Westall 66. The documentary is a rep-

resentation of history that is, it is one

persons version of what happened.

The filmmaker has chosen what to

include, what to leave out, what order

to present information in, what effects

to include to influence your reaction.

So, is it a fair and reliable represen-tation of history? Can you trust and

believe it? Patricia Aufderheide, the

author of Documentary: A Very Short

Introduction, believes that Documen-

taries have become more popular as

a distrust of mainstream media has

grown. Viewers see documentarians

as truth tellers.1

We have looked at the presentation of

evidence and information in Westall

66. We now have to consider what thestyle of that film is and whether it is a

truth teller or a distorter of the truth.10

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1&3:Shane Ryan at The Grange

Reserve 2:Animation for the film

by Lee Whitmore

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Documentary film studies inMedia Studies and English

The last five to ten years have seen a

resurgence in the popularity of docu-

mentaries. Michael Moores feature-

length critiques of globalisation, large

corporations, assault weapon owner-

ship, the Iraq War, former US president

George W. Bush, and the American

health care system have helped fuel

the interest in documentaries and

what they can offer as information and

entertainment.

At the same time, Australian documen-

taries have regularly been a popular

choice at the cinema, withAustralia:

Land Beyond Time(David Flatman,

2002), Unfolding Florence: The Many

Lives of Florence Broadhurst(Gillian

Armstrong, 2006), Bra Boys(Sunny

Abberton, 2007) and Love the Beast

(Eric Bana, 2009) all grossing in the

top-100 documentary films in Australia.

Well-produced and compelling

documentaries broadcast on televisionhave also gained new and larger audi-

ences and have invited teachers and

students to explore and analyse some

major events and issues in Australia.

Fortress Australia, Who Killed Dr Bogle

& Mrs Chandler?andCaptain Cook:

Obsession and Discoveryall screened

on the ABC and attracted wide audi-

ences. They have also been used in

schools to engage students in many

topics and issues.Information about

documentaries screened on the ABCis available at .

The genre

Documentaries can have different

styles and purposes:

- observational (or fly-on-the-wall),

where the filmmaker is unobtru-

sive, apparently recording events

as they happen and without any

intervention by the filmmaker

- advocacy, where the filmmaker is

seeking to persuade the viewer to

accept a particular point of view

or stand on an issue, but presents

information from all sides

- propagandist, where the advocacy

is presented in a misleading, unfair

or dishonest way

- personal journey, where the film-

maker or the subject of the film arethe controllers of what is seen.

17 What genre of documentary is

Westall 66? Justify your answer.

18 How is the genre signalled to the

audience? Consider opening credits,

visual style, music and the first few

scenes.

The story

Shane Ryan, the narrator of Westall

66, contextualises the film in the

opening scene as a story about the

power adults have over children.

Shane Ryan wants his son to grow

up in a world where even the craziest

ideas can be investigated.

19 Is the use of a narrator like Shane

Ryan, who has a strong interest in this

story, a strong factor in presenting the

story well?

20 Could this story have been

presented from a third-person

perspective? If so, how?

21 Who is the audience for the film?

22 Would audience responses

vary depending upon whether they

believed in UFOs?

The selection of evidence

We have seen that the filmmaker

has control of the evidence that is

presented.

23 How convincing have you found

the evidence presented about the

event? Why?

24What you do not see in the

film is the evidence that has been

excluded evidence of confusion and11

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THIS PAGE:Shane Ryan investigates at

The State Library of Victoria.

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contradiction between some witnesses.

Shane Ryan has contacted 253 people

regarding the event, and his figures

are:

- fifty-five people saw one object,

while nine saw more than one

- ninety people saw a circle left be-

hind, and fourteen saw more than

one circle

- of these 168 people who claimed

to have seen something, forty-four

saw both object/s and circle/s.

In unedited interview footage, several

people identified inconsistent and

contradictory places where they saw

the UFO. These comments were not

included in the final film.

25 Does this exclusion of evidence

challenge the reliability of the film as

evidence? Explain your view.

The cinematic elements

Being a representation means that

many choices are made by the film-

maker about how the information is

presented.

26 How is the era in which the story

takes place created? Discuss loca-

tions, use of black-and-white film

clips, old photographs, etc.

27 How is dramatic tension created

around the landing of the UFO and its

taking off and disappearance?

28 What visuals are there in the

opening sequence that set the themeand tone of the film? Consider the

use of a baby and the mobile. What

symbolic elements help to create the

tone of the film?

29 How is music used to create ex-pectations about the film? How does

it change throughout the film? (Hint:

to focus on sounds, watch the film

without the picture.)

30 How are the to-camera interviews

filmed? How are most of the inter-

view subjects framed? Review one

of the interviews and note shot size,

camera angle, the physical setting of

the interviews and where the subject

is looking. (Hint: to focus on vision,

watch the film without the sound.)

31 Why have some of the memo-

ries been brought to life in the film

through black and white animations by

Lee Whitmore? How effective is this

technique?

32 What methods do other docu-

mentaries use to recreate memories?

33 What other methods are used to

recreate historic events in this film?

34 The filmmaker also creates the

narrative through the sequence in

which the story is presented. Here is a

summary, not in order, of the various

main stages or elements of the film.

Imagine that you have the task of se-

quencing them to tell the story in the

most effective way. List the sequence

you would create. You can then com-

pare your sequence with that actually

used in the film.

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THIS PAGE:Animator Lee Whitmore

with hand-drawn charcoal frames

from the film

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1. Additional information from news-

papers and TV news reports

2. Australian investigations into

official records

3. Australian involvement in secret

weapons testing and development

4. Brief statements from eyewitnesses

to set the tone

5. Conclusion

6. Expert commentators on the likely

Australian official involvement

7. Interviews about official involvement

and cover-up by the authorities

8. Introduction

9. More detailed interviews about the

UFO

10. Other examples of UFO activities

in Australia

11. Other examples of UFOs interna-tionally

12. Setting the context of time and

place

13. The international context of the

cold war

14. United States investigations

35 Do any of these aspects of the

making of a documentary film influ-

ence its value as a source of evidence

and information? Explain your views.

STEP 6

Coming to conclusions andconsidering the messagesof the film

You have now considered the evi-

dence available about the Westall

UFO sighting. It is time to come to a

conclusion and to consider how cer-

tain you are about your conclusion.

36 Look back at your first reaction tothe situation and the option you chose.

Do you still agree with this choice?

37 How certain are you that this is

what happened at Westall on 6 April

1966? If more evidence were to be

found, what do you think it is most

likely to be?

38 The school principal and the

military and/or civil authorities involved

pressured the students and teachersto keep quiet. Do you think this was

justified? Explain your reasons.

39 Do you think the military and/

or civil authorities are ever justified in

keeping information from the public

for national security or national safety

reasons?

40 Rosie Jones, the filmmaker,

presents students describing what

they saw that day and also reflect-

ing upon the treatment they received

from adults, particularly some of

the teachers and the principal. Sue

Savage, a form two girl at the time,

expresses her frustration at how the

story was covered up and says that

she now feels empowered to discover

the truth by participating in the film.

No one has ever wanted to know the

details before, she says. Do you thinkthis is the main message of the film?

Explain your views.

41 How would the media report a

story like this today? Do you believe

that the story could be buried in the

same way? Explain your views.

42 What is your final opinion of West-

all 66 does it tell us the truth of what

happened on 6 April 1966? Explain

your views.

43 What other Australian films that

you have seen aim to discover truths?

Is it possible for films to show truth?

Explain your views.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Westall 66official website:

The websites below offer more on theWestall UFO sighting, including more

eyewitness accounts and drawings:

Other websites relating to the event:

A list of mass hysteria feature films:

UFOs and Australian UFOs:

For more on the nature of documenta-

ries, visit DIY DOCO at .An interactive website that teaches

practical knowledge and skills, DIY

DOCO provides resources about doc-

umentary styles and genres, examin-

ing forms such as personal journey,

observational, advocacy and essay

style and elements of documentary

storytelling, narrative and technical. It

is highly recommended by ATOM as a

way to help students understand and

create their own documentaries. It also

includes clips from:

Cane Toads: An Unnatural History

(Mark Lewis, 1988) (55 mins).

Explores an environmental issue

using comedy

Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs

Chandler?(Peter Butt, 2006) (55

mins). Explores a mystery using

drama

Operation Babylift: The Lost Chil-

dren of Vietnam(Tammy Nguyen,

2009) (55 mins). Explores the

social issue of mass adoption.

Visit the National Film and Sound

Archive Digital Resource Finder at

for clips and education

resources to support teaching and

learning about documentaries.

To find out more about Lee Whitmore

and her other animations visit .

Endnote1 Patricia Aufderheide, Documentary:

A Very Short Introduction, Oxford

University Press, New York, 2007. 13

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This study guide was produced byATOM. ( ATOM 2010)editor@atom.org.au

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ABOVE: Shane Ryan

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