A STUDY GUIDE BY 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

mystery
U
F
O
ON 6 APRIL 1966, IN THE
MELBOURNE 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 EVENT
TOOK ABOUT TWENTY
MINUTES.
Witnesses described the object as
low ying, silver-grey and shiny, and
shaped like a cup turned upside
down on a saucer. There were ve
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 attened 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 ying 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 to
haunt 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 lm
Westall 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 reects
on a fascinating and pivotal period in
world history, a time when the rivalry
between 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 delivered
by governments in the interests of
national security.
ABOVE: Teacher and investigator
Shane Ryan at The Grange Reserve
2
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
CURRICULUM
APPLICABILITY
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 lm.
Using Westall 66 as a
What is history? case
study
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 do his-
tory, especially in individual projects.
This lm 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 WATCHING
THE 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
ying 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 that something strange
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
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
1: Investigator Shane Ryan
2: A student patrols the Westall High
School corridor
3: Animation frame by Lee Whitmore
1
3
2
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 Unidentied Flying Object a
UFO or ying 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 ying 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
inuenced by each other and
believing 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
conrm or challenge it.
Your task is to look at the evidence
presented in the documentary Westall
66: a suburban UFO mystery and 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
lm, carry out the activities, read the
resources and come to your own nal
conclusion.
Good luck!
4
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
1
2
1&2: Animation frames from Westall 66 ABOVE: Shane
Ryan at the south-west corner of Westall High School
EXPLORING IDEAS AND
ISSUES IN THE FILM
STEP 1
What happened? Finding
out from the eyewitnesses
The map above shows the location
of Westall High School (now called
Westall 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 the
map and also trace the path the UFO
is described as taking.
NORTH
5
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
ABOVE: Photograph of school and surrounding area. Note that the housing
subdivision between 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
The rst step in an investigation is to
clarify the facts.
4 Watch the lm. 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 lm. 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 (ying 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: TIME
CODE/S
B:
NAME
C:
STATUS
D:
LOCATION
E:
DESCRIPTION
F:
BEHAVIOUR
00:58 1
JOY
CLARKE
01:02
01:11
03:31
06:33
08:05
08:32
09:02
2
TERESA
CLARKE
01:08
02:07
06:24
3
JEFF
HOLLAND
01:14
01:23
03:55
05:18
4
MARILYN
EASTWOOD
01:19 5
GERRY
SHEPHERD
03:15
04:15
6
GRAHAM
SIMMONDS
6
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
SUMMARY OF EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE WESTALL UFO SIGHTING
A: TIME
CODE/S
B:
NAME
C:
STATUS
D:
LOCATION
E:
DESCRIPTION
F:
BEHAVIOUR
04:55
05:30
7
CLAUDE
MILLER
06:05 8
BRENDAN
DICKSON
08:18
08:55
09:13
9
JACQUIE
ARGENT
09:58 10
VICTOR
ZAKRUZNY
22:26 11
PAUL
SMITH
25:22 12
LES
MEDEW
35:25 13
KEVIN
HURLEY
39:55 14
NORM
BURY
7
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
5 Having heard all the eyewitness
accounts, give your nal 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 many
objects?
What did they
look like?
Where were
they?
How did they
behave?
What noise did
they make?
What effect did
they have on the
ground?
8
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
STEP 2
Critically evaluating
eyewitness accounts
We cannot accept witness testimony
at face value. It is essential to ask
questions about it.
8 Go to <http://viscog.beckman.
illinois.edu/grafs/demos/15.html>
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 sighting
in 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 (consider
what happens when you focus
on one thing, as in the exercise
above).
Could they have forgotten details
over time?
Could they have been inuenced
by 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 rst 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 in
1966?
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 UFOs
after 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 eyewitness
accounts is included or referred to in
the lm.
9
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
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.
3
2
1
4
13 Discuss each of the following
elements, specically how they inu-
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 ofcial 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 (on
the role of the military) and UFO
researchers Bill Chalker and Keith
Bastereld (on the absence of
ofcial records).
14 How important is the report of the
events in the Dandenong Journal?
15 How might your assessment of the
oral or eyewitness evidence be inu-
enced if there wasnt a written report?
16 What do you now think happened
at Westall in April 1966?
STEP 5
Critically evaluating the
source of information
All the information that we are work-
ing on is from one source the lm
Westall 66. The documentary is a rep-
resentation of history that is, it is one
persons version of what happened.
The lmmaker has chosen what to
include, what to leave out, what order
to present information in, what effects
to include to inuence 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 the
style of that lm is and whether it is a
truth teller or a distorter of the truth.
10
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
1
2
3
1&3: Shane Ryan at The Grange
Reserve 2: Animation for the film
by Lee Whitmore
Documentary lm studies in
Media Studies and English
The last ve 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, with Australia:
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 lms in Australia.
Well-produced and compelling
documentaries broadcast on television
have 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? and Captain Cook:
Obsession and Discovery all 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 ABC
is available at <http://www.abc.net.au/
tv/documentaries/>.
The genre
Documentaries can have different
styles and purposes:
- observational (or y-on-the-wall),
where the lmmaker is unobtru-
sive, apparently recording events
as they happen and without any
intervention by the lmmaker
- advocacy, where the lmmaker 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 lm-
maker or the subject of the lm are
the 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 rst few
scenes.
The story
Shane Ryan, the narrator of Westall
66, contextualises the lm 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 lm?
22 Would audience responses
vary depending upon whether they
believed in UFOs?
The selection of evidence
We have seen that the lmmaker
has control of the evidence that is
presented.
23 How convincing have you found
the evidence presented about the
event? Why?
24 What you do not see in the
lm is the evidence that has been
excluded evidence of confusion and
11
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
THIS PAGE: Shane Ryan investigates at
The State Library of Victoria.
contradiction between some witnesses.
Shane Ryan has contacted 253 people
regarding the event, and his gures
are:
- fty-ve 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 identied inconsistent and
contradictory places where they saw
the UFO. These comments were not
included in the nal lm.
25 Does this exclusion of evidence
challenge the reliability of the lm as
evidence? Explain your view.
The cinematic elements
Being a representation means that
many choices are made by the lm-
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 lm
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 theme
and tone of the lm? Consider the
use of a baby and the mobile. What
symbolic elements help to create the
tone of the lm?
29 How is music used to create ex-
pectations about the lm? How does
it change throughout the lm? (Hint:
to focus on sounds, watch the lm
without the picture.)
30 How are the to-camera interviews
lmed? 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 lm without the sound.)
31 Why have some of the memo-
ries been brought to life in the lm
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 lm?
34 The lmmaker 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 lm.
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 lm.
12
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
THIS PAGE: Animator Lee Whitmore
with hand-drawn charcoal frames
from the film
1. Additional information from news-
papers and TV news reports
2. Australian investigations into
ofcial 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 ofcial involvement
7. Interviews about ofcial 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 lm inu-
ence its value as a source of evidence
and information? Explain your views.
STEP 6
Coming to conclusions and
considering the messages
of the lm
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 rst reaction to
the 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 teachers
to keep quiet. Do you think this was
justied? Explain your reasons.
39 Do you think the military and/
or civil authorities are ever justied in
keeping information from the public
for national security or national safety
reasons?
40 Rosie Jones, the lmmaker,
presents students describing what
they saw that day and also reect-
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 lm.
No one has ever wanted to know the
details before, she says. Do you think
this is the main message of the lm?
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 nal 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 lms that
you have seen aim to discover truths?
Is it possible for lms to show truth?
Explain your views.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Westall 66 ofcial website:
<http://www.westall66ufo.com.au>
The websites below offer more on the
Westall UFO sighting, including more
eyewitness accounts and drawings:
<http://theozles.blogspot.com/2009/
01/westall-ufo-black-swan.html>
<http://www.abovetopsecret.com/
forum/thread447523/pg1>
<http://www.ufoevidence.org/Cases/
CaseSubarticle.asp?ID=894>
<http://medianews.com.au/multi
media/mediaplayer/skins/black/
index.html?id=670>
<http://www.theage.com.au/articles/
2005/10/01/1127804696941.html>
Other websites relating to the event:
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/
Westallhighschoolufo/>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westall_
UFO>
A list of mass hysteria feature lms:
<http://old.disinfo.com/archive/pages/
article/id1841/pg1/index.html>
UFOs and Australian UFOs:
<http://www.project1947.com>
<http://policeufo.com>
<http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/
Australia.htm>
<http://disclosureaustralia.freeweb
pages.org>
<http://www.naa.gov.au>
For more on the nature of documenta-
ries, visit DIY DOCO at <http://www.
nfsa.gov.au/digitallearning/diydoco/>.
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
<http://www.nfsa.gov.au/digital
learning/> for clips and education
resources to support teaching and
learning about documentaries.
To nd out more about Lee Whitmore
and her other animations visit <http://
www.leewhitmore.com.au>.
Endnote
1
Patricia Aufderheide, Documentary:
A Very Short Introduction, Oxford
University Press, New York, 2007.
13
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N
This study guide was produced by ATOM. ( ATOM 2010)
editor@atom.org.au
For more information on SCREEN EDUCATION magazine,
or to download other study guides for assessment,
visit <http://www.metromagazine.com.au>.
Join ATOMs email broadcast list for invitations to
free screenings, conferences, seminars, etc.
Sign up now at <http://www.atom.asn.au/lists/>.
For hundreds of articles on Film as Text,
Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies,
visit <http://www.theeducationshop.com.au>.
ABOVE: Shane Ryan
14
S
C
R
E
E
N

E
D
U
C
A
T
I
O
N