Former Queensland MP Lindsay Hartwig claimed a UFO was behind the death of his teenage son near Bundaberg

50 years ago this month, the son of a Queensland politician vanished only to be found dead near a circular burn mark on his family’s property near Bundaberg.

It's a story lost to time, buried in a few grainy screenshots of old magazine articles and dusty copies of paranormal books released in the 1990s.

And the story begins with Lindsay Earle Hartwig, born at Eidsvold in 1919.

Hartwig studied at Eidsvold Primary School, growing into a citizen the Burnett community could be proud of.

His early career was as a telegraph boy, followed by work as a grazier and putting his hand up as a justice of the peace.

Hartwig married wife Estelle Carmody in 1946, they would go on to have two sons and two daughters.

As a grazier, Hartwig pioneered the first aerial sowing of pasture seed in Queensland in 1949 as well as bulldozer scrub clearance - but his achievements didn't stop there.

Hartwig, an Anglican and self-confessed bushman, would go on to serve the community as chairman of the Monto Shire Council from 1964 till 1970.

Member for Callide Lindsay Hartwig presents Pineapple Queen Debra Wilkinson with a crown during his time as a Queensland MP.

From 1961 till 1964 he was a councillor for the Monto Shire Council.

Hartwig was elected the National Party Member for Callide from 1972 till 1986, with one of his prominent roles being a delegate to the Australian Regional Conference as part of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in 1977.

It was also in 1977 that he opened the Yeppoon Hospital.

He was a member of the Parliamentary Delegation to Papua New Guinea and South-East Asia in 1974.

Hartwig's accomplishments and his life are a solid story all on their own and could quite easily take up an entire book.

But it was a strange incident and the tragic deaths of two men in Tellebang, west of Bundaberg in the 1970s, that is still talked about in paranormal circles to this day.

Journalist John Pinkney reported on the strange events in a magazine article published in the '80s, where he spoke candidly with Hartwig.

Pinkney would also go on to write about the events in his 1997 book, The Unexplained.

Hartwig told Pinkney of the paranormal events, revealing that on June 11, 1971, the body of his 19-year-old son Graham was found near a circular burn mark on his property, about 2km from their home.

It's something Hartwig also wrote about in an autobiography he was penning, according to Pinkney.

"Graham's death was a terrible tragedy in our lives," he told the journalist and author in the 1988 publication.

"And it makes it no easier that it's still a mystery after all these years."

After the events that unfolded, Hartwig said he was a "bushman" and "sane", but no longer regarded UFOs as a "load of rubbish" as he once had.

"I was working on the property shortly before Graham disappeared when I stumbled on a strange circle of dead grass, about six metres in diameter," Hartwig said.

"It was a puzzle at the time and even more perplexing later."

Graham had been helping an employee work on fencing when he vanished.

"That was several days after I happened on the circle of dead grass and his body was found within three metres of it," Hartwig said.

"He had a strange mark on his face, which the doctor refused to let me see."

The late former Member for Callide Lindsay Hartwig, pictured in an article written by journalist and author John Pinkney.

Hansard documents paying tribute to Hartwig after his death in 1996 applaud his work as both a hardworking man and good politician, but also allude to the heavy toll of the mysterious death of his son.

Member for Keppel Vincent Lester told the parliament it was a tragedy Hartwig never recovered from.

"I do not think he ever got over the death of his son, Graham," he said.

"From time to time Lindsay would talk to me about that event - how it happened, why it happened and why the cause of Graham's death was never ascertained," he said.

Former Member for Callide Diane McCauley also talked about the heavy toll on Hartwig of never receiving any conclusion at all as to his son's cause of death.

Graham, was, as she told the parliament, "laid to rest with the cause of death never determined".

The bizarre circumstances around the burn mark on Hartwig's property in 1971 became even stranger when another man lost his life.

"A neighbour, who was chasing a wild pig into the scrub, who vanished, his body, too, was found near the circle," Hartwig told Pinkney.

Police spent a great deal of time on the Hartwigs' property, questioning people and probing the circumstances around the deaths, with no conclusion.

A murder file was opened by police on June 23, 1971 to investigate any possibility of foul play, but was closed on February 23, 1972 with no known outcome of any foul play having occurred.

The details of the file are restricted until 2037.

Hartwig said his belief in UFOs was solidified when, in 1974, on the family's new property at Biloela, he saw two bright green UFOs in the sky while driving his Land Rover down a dirt track.

Tellebang, west of Bundaberg, remains a remote area. Photo: Google Maps.

"Suddenly something appeared in the sky that changed all of my ideas about life and death," Hartwig said.

"There at about the 11 o'clock position, were two beautiful objects, about five or six meters in diameter.

"They were pale green, like perfectly oval gemstones, spinning and sparkling in the sun."

Hartwig said he slammed on the brakes and got out of the car.

"They were there all right, silently spinning in the sky. They hovered there above the road for about 10 minutes while I stood completely dumbstruck."

Hartwig said the objects eventually vanished back behind the mountains.

"The experience made me think back to that ring of grass and my son found beside it," he said.

While some claims were made that Graham was buried without a death certificate, a certificate does exist in the state's archives.

The document lists the death of the 19-year-old Graham Lindsay Hartwig, a grazier from Tellebang Station, as occurring on June 11, 1971.

Sighted by the NewsMail, the document lists idiopathic interstitial eosinophilic pneumonitis as the cause of death - with the medical term "idiopathic" meaning there was no conclusive reason found for the condition which killed Graham.

The determination of interstitial eosinophilic pneumonitis suggests a condition where there was inflammation of lung tissue.

Triggers can include cigarette smoke, some prescription drugs, chemical fumes, parasites and radiation, though no exact cause was ever determined in Graham's case.

Graham was laid to rest at Monto Cemetery.

Lindsay Hartwig is remembered as a dedicated and community-minded politician who was never afraid to speak his mind on the big issues.

He rests at the Garden of Remembrance Cemetery, Toowoomba.

Originally published as Flashback: The former politician who claimed UFO killed his son