UFOs Victoria: The most memorable and intriguing sightings

From Westall in 1966 to a bunch of pink lights in Mildura last year, Victorians continue to be fascinated by UFO sightings in our skies.

Joy Clarke and Sue Savage saw a UFO in 1966 over the sky's of Westall High School in Clayton. File picture.

They’ve been described as a pack of flying saucers near a high school, a blimp in the Dandenongs, and abstract white lights in weird sequential formations.

UFOs continue to fascinate Victorians, decades after they’ve disappeared from the skies.

Here’s some of Victoria’s most notable UFO sightings, and a couple of recent ones which weren’t, but sure as hell had people convinced.

WESTALL, 1966

Sue Savage, who saw a UFO in 1966, at the Clayton South UFO park which was built in memory of the sighting. Picture: Valeriu Campan

More than 50 years after it took place, this remains Australia’s most talked about UFO sighting, and some witnesses are still desperate for answers.

More than 200 school students and nearby residents saw what they believed was a flying saucer near Westall High School on April 6, 1966.

Witness Sue Savage, who was 13 at the time, said in an interview with Leader in 2017 that she thought she saw at least three UFOs hovering in the skies, before they shot off and disappeared into a grassy paddock.

“(The UFO) was like two saucers … one on the bottom and one turned upside down on the top,” Mrs Savage said.

“Some people say there was just one but I reckon there were three.

“They were hovering over the trees and then went down into the trees and disappeared for a minute or two then rose back up, sort of banked on its side and then took off at a 1000 miles per hour.”

NARRE WARREN NORTH, 1993

Kelly Cahill claims she encountered aliens in Narre Warren North in 1993.

Kelly Cahill became a household name when she claimed she was abducted by aliens while driving home from her friend’s place with her husband on August 8, 1993.

Ms Cahill said she saw a large blimp with orange lights in the sky, and as they approached it, she was blinded by lights before waking up in the car.

When they got home, they realised an hour had been lost, and she had a triangular mark near her navel.

In the weeks that followed, she recalled other memories and details of the night, including getting out of the car and being abducted.

Two other women under hypnosis later recalled similar experiences.

Phenomena Research Australia promised to compile a report into the incident, but it never eventuated, and Ms Cahill went off the public radar in 1998.

MELBOURNE, 2021

A UFO sighting in Cranbourne on April 13, 2021; but this had an answer — it was satellites falling from the sky. Picture: OnlyMelbourne.

Activities and listings website OnlyMelbourne received “hundreds” of sightings reports from its followers in Cranbourne and other parts of Melbourne on April 13.

Most noticed about six or seven lights moving in a straight line before they disappeared behind the trees.

It turned out they were instead satellites about the size of a dinner table falling back to earth.

MILDURA, 2022

An eerie pink glow lit up over Mildura on July 19, 2022, which some suspected was a UFO. Picture: Alexandra Talent

Earlier this year, Mildura residents got the surprise of their lives and flooded social media with pictures of weird pink lights lighting up the night skies.

Many thought it could have been visitors from outer space aliens as the pink lights shot up from the ground and made a circular display.

Unfortunately for those hoping for a bit of E.T. action, it turned out to be hydroponic lights from a medicinal cannabis farm reflecting off a cloud.

CAPE OTWAY, 1978

Fred Valentich, then 20, disappeared in his plane near Cape Otway in 1978, after suspected interference by a UFO. File picture.

One of Victoria’s most enduring mysteries is the disappearance of pilot Fred Valentich, who vanished after an encounter with what many believe was a UFO in 1978.

Mr Valentich took off in his Cessna from Moorabbin en route to King Island on October 21, and decided to take a path above Cape Otway.

He broadcast his final message just after 7pm, and air control never heard from him again.

An extensive land and air search found no traces of him or the plane.

Mr Valentich’s final messages to Air Control in Melbourne, detailed in a 1978 Department of Transport Aircraft Accident Investigation report, are the reasons why UFO believers have remained intrigued over his disappearance for more than 50 years.

He claimed he was being followed by a long metallic aircraft with bright lights, which sometimes orbited over him, before he said his engine was failing.

“What I’m doing right now is orbiting and the thing is just orbiting on top of me, also its got a green light and sort of metallic (like) it’s all shiny (on) the outside.

“It is hovering and it is not an aircraft.”

You can find out more about Fred’s disappearance in the Geelong Advertiser’s podcast.