“UNUSUAL AERIAL SIGHTINGS”
A SEARCH THROUGH THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’S RECORDS SYSTEMS
Compiled by Keith Basterfield
On behalf of the Australian UFO Research Association
@2011
Excerpt:
Between June 2003 and June 2008 a major search was undertaken to locate and examine Australian Government files relating to “Unusual Aerial Sightings” (otherwise known as “Unidentified Flying Objects” – UFOs.) Although the search was as thorough as possible, there is no doubt it is incomplete. To begin with, the electronic RecordSearch system of the National Archives of Australia (NAA) indexes only about 10% of their collection. Secondly, the search was undertaken using both the Archives Act and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, where the expense of the latter precluded broad spectrum requests such as “for all material held on UFOs.” In addition, unlike the detailed and indexed UFO fact sheet available for the UK Government Archives which guides researchers through file numbers; searching the NAA’s RecordSearch is a very hit and miss affair. Quite often, a slight adjustment of words, or even letters, would reveal yet other files.