NSW: Outer space object puts Guyra on map

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-1999
NSW: Outer space object puts Guyra on map

By Karen Michelmore and Sharon Labi

SYDNEY, Dec 9 AAP - It simply fell out of the sky.

Apparently without a sound or even a flash of light, it carved out a chunk in a rural
dam the size of a backyard swimming pool.

Nobody knows what it was, and the town of Guyra in country New South Wales remains agog.

Mulder or Scully can't help, so the local sleuths are coming up with their own theories.

A meteorite, a piece of space junk, or even a chunk of frozen urine from a passing
plane, say some.

Others reckon it might be a "Spudnik" which hit the potato-growing region, but police
have ruled out a hoax.

Guyra community leaders aren't complaining.

The conundrum has put their little hamlet in the national spotlight, and already they
are looking for benefits from publicity and increased tourism.

The object flattened reed beds and sprayed up mud as it plunged into the town's main
water supply sometime between Monday and midday yesterday.

And it created just as much impact on the 2,000-strong northern NSW township, where
rumours about its origin even come down to UFOs.

Tonight, despite the best efforts of police divers, the mysterious object still had
not been found.

Authorities believe it is most likely a meteorite the size of a golf ball.

Tonight's search involved the use of machinery to pull up matted reeds that have hindered
the divers' search.

The diving team is expected to continue its search tomorrow.

Speculation of an extra terrestrial arrival was fuelled after authorities cut the town's
water supply yesterday until it was deemed safe.

Residents have been told to take quick showers and to avoid washing their cars, with
the shire now placed on severe water restrictions.

But the water issue hasn't troubled locals. Many say they prefer drinking at the pub anyway.

The town's water was tonight given the all-clear, test results indicating there had
been no contamination of the water supply from whatever plunged into the dam.

One of the few, but growing number of "witnesses" to the landing, truck driver Wayne
Peterson, said he saw what appeared to be a falling star shoot out of the sky about 9pm
(AEDT) on Monday night.

"It was blue in colour between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball and it came
from an easterly direction," Mr Peterson told Sky News.

He said it shot down on a 45 degree angle and beamed straight over the horizon without
burning out or changing colour.

Unexplained happenings were nothing new to the area. Two F-111s have crashed there
in the past 15 years and there is a legend of the Guyra Ghost, blamed for inexplicable
occurrences during the 1920s.

AAP km/sb/was/br

KEYWORD: DAM NIGHTLEAD

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