Bill Chalker

Bill Chalker, born in Grafton, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 1952, was educated at the University of New England, graduating with an Honours Science Degree (B.Sc. Hons.) with majors in Chemistry and Mathematics.

Since 1975 he has worked in the food industry as an industrial chemist, laboratory manager and quality manager.

Bill Chalker is one of Australia's leading UFO researchers and has written extensively on the subject. He is a contributing editor for the International UFO Reporter and coordinates the NSW UFO INVESTIGATION CENTRE (UFOIC).

He was the Australian representative for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organisation (APRO) from 1978 to 1986 and NSW state representative for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) from 1976 to 1993.

Bill Chalker has undertaken extensive research and published major papers on many topics including Australian physical evidence, historical Australian reports (pre 1947), the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and UFOs, Australian "missing time" events and UFO abduction experiences.

In 1982 Bill Chalker was the first civilian researcher to gain direct access to the previously classified RAAF UFO files during several visits to the Canberra headquarters of the Directorate of Air Force Intelligence. He described his access in the following way:

"Prior to 1982 civilian UFO researchers only had a confused and vague picture of clandestine official involvement in Australia. In the face of the lethargy in the RAAFs replies to serious enquiries, I stepped up my efforts at diplomatically trying to get direct access to the RAAF UFO files. It probably surprised me more than anybody else when the RAAF finally agreed to permit me to examine their files.

"The extent of access was unprecedented in the history of the Australian UFO controversy. From the first of my visits to the Russell Offices of the Department of Defence, in Canberra, on January 11th, 1982 to my last in June, 1984, I was able to scrutinise the extent of official UFO investigations in Australia. For the first time a detailed "inside" picture was revealed of RAAF investigations.

"I was able to undertake the first officially sanctioned direct review of the Australian government's UFO files. Over two and a half years I was able to

(1) examine the majority of the extant UFO files held by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at the Directorate of Air Force Intelligence (DAFI), Department of Defence, Russell Offices, Canberra

(2) examine the entirety of the extant UFO files held by the Department of Aviation at their Bureau of Air Safety Investigation in Melbourne, Victoria.

The review has provided a detailed understanding of official involvement in Australia.

"On Monday morning, January 11th, 1982, I arrived at the Russell Offices of the Department of Defence, in Canberra, to undertake a review of the RAAF/Department of Defence UFO files.

This was the first time that a civilian researcher had been afforded this sort of access. For almost thirty years, the RAAF had been the official body invested with the responsibility of investigating reports of UFOs or unusual aerial sighting (UAS) reports in Australia and its territories. Until then no clear and unambigious picture had emerged about the role the RAAF played in the UFO controversy in Australia.

Two polarised positions had emerged. The RAAF was covering up its high level involvement in an international "cover-up" of UFO facts, perhaps in concert with the US Air Force. Or, the RAAF was bureaucratically locked into a responsibility it had long since decided was a waste of time, but contined as a service to the general public."

Bill Chalker has undertaken extensive investigations into claims of UFO coverups by the military etc in Australia and the roles played by various government agencies and individuals in governmental, intelligence and military enquiries.

In 1985 in an article in OMEGA Science Digest Bill Chalker revealed the national security implications of a provocative UFO report over the sensitive North West Cape facility that took place on the same day the base was used for issuing a full nuclear alert.

During 1993 he assisted in research for the popular TV programme "The Extraordinary" particularly in the segment featuring the famous radar visual sighting of Naval pilot Shamus O'Farrell.In 1996 his book on the Australia UFO experience, "The OZ Files: the Australian UFO story", was published.

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Detailed retrospective investigations have been undertaken by Mr. Chalker into several classic CE2 type events. These include Willow Grove (1963), Tully (1966), Westall (1966), and Burkes Flat (1966).

He has undertaken extensive review and dialogue with researchers involved in the Crop circle controversy to evaluate its implications for high strangeness CE2 cases in Australia.

Bill Chalker's contributions in the area of physical traces include:

Physical Evidence for UFOs in Australia - a preliminary study of the physical trace experience in Australia, paper at Australian UFO conference, UFOCON 4, 1979. Excerpts of this paper appeared in the MUFON UFO Journal, No.157, March, 1981.

Physical Evidence for UFOs in Australia - A study of Physical Trace Events (a work in progress document), an 85 page document circulated amongst Australian UFO researchers, July, 1983.

"Physical Traces" in Evans/Spencer, UFOs 1947-1987, 1987, pgs.188 - 194.

Tully (Australia) "saucer nests", in R. Story's Encyclopedia of UFOs, 1980.

Comments on the circles, in Controversy of the circles, a BUFORA publication by Paul Fuller & Jenny Randles, 1989.

"The Bent Headlight Beam case revisited," published in UFORAN, Vol.5, No.3, May-June, 1984, and FSR, Vol. 32, No.4, 1987.

"Rosedale, Victoria - A Close Encounter," with Keith Basterfield, UFORAN, Jan.-Feb.,1981.

"The Rosedale Landing with Physical Traces, Extraordinary case reported from Victoria, Australia," with Keith Basterfield, FSR, Vol. 26, No.6, 1981.


Source: ufoevidence