12P/Pons-Brooks (Devil Comet) and Australia and New Zealand meteors in 1954

The last time 12P/Pons-Brooks (Devil Comet) was in the inner solar system was in 1954. The object is 17 km wide. Below are notable meteors for that year. We could be in for an eventful year here in Australia and New Zealand. An interesting observation looking at data is that in 1954 there were many meteor sightings in Australia, especially inland, and not many in New Zealand. So far in 1954, I haven't found mass whale strandings, dead whales yes, but not mass strandings. So far in 2024 there has been increased meteor activity (significant fireballs) in New Zealand and none in Australia. This means the meteoroid streams are moving. If the sea is going to be the target this time (Tasman Sea/Southern Ocean), it will mean the probability of mass whale stranding are highly probable. Only time will tell. Note that in 1954 the hunting of whales was in overdrive. What this does to data reading is hard to tell. From what I have found whale strandings will still occur even through hunting seasons. Also, there haven't been any airbursts in the Southern Ocean so far even though it can take time for data to come through. The New Zealand activity is strong and coming over the Tasman Sea so what effect this will have on migration will be interesting. The Chatham Islands to New Zealand's east are also at risk of strandings.

1954, January 3. Victoria and South Australia. METEOR. In Melbourne, the object was seen travelling S.S.E between 10 to 15 degrees of sky. It turned white then blue emitting red sparks. It was seen in Adelaide at Belair, S.A time of 8:15.

1954, January (Early). Northern Territory, Alice Springs. METEOR. Time 5am. Frightened aborigines rushed to the only white man on Hart's range mica field claiming they had heard a strange noise in the sky. Hart's range is 100 miles north-east of Alice Springs. Aborigines say it was a high-pitched whining noise.

1954, January 16. South Australia and New South Wales. METEOR. Time 12:02 and 12:05pm. Both objects were travelling east to west. The first was orange in colour and the second had a luminous blue tail. In Broken Hill the second one was seen in N.W sky travelling west. Surrounded by an orange-coloured glow leaving no trail. Flight time lasted 3 to 4 seconds.

1954, January 21. New South Wales. Time 7:30pm. METEOR. Described as green flame with white center. Traveling west.

1954, January 28. New Zealand. METEOR IMPACT. West of Wellington in the Tasman Sea.

1954, March 22. New South Wales, Balmain. METEOR. Travelling west to east.

1954, April 1. Queensland. Gunnavarra Station, Morven, about 100km east of Charleville. LARGE BOLIDE BURST. Travelling west to east for 10 to 20 seconds. Produced a thundering noise for some minutes.

1954, May 4. Victoria, Horsham. Time 12:15am. LARGE METEOR. Described as a massive glowing white-bluish object. Travellingthe  south to north.

1954, May 15. Queensland, Rockhampton. METEOR. Time: Just Before Midnight.

1954, May 15. Queensland. METEOR. Seen from stock train from travelling from Charleville to Roma. Soon after leaving Mungallala, when our train was 640km (ie, from Brisbane), or 128km west of Roma. A brilliant bluish-white object passed rapidly across the sky in a S.W direction, leaving a trail of golden sparks. It seemed about the size of a billiard ball over 2000 feet up. It was in view for about six seconds, and suddenly disappeared just after passing overhead, roughly 20 degrees from the zenith. Time was 11.47 pm.

1954, May 16. Victoria. TWO METEORS/FIREBALLS. Time 10:30pm. Seen in the southern sky. Described as a silent high powered object trailing yellowish/red flame.

1954, May 18. New South Wales, Murwillumbah, Kingcliffe, Tweed District. LARGE METEOR. Time 10:30am. The object appeared over the horizon to seaward, cross the sky at great speed and disappeared behind the hills to the north-west. Described as a flying neon tube.

1954, May 18. Queensland, Rockhampton, Athelstane Range. METEOR. Time 1:35pm. Flight time 30seconds.

1954, May 18. Queensland, Rockhampton, Athelstane. METEOR. Time Just before Midnight. Travelling in southerly direction. The object moved from the Yaamba direction towards the ranges, then veered off into space. 15 second flight time.

1954, May 20. Queensland, Maryborough. METEOR. Time 10 -11 am. Sounded like a blow lamp or whirl wind.

1954, May 20. Queensland, Bunderberg, Gin Gin. METEOR. Time 1:45pm. Very high altitude in the N.W.

1954, June 15. New South Wales, Illawarra south coast. METEORS. Blue objects emitting blue flame.

1954, June 28. Queensland. METEOR AIRBURST. Seen also in South Australia and NSW. South Australia, Cordillo Downs about 563 km north-west of Broken Hill. Outback stations many 100's km apart watched a meteoroid for over five minutes before it exploded. It seemed to fall from a bright red patch in the sky toward Tibooburra?(Visual mistake) The pinkish glare remained high in the sky for about five minutes. A blue line shot out of it and slowly fell toward the ground. It fell around the area near Mount Woods station. The Flying Doctor Base received many reports of the sight from outback people. From information received the base has roughly estimated that the meteor fell about 160 km west of Windorah (Queensland) and about 160km N.N.E. of Birdsville. It was stated that it certainly fell north of Birdsville. People there reported that they had heard a rumble and a crash and the area was lit up as if by lightning. Reports were received over the Flying Doctor Radio that drovers at Currawilla saw the meteor about 50km to the west of them. They said that a cloud of dust or smoke hung in the air for some time. According to some observers within a 160km radius of the area where the meteor was sighted, it did not hit the ground, but exploded in the air.

1954, July 5. New South Wales, Queanbeyan (Canberra), Foxlow Station. METEOR. Time 5:40pm. Seen in S.E sky. Green color. Fell at 30 degree angle.

1954, July 28. Queensland, Mackay. BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT. Time 10:40. Plunged into the sea north east of Mackay. Described as a huge fireball hundreds of meters in diameter. Astronomers said it ignited 50 to 60 km altitude.

1954, July 28. South Australia, Central Australia. EXTREME BOLIDE BURST, violent/extreme, sonic boom. Appeared above Lake Ayre, Flight time was five minutes before exploding. Reports came in 500 kilometers away of light. Witnesses saw a trail 150 km from the incident.

1954, August 9. New South Wales. LARGE METEOR/METEOR IMPACT. The light was reported over Canberra at 5.20 p.m., and over Sydney at 5.35 p.m. Bright green. Said to have impacted sea.

1954, September 5. South Australia, Adelaide, Victoria Mt Gambier. VIOLENT AIRBURST. Time 10:12pm. Tremor. Blinding light for 5 seconds. Appeared in the western sky and travelled S.E. Travelled 10 to 15 degrees of sky. Like a slow flash of lightning, or like, someone turning on a light, pausing, and then turning it out. As the light vanished on the horizon, another light flashed above, like forked lightning, and burnt out slowly. Two people in Adelaide said they felt the ground shake as the object exploded. Seen at Port Lincoln by a fisherman that it was a green flash in an easterly direction.

1954, September 6. New South Wales, Sydney. METEOR IMPACT. Time 4:20. Meteoroid crashed into the sea just over 11km off Ulladulla coast. Extremely violent/almost natural disaster. A couple of seconds slower and it would have wiped out a city block at minimum. It entered the atmosphere North of Sydney. It started exploding at 5000 feet and an object the size of a large plane impacted the sea with a tremendous explosion. A piece dissolved before impacting 100 meters from the Manly Ferry. Descriptions varied from blinding white to a reddish-orange colour. Some people said it was shaped like a rocket or torpedo, while others claimed it was like a tear-drop or diamond.

1954, September 16. New South Wales, Sydney. BOLIDE BURST. Seen to south and north. Travelling over 300 km.

1954, October 17. Western Australia. FIREBALL/BOLIDE BURST. Moved north before spliting in two.

1954, October 26. Queensland, Roma. METEOR. Time 3:20am. 12 miles west of Chinchilla. Orange tail.

1954, Oct. 27. Northern Territory, 100 miles south of Alice Springs. LARGE METEOR. The Flying Doctor base at Alice Springs received a report from Tempe Downs station that a huge meteor was seen hurtling to earth somewhere in the area. Described the meteor as looking like a huge car headlight streaking across the sky. It disappeared on the northern horizon. Saw flashes like lightning where the meteor disappeared.

1954, October 28. Western Australia, South Australia. BOLIDE BURST, traveling E.N.E from Great Australian Bight, Flew over coast near Madura. Impact point was 1000km further on near Oodnadatta in South Australia. The flight would have placed it 400 km south of Augusta in Western Australia.

1954, November 4. Tasmania, BOLIDE BURST, over Hobart.

1954, November 9. Western Australia, Manjimup. BOLIDE BURST. Travelling S.S.W, impact site 80km SSE of Augusta in Southern Ocean. Burned for 30 seconds. At first, it hung in the sky. Witnesses were able to watch it for some seconds before it started its irregular zig-zag entry.

1954, November 30. New South Wales. Yass air passengers from Melbourne to Sydney saw a meteor travelling at terrific speed. Passengers on the port side saw it explode. A tremendous bang was heard in the cabin above the roar of the engines.

1954, December 19. Victoria, Melbourne. METEOR. Time 2:45. A low flying meteoroid flew across northern suburbs. Described as ball of fire below the clouds. Had sparks trailing behind it. Made a “swooshing” sound.

1954, December 24. New South Wales, BOLIDE BURST, traveling South from NSW (already breaking up, two objects picked up on defense radar) over Melbourne and into Bass Strait.

Cachalot (sperm whale) calf strands and dies in New South Wales. Updated 15:26 AEDT on the 20240322

2024, March 21. Australia, New South Wales, Illawarra, Primbee Beach, Windang. A calf cachalot (sperm whale) died. Just a baby at just a few weeks old the whale washed up on the shore of an Illawarra beach. It was alive when first located but died shortly after.

I've placed the information from the post titled:  Tasman Sea Meteor and Update, here with my view of the situation.

2024, March 13. Tasman Sea. Meteor. (-41.98, 166.00). Time: 14:02 (UTC). Duration: 3.93 seconds. Because of its distance from New Zealand, locality and time of year; this event could produce marine animal disturbance. See map below.

Update: Approximately 7 hours before the event above a large fireball was seen travelling N.W. across the central South Island of New Zealand travelling towards the Tasman Sea. The green meteor lit up the sky for 5.5 seconds and was first detected at a height of 90 km. It descended at approximately 45 degrees and dismantled and disappeared at 25 kilometres. It produced a sonic boom and was travelling in the same direction as the one that would follow. Meteorite has been recovered.

2024, March 13. New Zealand, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Approximate Time: 08:08 (UTC). 

The day before stranding in Australia: 2024, March 20. New Zealand, south of Christchurch, Birdlings Flat Beach, near Lake Ellesmere. Kaitorete Spit in Canterbury. Black Dolphin. The whale was euthanised later in the day.

In all likelihood, the calf has been separated from its pod after atmospheric disturbance (VLF Radio Waves) or an interaction with the water causing a panic situation. Placing this all together it is likely a meteor (a couple of kilos or so) has hit the Tasman Sea. It should be noted that even though the above two events were detected it doesn't mean something wasn't and could have been larger than the two events depicted.

New South Wales, Illawarra, Primbee Beach, Windang

ORRCA

ORRCA is always looking for volunteers.

UPDATE: Gray Whale die off in the Pacific: 2019 to 2023

It's important to add this event to show how many meteor incidents occur that are not widely catalogued in data systems that basically happen every day. These air blasts are hazardous to whales.

2018, March 7. USA, Washington State, Pacific Ocean. LARGE METEOR. Loud sonic booms. Three National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather stations detected the fall of a meteorite about 25 kilometres off the coast of Washington state. The fall was widely seen and heard around local areas. The estimated size of meteor was 4.4 kg. Meteorites recovered by expedition.

Historical meteor impacts on land and water in Australia. In the future, I will have many more and then I will do a complete area probability for the ocean environment.

Meteor Impacts in Australia, and some in New Zealand, since early1800's. Cameras such as Map – Fireballs Aotearoa are leading the way. There are now many others, with Australia...following? It seems unfortunate with so many whales stranding in Australian waters they aren't doing more to understand the environment they acquire as their habitat. With the advent of camera monitoring such impact events are found more readily after 2020. I've included violent airbursts close to the ground because of their destructive qualities. I am also including meteorite falls as well even though they are really not represented in this list as there are so many but will do this in the coming months. If it hits, it counts in my opinion. After mapping these events it seems a large portion of falls are yet to be found and a large number will never be found or located due to their airburst origin and remoteness. I haven't included violent sonic booms even though I think they can easily be linked to sea mammal deaths. Some events below have clearly been involved in the concussion deaths of Cetacean. I'm always finding further events so will update when found.

In a study (small study of thirty objects, which is not really a study), the southern hemisphere June is the most likely time to get hit whereas September and October is the least unlikely. The ratio for the first 6 months to the last six months between 2000 and 2013 was 12:4. A meteor the size of your fist hits the Australian continent every year. I my research, looking back at data of Australian history 1862 to the present I found 43 definite events with many more to be found because this is preliminary, as I have a huge data blind. However, the findings above work into the historical data ratio of 26:18. A note to remember is that meteoroid streams diminish over time and are renewed with others replenishing those lost in different areas. Only time will tell where these streams will materialize and if they have a bearing on where whales strand, and with what frequency.

Before 1838. METEOR IMPACT, Western Australia. Hit swan river in daytime near a boat spraying water 20 feet into air.

1850's, Sometime between 1852 and 1858 a meteor hit the ground near Byalla. Made big trough in the ground. Meteorites recovered.

1862, Late January, South Australia, Mine Hill, Kooringa, Meteor Impact/Fall, small.

1865, December 4, New Zealand, Tarauaki, Time 2am, METEOR IMPACT, Flight Direction was South by west. Dropped pieces 170km away on North Island costal regions of Wanganui. This is where it exploded over the region. Made a hole in Turakina. Candels in rooms were totally eclipsed by the brightness. Explosion happened one minute later with a metalic noise and a strong smell of sulphur. Winessed to be size of the sun. It exploded three times with thunderous noise. It was glowing when it struck the water 4km from Taranaki shore between Shakspeare Bay and Torea Bay in the north of South Island. The sonic boom was heard 15 minutes after impact, lasting 15 seconds and was heard 70km away. The tail was visible for two hours until sunrise washed it from sight.

1872, January 18, Queensland, Moreton Bay, north of Mud Island, Time: 2am, METEOR IMPACT, Winessed from St Helena Island by policeman. A large bright light lasting three minutes ended when a object hit the water, The explosion “ploughed up the ocean”.

1879, August 23, South Australia, Laura, south of town of Yarrowie. Time 6:15. METEOR IMPACT, fell on property at Caltowie Extension. Quite a large volume of smoke surrounded the spot and clouds of dust arose.

1880, May, Queensland, Time 6pm, AIR BURST/METEOR IMPACT. Fell in southerly direction. Sonic boom, Tremor. For two minutes a sound like air rushing through a tube could be heard. One winesses stated he thought the meteor fell noth of Galway Downs close to Barcoo River.

1890, October late, Bass Strait, METEOR IMPACT, 80 km east of Kents Group. Fell 200 meters from ship causing a 40 feet high splash.

1893, March 20, South Australia, Semaphore, Port Adelaide, Time: 7:08pm. METEOR IMPACT. Traveled in from SE and seemed to fall directly into sea after exploding a short distance from shore. This was after three days of meteor sightenings.

1894, Febuary 28, Victoria, Williamstown. METEOR IMPACT. During rain storm a object the size of a cricket ball struck factory at the corner of Vulgan Grove and Railway Crecent. Strong smell of sulphurous in air. Brickwork and iron looked like cannon ball had been fired through it. Object buried itself into ground after going through asphalt sending rubble and smoke over yard.

1895, January, 5, Tasman Sea, ship Anthons, from Kairpara in New Zealand to Sydney caught it METEOR SHOWER. Happened during thunderstorm. Between lightening and stones the captain said the sight was a “fearfully grand one”

1898, April 26, Queensland, METEOR IMPACT, At 9pm a meteor hit the water at the South Passage causing an audible explosion.

1902, July 17, New South Wales, Mount Browne, Time 9:15am, AIR BURST/METEOR IMPACT, violent tremor, shook buildings and frightened people. Nearly 14kg of meteorites recovered. Many areas of ground in turmoil. Horses and sheep ran around in great fright.

1906, March 12, Perth, METEOR IMPACT, South of Perth, Tremor, explosion. Landed in Swan River.

1913 March 10, Western Australia, Sandstone, 500km NE of Perth. METEOR IMPACT. Ground glowed for several seconds after impact.

1919, December 25, South Australia, Encounter Bay Victor Harbor, METEOR IMPACT, Two cricket sized meteors fell into the water. The first was bigger than the second. Witnessed by three people.

1922, June 2, Western Australia, PROBABLE METEOR IMPACT, NW of Geraldton in Indian Ocean, 170 km from coast. Tremor felt 230km away at Geraldton rattling windows. A ship 160 km from explosion heard it.

1924, May 18, New South Wales, Upper portion Wonora River, 27km S.W of Sydney. BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT. Small object that travelling S.W. The meteor exploded a few times leaving a smoke trail. Witnesses in the National Park saw it strike the river.

1925, (Month Unknown), Queensland, Cecil Plains, Toowoomba, METEOR IMPACT, meteorite set fire to grass.

1926, July 6, New South Wales, Goulburn, METEOR IMPACT. 12 hours after airburst at 5:30am another came in but impacted ground.

1927, Febuary. New South Wales, METEOR IMPACT. Near Clarence River. witnesses saw it fall into water creating great disturbance. Another hit field like lava scorching ground around it.

1929, June 30, Western Australia, west of Bunbury just south of Perth, BOLIDE BURST/Possible METEOR IMPACT, Extreme, sonic boom heard, three explosions. It seemed to fall into ocean.

1929, October 5, NSW North Coast, BOLIDE AIR BURST, EXTREME, METEOR IMPACT, Major shaking and tremor. Travelling ENE. Came in fast and at a low angle 50km from coast over Bellinger National Park. Percussions just as bad at Coramba 15km inland as at the coast. At Bellingen Hospital 40km from where meteor crossed coast all nurses and patients received electric shocks. One nurse had to remain resting for some time it was that severe. At Bucca Creek, items in homes were smashed. The meteor hit sea off Coffs Harbor near Solitary Island. Mass fish deaths 20km north and south over two week period. Fish deaths for two weeks at Bundagen Heads. Strange flakes of flakey sand washing ashore in that period. Sugests it hit ocean floor or at least the shock wave did.

1929, October 8, New Zealand, Godley Head Lighthouse, BOLIDE BURST/ METEOR IMPACT, nearly hit lighthouse and impacted the sea. Shook the lighthouse and scared the family when it came within a stones throw.

1930, April 7, METEOR IMPACT, Western Australia, Meteorites fall. Violent. Meteorite found 25km NE from Wagin. Impact felt in locations 200km apart.

1930, July 21, Queensland, Southport, BOLIDE BURST, METEOR IMPACT, Extreme. Sonic boom and tremor. It crashed into sea south off Cook Island west of Point Danger just after 8am. This came in at the same time the other one did in northern New South Wales. Low altitude passing. Detonation shook houses and scared animals. Observed in places over 300 km apart. Electrical interference, violent tremor. Felt 10km inland. Dull thud heard on impact. Thunderous sound for over 90 seconds. (See same day, Multi event, below, I've placed this in as refrence).

1930, July 21, New South Wales, Billinudgel, BOLIDE BURST, Off North Coast. Violent, Tasman Sea. Three different meteroids. First two were small at 4am, 8am and the large one came in at 10am. Sonic boom occurred 3 minutes after sighting.

1932, December 22, METEOR IMPACT off South Australia coast south of Adelaide.

1934, March 12, Victoria, Williamstown, Melbourne, METEOR IMPACT, Tremendous crash 100 meters from shore awoke residents. The impact happened after a great flash of light. The explosion hurled water 30 to 40 feet into the air. The event caused a power outage. Shook walls of houses. Probably something the size of a fist.

1934, December 21, Western Australia, Manfred Station, 120 km north of Murgoo, METEOR IMPACT, sonic boom and tremor with two meteorites found.

1935, June 27, New South Wales, Woolgoolga, METEOR IMPACT, pasted north from coast out into the sea. Witness said it was like a giant searchlight that lit indoors.

1936, January 23. BOLIDE BURST/ METEOR IMPACT, Impacted Southern Ocean 240 km south of Robe in South Australia–Victorian border region, 256km SW of Warrnambool. Approximate impact point (-39.50, 139) off continental shelf

1939, January 25-31, Queensland, Cape Hillsborough, 30km north of Mackay. METEOR IMPACT, a fishing party discovered a hole 1 foot deep with a circumfrence of 4 feet; with a substance resembling molten quartze scattered within 15 feet of the impact.

1939, June 19, New South Wales, Gosford. POSSIBLE METEOR IMPACT, people thought it was a plane hitting ground. North of Wyong.

1941, January 29, Western Australia, Time 10:30pm. BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, violent meteroid explode over Port Healand before falling into sea. Tremor that shook houses. Witnesses said it fell into ocean. The violent explosion was described as “terrific”. Travelled N.W. Broke into six pieces. Between two and four minutes a rumbling was heard. A loud explosion, followed by a loud whistling noise and then a little later a long, dull explosion.

1942, August, New South Wales, METEOR IMPACT. 20kg of meteorites fell at Forestvale.

1943, May 16, Tasmania, NW Coast and inland. The great Tasmanian fire balls. SIX EXTREME BOLIDE BURSTS. METEOR IMPACT. Violent. Sonic Booms. Damage. Coming in from Bass Straight. Exploded over land and sea. Tremor, sonic booms. Over 9 hours 6 bolides were reported.

1944, January 23, Victoria, METEOR IMPACT, Tremor, hissing noise, thunder, air-blast and considerable echo. A meteor came over the suburbs of Melbourne exploding, shaking houses in Alphington, Camberwell and Kew. It left a smell of cordite in the air. After travelling SWW it struck the water in Port Phillip Bay off Rosebud West after travelling 60 km.

1944, April 26, New South Wales, Maclean, AIR BURST, three men fishing from a boat in the Clarence River, two of which were standing up at time, were thrown to the floor of the boat when a meteraoid exploded above them. It caused a loud detonation that disturbed the fish to try and flee the water.

1948, April 11, Queensland, Charlesville, AIR BURST/METEOR IMPACT, crashed into ground 38km from Lynwood Station shaking the ground. The explosion was heard 80 km away.

1948, July 27, Queensland, BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, two violent explosions two minutes after detonation causing tremor. Entered atmosphere 30km inland over Brookfield. Travelled into Coral Sea.

1948, August 11, Western Australia, Time: 6pm. BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, EXTREME, violent, Indian Ocean west of Geraldton. Came in a 30 degrees. It came in generating more and more heat until it exploded leaving a glow for over half an hour in the sky. The trail of gold smoke lasted for over one and a half hours until night fall.

1949, January 5, Western Australia, Mt Ida. Inland. Time 9pm. 193 km N.N.W from Kalgoorlie. METEOR IMPACT. Violent. Nearly hit mining town in arid region, caused trees to flatten, one was uprooted and flung 100 meters. A short time before the meteor event the town underwent a electrical disturbance.

1950, Month unknown, Northern Territory, eastern Kakadu Park Area, METEOR IMPACT. Site never located. Tremor felt over 100km away.

1951, October 5, Victoria, Melbourne METEOR IMPACT.- A meteor, shot over the heads of a man and his young son fishing in the Barwon River. The fireball crashed into the river with a roar. The river in the vicinity momentarily rose four feet above normal level, 18-inch waves passed up and down the river, and steam rose 25 feet into the air.

1954, January 28, New Zealand, METEOR IMPACT, west of Wellington in Tasman Sea.

1954, August 10, New South Wales, Sydney, BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, said to have impacted sea.

1954, August 12, Canberra, BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, violent, flew over coast and landed in sea.

1954, September 6, New South Wales, METEOR IMPACT, bolide crashed into sea just over 11km off Ulladulla coast. Extremely violent/almost natural disaster. A couple of seconds slower and it would have wiped out a city block at minimun. It entered the atmosphere North of Sydney. It started exploding at 5000 feet and a object the size of large plane impacted sea with tremendous explosion. A piece disolved before impacing 100 meters from the Manly Ferry.

1959, March 23, New Zealand, METEOR IMPACT. Three huge bolides fall into see 150 km west of Wellington. First 5pm, second 5:58pm and third 10:23pm. The second was the largest, and was described as a impact of high detonation.

1963, July 23, South Australia, METEOR IMPACT, Witnessed. Off coast into Great Australian Bight. Massive roar and explosion at sea in Great Australian Bight off west South Australian coast.

1969, Meteor impact near Murchison, Victoria in 1969. A object was recovered called the Murchison meteorite, It belongs to the carbonaceous chondrite class, a group of meteorites rich in organic compounds.

1991, July 21, Queensland, 170km S.W of Longreach, Time 2pm, METEOR IMPACT, hit arid region called - Gidgee country. Hard to access. Witness said it was like a flaming ball of fire.

1994, December 5th, South Australia, METEOR IMPACT, Mt Wedge. Violent impact on the hills of a farm. Pictures taken of ground impact. Violent tremor.

2021, April. A meteorite that fell near the remote cattle station of Forrest, which was recovered by Seamus Anderson and his team. 

2022, Northern Territory, A meteorite that fell in Central Australia in 2022, which was captured falling to earth by Northern Territory Police CCTV cameras.

2022, Queensland, Fragments from an asteroid that fell in the Queensland Gulf region in 2022, which are being searched for by citizen scientists.

2022, Queensland, A meteorite that is believed to have landed near the tiny Gulf town of Croydon in 2022, based on data collected by citizen scientists.

INCIDENTS WITHOUT VALID DATES

1920s-1930s maybe earlier. New South Wales, Woodford Island, Clarence River, METEOR IMPACT, Hit hill on the Island causing considerable sparks to fly.

Between 1850 to 1887 a large meteoroid hit Bass Strait off the coast near Circular Head in Tasmania. Sketches were drawn of the event.

Before October 1932. Queensland. Not long ago, before 1932, Maroochy River residents heard a whistling noise, not unlike that of a locomotive, for a few seconds, and eventually' there was a, tremendous splash of something falling in the stream at Lake Point, It is believed that this was a small meteor.

1907+/- 1 year. New South Wales. about 8 o'clock one night in Coramba, a meteor passed over the town and fell somewhere in the scrub near Dorrigo. The crash could be plainly heard of falling timber, and a ray of light, brilliant enough to read a paper by for about 30 seconds ensued.

(This one I put in because of the meteor shower remark rather than the hit) Year unknown (Before 1926) A farmer at Bream Creek (Tasmania) was walking across a clear space in the bush one day when some thing struck him smartly just above the knee. He could find nothing to account for it, but his leg swelled, and he had a good deal of trouble with it. There was a great shower of meteorites about that time.  

How two different eras of the media handled meteors. One in 1956, the other in 1988. One used science the other used not so much science. Both cases were fireballs caused by meteors creating a highly charged atmosphere.

Case 1. Victoria, Australia, 1956

The amazed farmer saw 'Flame' from the sky "Fireballs" bombarded two farmers, three boys, and 500 sheep at Kilmore yesterday. After the fireballs exploded about 11 a.m., they left a trail of fine blue dust covering the ground about a quarter of a mile from the property of Mr. Vic Lowden. Mr. Lowden, his two sons, Doug,13, and Jimmy, 9; a neighbor, Mr. Albert Smith, and his son, Howard, 8, took several hours to scrub off the dust. The fireball, which made a display lasting half an hour, surrounded the sheep, until they bolted. The fireballs fell in fine weather, but rain followed in the afternoon. The Weather Bureau said last night "fireballs" were possible at any time, particularly during and after thunder – storms. They mainly resulted from the clash of falling meteors.

Case 2. South Australia, 1988

UFO encounter on Nullarbor Plain reported ADELAIDE: A Perth family say they were terrorised by a UFO which plucked their car from the road on the Nullarbor Plain. Police said yesterday that they were taking the report seriously after investigating damage to the car, which was covered in an ash-type substance. A truck driver and a car driver also witnessed the bizarre event after being chased by the UFO along the Eyre Highway just inside the Western Australia border. Mrs Faye Knowles and her three sons, Patrick, 24, Sean, 21, and Wayne, 18, were about 40km west of Mundrabilla driving toward South Austra-lia when they first saw the glowing object about 2.45am yesterday. They told police they had watched as it chased the truck and car, which were travelling in the opposite direction, before turning and landing on their own vehicle. "It apparently picked the car up off the road, shook it quite violently and forced the car back down on the road with such pressure that one of the tyres was blown," 11 a police spokesman said. "While this was happening the family said their voices were distorted and it was as if they were talking in slow motion." Mrs Knowles told police the UFO turned the car around and placed it back on the road facing in the opposite direction. Once they were back on the road they had jumped out and fled into the bush where they hid for some time before going back and changing the wheel. They drove to Ceduna in the far west of South Australia and reported the incident to local police. By chance, crime scene investigators from Port Lincoln were in Ceduna and examined the car. "We have to take it seriously, there's no reason why we shouldn't," Sergeant Fred Longley, of Ce-duna police, said. "There were too many witnesses for us not to. "The car was damaged and was covered in ash from the object and they were clearly shaken up." Sergeant Longley said the Knowles drew a diagram of the UFO which looked like an egg in an egg cup.

Meteor Impacts and airbursts in Australia, and some in New Zealand, since 1862.

Meteor Impacts in Australia, and some in New Zealand, since 1862. Cameras such as Map – Fireballs Aotearoa are leading the way. There are now many others, with Australia...following? It seems unfortunate with so many whales stranding in Australian waters they aren't doing more to understand the environment they acquire as their habitat. With the advent of camera monitoring such impact events are found more readily after 2020. I've included violent airbursts close to the ground because of their destructive qualities. I have included meteorite falls as well. If it hits, it counts in my opinion. After mapping these events it seems a large portion of falls are yet to be found and a large number will never be found or located due to their airburst origin and remoteness. I haven't included violent sonic booms even though I think they can be linked to the deaths of sea mammals. Some events below have clearly been involved in the concussion deaths of Cetacean. I also have not included events that have resulted in bird deaths and possible mass fish deaths to simplify the list below. I'm always finding further events so will update when found.

1862, Late January, South Australia, Mine Hill, Kooringa, Meteor Impact/Fall, small.

1922, June 2, Western Australia, METEOR IMPACT, NW of Geraldton in Indian Ocean, 170 km from the coast. Tremor felt 230km at Geraldton rattling windows.

1927, February. Meteor impacts near Clarence River NSW. The witnesses saw it fall into the river, creating a large disturbance.

1930, February 27, (+-1 year), Victoria, BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, Lake Tyrell.

1929, June 30, Western Australia, west of Bunbury just south of Perth, BOLIDE BURST/Possible METEOR IMPACT, Extreme, sonic boom heard, three explosions. It seemed to fall into ocean.

1929, October 8, New Zealand, Godley Head Lighthouse, BOLIDE BURST/ METEOR IMPACT, nearly hit lighthouse and impacted the sea.

1932, January 1, Peakhurst NSW, METEOR IMPACT, Extremely Violent. 3 x 4 feet diameter crater. A woman and daughter fled the house after the explosion broke windows. Heard in a 40 km radius. A stack of fencing posts was flung 100 meters. The farmer standing 200 meters away was knocked flat but survived.

1932, December 22, METEOR IMPACT off South Australia coast south of Adelaide.

1934, December 21, Western Australia, Manfred Station, 120 km north of Murgoo, METEOR IMPACT, sonic boom and tremor with two meteorites found.

1936, January 23. BOLIDE BURST/ METEOR IMPACT, 440 km south of South Australia – Victorian border region, SW of Warrnambool. Approximate impact point (-39.50, 139) off the continental shelf.

1937, March 29, New South Wales, BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, Manley/Balmoral, impacted sea.

1942, August, New South Wales, METEOR IMPACT. 20 kg of meteorites fell at Forestvale.

1943, May 16, Tasmania, NW Coast and inland. The great Tasmanian fireballs. SIX EXTREME BOLIDE BURSTS. METEOR IMPACT. Violent. Coming in from Bass Straight. Exploded over land and sea. Tremor, sonic booms. Over 9 hours 6 bolides were reported.

1948, July 27, Queensland, BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, two violent explosions two minutes after detonation causing the tremor. Entered atmosphere 30km inland over Brookfield. Travelled into Coral Sea.

1948, August 11, Western Australia, BOLIDE BURST/METEOR IMPACT, violent, Indian Ocean west of Geraldton.

1949, January 5, Western Australia, Mt Ida. Inland. METEOR IMPACT. Violent. Nearly hit a mining town in an arid region, caused trees to flatten, one was uprooted and flung 100 meters.

1950, Month unknown, Northern Territory, eastern Kakadu Park Area, METEOR IMPACT. The site never located. The tremor was felt over 100km away.

1952, December, Northern Territory, METEOR IMPACT, 112km east of Darwin. Trees were uprooted and the ground churned as though hit by an atom bomb. It had detonated above the ground completely devastating an area of half a kilometer square.

1954, January 28, New Zealand, METEOR IMPACT, west of Wellington in the Tasman Sea.

1954, September 6, New South Wales, METEOR IMPACT, bolide crashed into the sea just over 11km off Ulladulla coast. Extremely violent/almost natural disaster. A couple of seconds slower and it would have wiped out a city block at minimum. It entered the atmosphere North of Sydney. It started exploding at 5000 feet and an object the size of a large plane impacted the sea with tremendous explosion. A piece dissolved before impacting 100 meters from the Manly Ferry in Sydney Harbor.

POSSIBLE. 1954, October 28, Western Australia, BOLIDE AIR BURST, travelling ENE from GAB, impact point Oodnadatta in South Australia.

1959, March 23, New Zealand, METEOR IMPACT. Three huge bolides fall into see 150 km west of Wellington. First 5pm, second 5:58pm and third 10:23pm. The second was the largest, and was described as a impact of high detonation.

1963, July 23, South Australia, METEOR IMPACT, Witnessed. Off coast into Great Australian Bight. Massive roar and explosion at sea in Great Australian Bight off west South Australian coast.

1969, The Murchison meteorite, which fell in 1969 near Murchison, Victoria. It belongs to the carbonaceous chondrite class, a group of meteorites rich in organic compounds.

1994, December 5th, South Australia, METEOR IMPACT, Mt Wedge. Violent impact on the hills of a farm. Pictures taken of ground impact. Violent tremor.

2008, June 28, New South Wales, METEOR IMPACT, hit sea 4 km off the breakwall and Point Plomer, Port Macquarie.

2012, June, Western Australia, METEOR IMPACT, Violent. Roughly 100km off the coast of Perth. Traveling NW. Witnessed.

2022, A meteorite that fell near the remote cattle station of Forrest in April 2021, which was recovered by Seamus Anderson and his team.

2022, Northern Territory, A meteorite that fell in Central Australia in 2022, which was captured falling to earth by Northern Territory Police CCTV cameras.

2022, Queensland, Fragments from an asteroid that fell in the Queensland Gulf region in 2022, which are being searched for by citizen scientists.

2022, Queensland, A meteorite that is believed to have landed near the tiny Gulf town of Croydon in 2022, based on data collected by citizen scientists.