Meander Valley Mayor Wayne Johnston is calling for answers after he and other locals have repeatedly spotted unexplained lights in the sky since early July.
Johnston said the sightings began around July 6 when a neighbour messaged him about strange lights over Mother Cummings Peak in the Great Western Tiers.
“There was some strange sky lights, we thought they were drones to be quite honest,” he told Pulse.
The lights returned the following night and have appeared on most clear evenings since, with up to six visible at a time – visible for around 45 minutes at a time and moving at sharp angles.
Johnston said locals initially thought the lights were rising up over Western Creek, but people in that area confirmed they were further up on the mountain.
He said he was hoping for a logical explanation rather than jumping to conclusions about aliens or UFOs.
“We just can’t explain what they are,” he said.
Johnston said the lights could be seen from 20 to 30 kilometres away and remained visible for extended periods.
Drones were the leading theory, but he said commercial drone pilots had told him the battery life of drones would not allow such lengthy flights.
He said one local viewed the lights through binoculars and took photos as best he could, but Johnson said someone with a high-resolution camera would do a far better job.
Video footage has been captured by several witnesses from across the state’s north.
Johnston said he suspected many others had seen the lights but done nothing about it.
“I just want to know whether other people had seen them. There’s probably a lot of people out there going, ‘oh geez, I don’t know what they are,’ but have done nothing about it.” he said.
