The UFO Phenomenon became a matter of public concern in 1947, when witnesses began to publicly declare their sightings and experiences along with the media who reported such accounts. As the years passed it became apparent that, for whatever reason, government authorities were doing all in their power to cover up the UFO phenomenon and would not be disclosing information about official UFO sightings, communications, photographs or physical evidence.

It was in this context that concerned citizens in many countries joined themselves into voluntary associations for the purpose of investigating UFO sighting reports and placing their findings on record for posterity. These bodies typically established a membership with an executive committee, holding public and member meetings. It is probably fair to say that initially these associations felt that ‘something’ should be done to place on record the remarkable things that were happening, and only gradually evolved the procedures and rationale we now use. The Queensland Flying Saucer Bureau, now known as UFO Research Queensland (UFORQ), was established in 1956 with its first constitution being brought into effect in 1961.

Many of the ‘contacts’ with flying saucer occupants which we now regard as classic were made and published in the 1950s. One well known contactee was George Adamski. UFORQ invited Adamski to visit Australia in 1959 and so initiated and organised the first of his world tours, during which he lectured on his encounters and displayed his photographs and films. These tours also served to establish a world-wide network known as the ‘Get Acquainted Program’. During this time the membership of UFORQ rose rapidly to about 200. Similar groups had also become established in other Australian state capitals and for a period of years a common publication, The Australian Flying Saucer Review, reported on the activities and investigations of these bodies.

The 1950s saw unprecedented UFO activity taking place in Papua New Guinea. This was documented by the Reverend Father Gill, amongst others, and published by the Reverend Canon Norman Crutwell. UFORQ became closely associated with this work and is still today the body which holds its records. The Gill Report has been named one of the ten most significant UFO reports of all time.

During the 1960s UFORQ began publishing its own newsletter, now known as UFO Encounter, and continued its sightings and investigation activities. One of the important events of this decade was the UFO sighting and ‘saucer nest’ at Horseshoe lagoon near Tully, Northern Queensland. UFORQ also hosted Professor James MacDonald, an atmospheric physicist and one of the few qualified scientists who studied the UFO phenomenon seriously.

During the 1970s the activities of UFORQ continued and included a visit by Professor J. Allen Hynek. Professor Hynek encouraged the establishment of a national body, ‘The Centre for UFO Studies’, later known as the Australian Centre for UFO Studies (ACUFOS). In 1976 the Bureau changed its name to UFO Research Queensland in keeping with similar name changes throughout Australia. The investigation of sightings, public meetings, the publication of its then Newsletter and occasional lectures by prominent UFO personages continued to be the activities of the association.

Meetings of members of the various Australian UFO groups were organised by means of UFO conferences, and UFO Research Queensland participated in these events and as well as hosted them. Throughout, many vexing questions relating to UFOs, the government cover-up, contactees, the quality of UFO research, the keeping of records etc. engaged the attention of many members. All of these and also new ones are still part of the UFO ‘scene’.

During the 1980s membership numbers declined and public meetings were discontinued for a time. Many members had become discouraged by the failure to find answers to endless questions and by the growing ‘strangeness’ of UFO related experiences, most notably alien abduction experiences. UFO Encounter continued functioning and began to attack the many scientific puzzles which are entangled within the UFO phenomenon. It also explored many of the key issues implicit in contactee accounts, the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis and the alien abduction phenomenon. Public meetings were once again established, Branch and affiliated associations came into being, the organisation became incorporated, and by the early 1990s membership rose to over 350.

In the 1990s UFORQ hosted a number of guest speakers from the UFO research field including Glen Steckling from the Adamski Foundation, German researcher Michael Hesemann, well known crop circle researcher Colin Andrews, UK crop circle researcher Leonie Starr, Australian contactee Michel Desmarquet and author of ‘Abduction to the Ninth Planet’. Our Sunshine Coast Branch also hosted Robert Morningsky and Palden Jenkins. The 90s also saw the institution of our Investigator Course which provided investigators with the skills and knowledge required to personally investigate a UFO sighting, close encounter or abduction experience. The association’s Encounter Group was also established soon after a visit to Brisbane by Budd Hopkins in 1992, and provided a regular forum for close encounter experiencers to meet and discuss their personal encounters, as well as providing coping mechanisms. A comprehensive lending library including books, videos, audio tapes and publications was also established to provide members with resources that may otherwise be unavailable to them. UFORQ also entered the electronic age, establishing its first website at http://www.briz.net/uforq before moving on to its next domain http://www.uforq.asn.au which housed a searchable data base.

The year 2001 saw the re-instigation of regular national conferences by UFO Research Queensland, beginning with Brisbane and to be held annually across the country, which brought together researchers and UFO organisations, contactees and abductees from around Australia. The 2000s also saw the commencement of a Contact Project aimed at making contact with ET.

In 2001 a national conference was hosted by UFORQ at the Greek Club in West End, Brisbane, followed by a conference in 2003 held at the Italian Club at Newmarket. The year 2006 was a watershed year that saw UFORQ hosting its 50th Anniversary UFO Conference in Brisbane. Guest speakers included international researchers Timothy Good (UK), Glenn Steckling (USA), AJ Gevaerd (Brazil), plus Australia’s Rex Gilroy, John Auchettl (PRA), Dr Martin Gottschall (UFORQ), Sheryl Gottschall (UFORQ), and the original witness to the Tully Nests, Albert Pennisi.

Since 2006 we have hosted many international speakers at in-person events including Steven Bassett (USA), Mike Bird (Canada), Richard Dolan (USA), Suzy Hansen (NZ), James Gilliland (USA), Dr Ted Loder (USA), Rey Hernandez (USA). Australian speakers have included Steven & Evan Strong, Damien Nott, Rex Gilroy, Mary Rodwell, Jane Pooley and Ben Hurle.

In 2020 due to Covid, we moved our meetings online and made them accessible to members only. Meeting speakers have included Gary Heseltine (UK), Suzy Hansen (NZ), Steven & Evan Strong (AUS), Damien Nott (AUS), Dr Joseph Burkes (USA), Linda Zimmermann (USA), Robert Fleischer (Germany), Dave Hodrien (UK), Francisco Mourao Correa (Portugal), Ben Hurle (AUS), Prof. Erling Strand (Norway), Paolo Guizzardi (Italy), Ananda Sirisena (Sri Lanka), Jamie and Aspasia Leonarder (AUS), Dr. Roger Stankovic (AUS), Victor Viggiani (Canada), Ananda Sirisena, Dr Eamonn Ansbro (Ireland), Jamie and Aspasia Leonarder (AUS), Grant Lavac (AUS), Preston Dennett (USA), Giorgio Piacenza (Peru), Dr Adam Dodd (AUS) and many more.

2024 saw the return to in-person meetings where we now host 4 meetings per year open to the general public, as well as continuing our regular monthly online members meetings.

UFO Research Queensland has strived to establish and maintain a tradition of the highest competence and dedication to the greater good of the people of Queensland and Australia, and we want to be there when the great body of hidden information is finally brought into the public domain, where it has always belonged. We await the time when our efforts reach the point where our many questions find the answers they must have.

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A TRIP INTO THE ANNALS OF UFORQ HISTORY

As the 70th anniversary year (2026) of UFORQ approaches, we see that UFORQ was established amid a flurry of UFO groups that popped up all over the globe. It was a busy time for many concerned citizens and thinking people alike, no doubt spurred on by the rising level of worldwide UFO sighting reports, contactee accounts, and the knee-jerk response by the military and governments to bury the subject as best they could.

Below we’ve listed various organisations that burst onto the scene from the 1950s to 1970s, along with some of their founders where they were listed. This is only a short but growing list to date, and for language reasons does not include non-english speaking countries. As you can see the 1950s was clearly the decade when the ‘UFO movement’ was born. As far as we’ve been able to ascertain, UFO Research Qld [Australia] and the Cleveland Ufology Project [USA] are the two remaining groups that have been operating continuously since they were established. Again, this is what we’ve discovered so far and if you know of others we’d like to know about them so we can add them to the list.

1951 Grand Rapids Flying Saucer Club – U.S.A
1952 AFSB Australian Flying Saucer Bureau – Edgar Jarrold
1952 Australian International UFO Flying Saucer Research Inc. – Colin Norris
1952 Civilian Saucer Investigations New Zealand – Sgt Harold Fulton
1952 International Flying Saucer Bureau – USA, Albert Bender
1952 Civilian Saucer Intelligence of Los Angeles – USA
1952 APRO Aerial Phenomena Research Organisation – USA founders Jim and Coral Lorenzen
1953 AFSIC Australian Flying Saucer Investigation Committee Donald Thomson (journalist)
1953 AFSC Australian Flying Saucer Club – Fred Stone
1953 BFSB British Flying Saucer Bureau UK
1953 International Flying Saucer Bureau – USA
1953 Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York – USA
1954 Adamski Correspondence Group (Timaru) – New Zealand, Fred Dickeson – name changed to New Zealand Scientific Space Research Group then to Scientific Approach to Cosmic Understanding in 1961
1954 North Jersey UFO Group – U.S.A.
1956 National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena – USA, T. Townsend Brown Came under the directorship of Donald Keyhoe in 1957
1956 QFSRB Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau (Aus) now UFO Research Queensland
1956 Cleveland Ufology Project – U.S.A. Founded by Jerry and Arlene Bowers
1957 Adamski Correspondence Group (Tauranga) – New Zealand, Harvey Cooke Name changed to Tauranga UFO Investigation Group in 1970
1957 Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society – Australia, Peter Norris (now called the Victorian UFO Research Society)
1959 Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America – Gabriel Green
1962 BUFOA British UFO Association – UK Changed to BUFORA in 1964
1969 MUFON Mutual UFO Network – USA, Walt Andrus
1973 CUFOS Center for UFO Studies – USA, Dr. J. Allen Hynek
1973 FUFORA Finnish UFO Research Association
1974 Australian Centre For UFO Studies
1974 NUFORC National UFO Reporting Centre – USA, Peter Davenport

Many organisations around the world and in Australia have now closed their doors with UFO Research Queensland remaining the oldest, continuously running UFO organisation in the country.

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