by Sheryl Gottschall © 2020 updated 2025

In January 1995 we sent two of our investigators to Wycliffe Well in the Northern Territory to gather information about the many UFO reports that were being collected by the then Wycliffe Well roadhouse owner, Lou Farkas. One of our team had been in regular contact with Lou, who would report to UFORQ every few weeks about the UFO sightings reported by travelers pulling in to the roadhouse for petrol and refreshments. Our investigators were determined to capture on film once and for all evidence as to the existence of alien life in Wycliffe Well. Their trip was no small task as Wycliffe Well is located 1500 kilometres northwest of Brisbane and 400 klms north of Alice Springs.

A Brief History
The Australian Explorer website tells us that Wycliffe Well began as a watering point along the stock route for the Overland Telegraph Line in the 1860s. World War II saw Wycliffe Well become a market garden centre to service troops, and at the end of the war, two soldiers stayed on to continue selling vegetables and garden products to Alice Springs. Of more interest to readers is that UFO sightings have been part of Wycliffe Well’s folklore since World War II, and the town’s reputation for the unexplained attracts all types, and even the Royal Australian Air Force has stopped in to investigate.

1995 Investigations
After a 36-hour bus ride our investigators finally arrived at the roadhouse exhausted, and after a rest were introduced to Lou Farkas who gave them the grand tour of the area. They immediately began interviewing witnesses and listened to the first of many accounts that had occurred there since August of 1994, which I’ve included below.

• An aboriginal elder who saw a UFO hovering above a dam one afternoon, which by the next morning had been drained of water (verified by other witnesses).
• Objects that emitted a cloud-like vapour to seemingly to disguise themselves.
• A group of three star-like objects passing beams of light to each other.
• A white object which moved east to west in 20 minutes, finally disappearing into an electrical storm.
• An air ambulance similar to the Flying Doctor Service, buzzed by a UFO-like object 15 minutes out of Tennant Creek. The pilot subsequently went missing. (Sorry no more on that story.)
• One object that shone light from back of the roadhouse towards the petrol bowsers.
• Strange lightning striking in the same place over and over. Also one bolt that that came down then moved to strike in the same place as others.
  Eftpos and telephones losing signals while a single light was seen in the sky. Telecom (Telstra today) had been very busy trying to fix the problem but to no effect.
• A Tennant Creek reporter and crew saw a bright light out in the bush. They next observed a second light coming towards them on the road. They then turned their attention to the first light, which could no longer be seen. Looking back down the road the second light had also disappeared. A few minutes later a car passed them, but they thought the light and car were not the same object.
• An aboriginal man ran into the roadhouse after watching an object coming through the area towards him, which then shot straight up.
• A car full of aboriginal people was driving down the road when they were approached by an object. They watched it come towards them. They turned the radio down so they could listen but no sound was heard.
• Dead birds were discovered in the area with no apparent reason for their death.
• A mob of kangaroos were seen to suddenly stand very still for no apparent reason during the sighting of a cloud.
• An orange light was seen to be maneuvering in the distance. Then it seemed to be moving closer and closer. One guest viewed the objects with binoculars then passed them to the roadhouse proprietor who clearly saw UFO shapes with lights shining out of portholes.
• Helicopters had been seen in the area as well as RAAF jets (F-18 hornets) which had been seen chasing UFOs from the area.
• The local aboriginal people believe Wycliffe Well had the “life sucked out of it,” and refer to it as a dead zone. Our investigators didn’t see any wildlife in the area besides the caged specimens in the small wildlife reserve and some wild birds.
• Later reports included a suspected UFO landing site in Arnhem Land which aboriginal elders said was not manmade; a beam of light on a petrol bowser was seen shining from a triangular formation of objects; a light seen from the auditorium; a Medivac plane being buzzed by a UFO.

Above: Newsclippings on the wall of the Wycliffe Well Roadhouse. Image credit Sifu Philippe

Media Reports

On 29th January 1995, the Darwin Sunday Territorian reported that two aboriginal elders believed they saw a UFO near their Arnhem Land community the previous week. Joe Djembangu and Eddy Gaburr were driving a Toyota Landcruiser to hunt wallaby at a billabong about 20 kilometres from Millingimbi, 650 kilometres east of Darwin, when they saw an object with “a big eye like a torch”. It was after dark when they saw it, and stopping their vehicle they became scared and turned around. The next morning Joe, along with many of the 700 inhabitants of Millingimbi, visited the “flying saucer” site on the gravel road near an airstrip. The object had left 6 footprints that looked like they were made by a pipe, which were not the prints of any animal that Joe was familiar with. Arnhem MLA Wes Lanhupuy also visited the site, commenting that “something had been there,” but not an animal that he knew.

Wycliffe Well roadhouse employee, Malcolm White, reported to the Territorian that he too had encountered a UFO near the Devils Marbles, north of Wycliffe Well. He thought it was a road train and dipped his lights at it, but as it came closer he realised it wasn’t a heavy vehicle. As it left the ground, Mr White’s Nissan four-wheel drive mysteriously stopped. The engine had failed and the lights went out. He let the car roll to the side of the road, then he got out to look under the bonnet where he saw nothing out of place. But when the UFO disappeared his car started immediately.

Above: Image credit Sifu Philippe

The Tennant Times reported on 3rd February 1995 that Canteen Creek residents, Dennis Kunoth and his family, were travelling north from Alice Springs when they noticed a light which appeared to be following them. It was an orange light with red and green lights around the bottom. Mr Kunoth pulled into the Tropic of Capricorn Park when he saw another vehicle speed past. Next thing the second vehicle returned, pulling into the park too. A man and his girlfriend got out of their car looking considerably shaken.

They told the Kunoth family that the same light had been following them for several kilometres as well. The group stood together watching the strange object hover silently in the distance before it suddenly shot straight up into the sky and vanished. Later, Mr Kunoth said the light was unlike anything he had ever seen before—it wasn’t a plane, helicopter, or meteor, but seemed to move with intent, “as if it was watching us.”

These sightings, reported within just a few days of each other and across hundreds of kilometres of the Northern Territory, generated considerable public interest at the time. The incidents shared several consistent features: bright lights capable of sudden acceleration, apparent electromagnetic interference with vehicles, and physical traces left at one site. While sceptics suggested natural or man-made explanations such as aircraft lights, mirages, or atmospheric phenomena, local witnesses—including experienced bushmen—remained adamant that what they saw was beyond ordinary experience.

Together, these reports from Arnhem Land, Wycliffe Well, and near Alice Springs form part of a broader pattern of UFO activity frequently reported in the Northern Territory throughout the 1990s, an area long regarded by both researchers and locals as one of Australia’s most active regions for unexplained aerial phenomena.