Two separate sightings by Tenterfield residents, one in Tenterfield and the other travelling through St George, Queensland, both described something white and silver floating in the sky on Friday, June 13.

The first sighting was in the Queensland town at 4:30 pm. The Tenterfield local, who did not wish to be named, saw the object heading in a north-west direction whilst taking pictures of the moon.

“It made me think it was a plane at first, or a weather balloon,” he said.

“But the wind was blowing south west which would cause a balloon to be blowing away.

“Showed my wife the photos. Other people may have seen it if they were looking in that general direction.”

The man was staying at the Pelican Rest Tourist Park with his wife in St George. He said that the object left no vapour trail like a plane and did not make a sound. He then began to take pictures of the object in the sky that hovered for around five minutes then disappeared.

“Depending on size of it, it looked to be close to about 20,000 feet in the sky,” he said.

“I turned my camera around and started taking pictures of it.”

The Bureau of Meteorology observed the pictures that were taken of the object and came to the conclusion that it was not a weather balloon, according to the bureau’s Queensland Regional Observations Manager Garry Sugrue.

“It is difficult to tell from the photo what it is but it wouldn’t be a weather balloon released by us,” Mr Sugrue said.

“The timing and the location are not consistent.”

Defence Force spokesman Paul Lineham was unable to confirm if the object in the picture was a military craft.

“An F1-11 aircraft from RAAF base Amberley was undertaking routine training in the St George area at the time,” Mr Lineham said.

The UFO Research Group of NSW Executive Committee member Doug Moffett inspected the images and concluded that if the Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Defence Force could not explain it, it would be best described as a mystery. He also said that the image showed an object with a peculiar shape that did not look like a plane.

Another resident saw a similar object south of Tenterfield on the same day at 5:30 pm. The female resident, who also wished not to be named, saw something floating in the sky and was moving south towards Glen Innes.

“It was a round white thing moving in a straight line,” she said.

“It then disappeared into the sky.”

The female resident said that the object, like the sighting in St George, did not make a sound.