Red events are theirs. Green events are ours. The distinction is not always as clear as the colours suggest.
- 1947
Roswell.
Something comes down in New Mexico. The official explanation changes three times, establishing the format for every official explanation since.
- 1952
Washington flap.
Lights over the US capital on two consecutive weekends. The Collective notes they were both Saturdays, which was presumably before they settled on Tuesday.
- 1961
The Big Dam is built.
Officially by Noreen’s father with a dozer. Unofficially: "and who taught HIM?" See Dossier 06.
- 1966
Tully saucer nest.
A circular flattening in a North Queensland lagoon: the first "crop circle". Also Westall, Melbourne, where two hundred schoolchildren watch a disc and the adults watch a balloon.
- 1980
Rendlesham Forest.
US airmen in England follow lights into the trees and come out with a story the Collective considers "reassuringly similar to ours, minus the cow".
- 1988
Nullarbor.
A family’s car is reportedly lifted by a light on the Eyre Highway. The Collective holds that the car was a trial run for cattle.
- 1991
Cheryl, time one.
Cheryl Mangan is taken from behind the bakery. The room smells of a new shower curtain. Nobody introduces themselves.
- 1994
BERYL.
14 March, 2:47 am. The founding event. The tape, the circle, the pamphlet, the receipt. Paddock Alert Level set to MAUVE, where it remains.
- 1995
Site 7.
A second cow is found inside the Burnt Circle. She is asleep. Warren logs her as "returned".
- 1996
The site goes live.
GeoCities Area51/Vault/8142. One photo, one paragraph, one counter, one MIDI. Also the Big Dam saucer nest.
- 1997
Phoenix Lights / Wandoona Lights.
The same night. On opposite sides of the planet. The raffle is suspended. The RAAF says flares. Jaxon is born later that year.
- 1998
Dr Faraday’s doctorate arrives.
By post, from the Cayman Islands campus. Also the Min Min lights nod at Cheryl near Boulia.
- 2001
Macca’s triangle.
Three lights on the Nullarbor stationary for forty minutes, then gone "all at once, like it remembered something". Waited while he had a pie.
- 2002
The implant.
Three millimetres, metallic, behind Cheryl’s left ear. The radiologist writes "artefact". Cheryl writes back.
- 2003
Keith is banned.
From the Tuesday group, for asking questions. Also, the Christmas orb enters the roof space, where it probably still is.
- 2004
The Bovine Glyph.
60 metres, overnight, Hennessy’s wheat. "A cow, from above, worried." The plank is never found. Men in Beige visit two days later.
- 2006
Eleven hours and a ute.
Warren loses both. The ute is recovered from outside the Royal Hotel. The hours are not.
- 2008
Pine Gap Pete.
First Keno slip. The photo of the light above the domes. Two agencies ask for its removal. It is enlarged.
- 2009
The FOI result.
Four hundred pages from the Bureau, all redacted, except one page which is a recipe for a slice.
- 2012
The mothership cloud.
A lenticular "cloud" holds position over the Big Dam against a 30 km/h westerly. The Bureau stops replying. Logged as a concession.
- 2014
The anniversary beam.
Twentieth anniversary, to the minute. A column of light to the dam. "They came back. They were looking for her too."
- 2016
Most Suspicious Cow.
The competition is formalised at the Wandoona Show. Winner: Gladys, "who has been looking at the sky".
- 2017
Tic Tac.
US Navy footage of an object the Collective immediately recognises. "We told you in 1996." Nobody rings.
- 2019
Forty-seven.
Cheryl publishes her count and asks to speak to a manager. Tyler B. is taken from the show ring and returned with the ribbon.
- 2023
Non-human biologics.
A US congressional hearing uses the phrase. Warren submits a 90-page statement that Beryl was a biologic. It is not read. "k", texts Gary.
- 2024
New Jersey drones.
The Collective’s position: not drones. Scouting. Herd advisory issued for the eastern seaboard of a country we have never been to.
- 2026
Now.
Thirty-two years. The gate is open. The windmill is lit. Paddock Alert Level: MAUVE. Keep watching the paddock.
A word from management
1961: Dad built the dam. 1994: the cow went to Roma. 2006: the ute was at the pub because Warren was at the pub. The rest I wasn't there for, and I notice nobody else was either.