Three interviews with experts regarding a burnt circle, about 56 feet in diameter, found in a remote patch of manuka scrub on the farm of Mr B. G. O'Neill near Ngatea on the Hauraki Plains in September 1969.
An description of the circle is given by Tony Brunt of Auckland University UFO Research Group. Similarities to the Temuka turnip field scorched circle exist. Mr Brunt is sure the circle is not a hoax, but can offer no explanation.
Harvey Cook, president of the Tauranga Scientific Space Research Group describes the depressions in the circle and his theory of their meaning. Mr Cook also doubts this could be a hoax.
John Stuart Menzies, a horticulturist, describes his tests on samples from the circle and concludes that the manuka 'had exploded from inside - outwards.' Heat applied from the outside would not have had this effect. Mr Menzies suggests radiation as the only possible cause. He cannot suggest any natural cause and concludes that 'some kind of unidentified foreign object certainly landed in that field.'