Six mysterious basketball-sized metal balls, believed to be space debris, washed up on Forrest Beach in North Queensland, prompting local safety concerns and an international media frenzy.
The unmarked objects were discovered by a local couple during an early morning walk, leading emergency services, the bomb squad, and the Australian Space Agency to secure the area and investigate.
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Takeaway shop owner Lisa Scobie helped coordinate the local response by contacting her father to guide police officers to the site.
"We created a special menu item, the Space Junk Snackbox, and we advertised that with an alien, who was my husband, just as a bit of a laugh," said Scobie.
The business owner used social media to joke about the sudden global attention in her small town, which usually has a population of just 1,364 people.
"We actually said that we had the space junk at the front of the shop and put an AI picture up on the front and shared that, waiting for everyone to come and clean it up!"
said Scobie.
The online prank gained unexpected traction among some local residents who visited the town center looking for the items.
"We're a sleepy little place, somewhere where your kids can go fishing before school," said Scobie.
The tight-knit community relies on the neighboring town of Ingham, located 20 kilometers away, for essential services like hospitals and police stations.
"The same as what we used to do when we were growing up here 30 or 40 years ago."
