Meteor shakes houses across central Victoria, leaving fragments between Bendigo and Ballarat

A meteor has caused what’s been described as a sonic boom that rattled houses across Victoria on Sunday night.

Social media was flooded with reports of sightings from Victoria’s east through to Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo just after 7:30pm.

Some residents also reported hearing an explosion — described by some as a “sonic boom” — with one observer in the Bendigo suburb of Strathfieldsaye saying she called her neighbour thinking their house had exploded.

Others reported what felt and sounded like an earthquake.

Experts say the fireball was a meteor and not space junk, and that fragments may have landed on the ground between Bendigo and Ballarat.

ABC Radio Melbourne listener Andrew said he was with a group of colleagues finishing their dinner break in Port Melbourne when they saw the meteor pass above the West Gate Bridge.

He said it was large and very bright.

“We actually thought someone played a joke by, I don’t know, setting fire to something and throwing it over our heads or something like that,” he said.

“It was huge. I haven’t seen many but this was like a large object and it was bright red.”

Talkback caller Justin said he witnessed the object Ballarat.

“It was just so bright,” he said. 

“I could see it slowly moving across and then it just went straight, fast down to wherever it went.

Geoscience Australia said it received multiple reports from Bendigo but no seismic event was recorded.