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The Great Emu War
In Australia in 1932, a strange war would see a conflict between humans and emus.
Following the First World War, Australian and British veterans were given plots of land by the government so they could become farmers.
These farmers were struggling to grow their crops in the difficult conditions
and the Great Depression had caused wheat prices to fall.
1922
Emus, the indigenous soft-feathered birds that are flightless, were a protected species,
but they had become classed as vermin when 20,000 of the birds ate crops across Western Australia.
The ex-soldiers, turned farmers, requested aid from the Australian military,
asking the Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce, for machine guns and ammunition.
Major G.P.W. Meredith of the 7th Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery,
led two soldiers armed with Lewis-like machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
They confidently believed it would be easy to take down the masses of emus at pointblank range with such a weapon.
The war was postponed to the 2nd of November because of the heavy rainfall.
They traveled to the district of Campion, where they sighted around 50 emus and opened fire.
However, the speed and the ability to scatter into small groups
made the emus able to dodge the fire and move out of range.
Most got away and only a handful were killed.
Two days later, they spotted 1,000 emus and planned to ambush the birds.
They again, scattered and dodged the fire even at close range and only 10 emus were killed
and one of the Lewis guns jammed.
One of the soldiers said:
"The emus have proved that they are not so stupid and they are usually considered to be.
Each mob has its leader, always an enormous black-plume bird standing fully 6 feet high who keeps watch,
while his fellows, busy themselves with the wheat.
At the first suspicious sign, he gives the signal and dozens of heads stretch-up out of the crop.
A few birds will take fright, starting a head-long stampede for the scrub.
The leader always remaining, until his followers have reached safety."
The next tactic was to mount one of the Lewis guns on a truck.
This failed too because the ride was bumpy and the emus were too fast, making accuracy impossible.
The idea came to an end when a lone emu got caught in the steering wheel.
On November 8th, after the negative media coverage at the humorous failure to cull the emus
and discussion on the Australian House of Representatives, the group withdrew.
They had used up 2,500 rounds of ammunition and killed just 200 emus.
Major G.P.W. Meredith said in retrospect:
"If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds, it would face any army in the world.
They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks"
A second attempt on the 12 of November was made after more emu attacks on crops
It was more successful, claiming 986 kills using 9,860 rounds, at a rate of 10 rounds per confirmed kill.
Given these poor efforts, in the end, it was the emus that were victorious in the Great Emu War.
It was only after the government introduced bounties on the emus in 1934, that the mass calling was effective.
Today, emus are protected under the Evironment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999
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