Emu War

The **Emu War**, also called the **Great Emu War**, was a military operation in Australia in late 1932. Emus are large birds that cannot fly. Wild emus only live in Australia. 

The Australian army killed many emus because the farmers thought they were pests. Farmers were having trouble with the many emus invading the Campion district of Western Australia. Soldiers tried to kill emus with Lewis guns. The media called the military action against birds the "Emu War". The army did kill some, but there were still many emus and they continued to destroy crops.

## Background
After World War I, the Australian government gave land to many ex-soldiers from Australia and some from Great Britain. The government gave these settlers land to farm in Western Australia. Much of the land was not very good. When the Great Depression hit Australia in 1929, the government told these farmers to grow more wheat. The government promised to help by giving money to farmers. But the farmers did not get the money. 

Wheat was losing its worth. By October 1932, there were big problems in Western Australia. The farmers were ready to harvest the season's crop but they also threatened the government. They said they might not deliver the wheat.

Farmers' lives and work became even worse when about 20,000 emus arrived. Emus regularly migrate (move from one area to another in big groups) after breeding each year. They return to the coast from inland areas. Western Australian farmers had cleared more land and made water supplies for their livestock and crops better. The emus went to the settlers' farms. They were good places for the emus to live. Emus began to move into farms. Many moved into the farms around Chandler and Walgoolan.

Farmers complained to the government about the emu destroying the crops. A group of veteran settler-farmers went to meet with the Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce. The settler-farmers had been soldiers in World War I. They understood machine guns. They asked the government to send machine guns. The minister agreed. But, he wanted soldiers to use the guns, not the settler-farmers. The Western Australian government would pay to transport the soldiers. The farmers would give them food and places to live. The farmers would also pay for the bullets. Pearce also wanted to send the guns because the birds would be good target practice for the soldiers. Some in the government may have thought the military operation would make the government look good. People would see that they were helping the Western Australian farmers. They wanted to stop a plan for Western Australia to become an independent country. A cinematographer (movie-maker) from Fox Movietone joined the soldiers.]]
The military began to fight the birds in October 1932. They were armed with two Lewis guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

### First attempt
On 2 November, the men travelled to Campion. They saw about 50 emus there. But, again, he had only limited success even though he and his men tried very hard to kill more emus. Meredith was desperate. He even tried to put one of the guns on a truck. This failed because the truck was slower than the emus. The ride was so rough that the gunner could not fire any shots. that included claims that "only a few" emus had died,

After the withdrawal, Major Meredith compared the emus to Zulus and commented on the striking maneuverability (ability to move quickly and carefully) of the emus, even while badly hurt.

### Second attempt 
After the soldiers retreated, the emus continued to attack crops. Farmers again asked for support, citing the hot weather and drought that brought emus invading farms in the thousands. James Mitchell, the Premier of Western Australia, lent his strong support to renewal of the military assistance. At the same time, a report from the Base Commander was issued that indicated 300 emus had been killed in the initial operation.

## Aftermath 
In and after 1930, farmers built fences to keep emus out of farms. The fences stopped dingoes and rabbits too.

By December 1932, people in the United Kingdom had heard about the Emu War. Some people who cared about animals said killing the emus was bad. They called it "extermination of the rare emu". Dominic Serventy and Hubert Whittell, Australian ornithologists, described the "war" as "an attempt at the mass destruction of the birds".

Some farmers asked the army to fight the emus again in 1934, 1943, and 1948. Each year, the government said no. Instead, the government continued the bounty system that had started in 1923. This worked. For six months in 1934, Western Australians killed 57,034 emus and asked for the bounty money.

## Legacy
Playwright Simeon Yialeloglou and composer James Court made a musical adaptation of the story in Melbourne in 2019. A movie about the War, written by John Cleese, Monty Franklin, and Rob Schneider, is being planned.

## Related pages 
* Emu

## Notes
## References 
## Other websites
* How we lost the "Emu War" 
* Plants & Animals: Emu
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