The History of~The Emu War

This here is an Emu. It hails from Australia (*"The Land Down Under"*) it stands up to around 6 feet tall, weighs at around 90 LBS, can travel at speeds up to around 40 MPH, and can lay black colored eggs.

Now, you may not think that a mild-mannered animal like the Emu would cause any trouble to humans. But this was true in 1932 in Australia, in fact so much so, Australia had even declared war on them.

Yes, you read right, and ridiculous this may sound, The Emu War was a real thing.

## Prelude

After World War 1, Australian soldiers (either fought for the Australian military or ANZAC or "Australian-New Zealand Army Corp.") were promised by the Australian government that they would be given farmland in the Western part of the country to grow their crops as most of the soldiers who fought in the army during the war were Farmers that were drafted.

Things seem to be fine with these farmers, but as the depression came in November of 1929, the entire world felt the effects. The Australian government tried (and failed) to come up with some kind of compensation as the Farmers in Western Australia were pressured to increase their yield of wheat, but in the immediate years following the onset of the Great Depression, the price of wheat continued to drop, and these Farmers were struggling to make ends meet.

Now, you must be thinking by this point, "What does this have to do with the Emus?" Well, read more. They're coming.

The summer is usually "breeding season" for these birds, and after the breeding season (usually in October) they head back to Western Australia, only this time it's full of farmland.

Emus usually eat a diet of insects, but they can also eat small Spiders and Millipedes. But they can also scavenge for other things to eat, in this case, it's wheat. In 1932, a population of 20,000 Emus came to Western Australia after the breeding season and they began to feast on the crops in the region (with Rabbits finishing off what was leftover). This posed a huge problem for these farmers, and it wasn't long until they stepped up and said something, to the Australian government.

Australia's Minister of Defense, *George Pearce* had authorized the use of the Lewis Machine Guns (which was used in World War 1) and the Australian Military would be mobilized to deal with the Emu problem and Pearce even believed that these Emus would be easy to shoot.

But, he'll soon realize that he is "dead" wrong.

### First Battle

The war officially began in October of 1932, the Australian soldiers led by Major G.P.W. Meredith was armed with 2 Lewis Machine Guns and around 10,000 rounds of ammunition, but due to bad weather for the majority of that October. The actual battle did not begin until November 2.

Near the small farming town of Campion, the soldiers spotted around 50 Emus (it was also filmed by live media coverage). Locals tried (and failed) to round them up to make them easy targets for the soldiers, but scattered too much for them, plus the fact that the Lewis Machine Gun had a short-range (of around 880 Yards) so the soldiers were able to kill no more than a dozen Emus.

On November 4, the Soldiers found a group of around 1,000 Emus near a Dam. This time, the soldiers waited until the Emus got within range of their weapons, unfortunately, the Emus again scattered, and one of the machine guns jammed during the firefight. By November 8, reports stated that the Australian military had fired 2,500 rounds of ammunition in just 6 days, but was able to kill only 50 Emus (that's around 50 rounds of ammo for just 1 Emu).

Ornithologist Dominic Serventy even wrote about the first battle

> "The Machine Gunners' dreams of point-blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered Gorilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force, therefore, withdrew from the combat area after about a month."
>
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Major Meredith even said regarding the Emus as they are like (in his words) "Zulus" when discussing their ability to flee even wounded, even comparing them to Tanks (as Tanks during that time weren't as sophisticated as they are today) and could face any army in the world.

Eventually, the first battle was called off due to the failure of the operation and the fact that it was covered by local media.

### Second Battle

A few days have passed since the first failed battle against the Emus, and those birds are still causing problems for the farmers in Western Australia due to widespread drought and hot weather. Western Australia's premier *James Mitchell* appealed to the Australian Parliament to again send military aid into the region. On November 12, the second battle begins.

On November 13, the Australian military (still led by Meredith) found some success as they confirmed 40 Emus killed, but the success rate of the military dropped in the coming weeks. By December 2, the Australian military was reporting of around 100 Emus killed every week, Meredith even reported that 10 rounds were used for every Emu killed, and claims one time that 2,500 Emus that were wounded would eventually die.

## Aftermath

Eventhough the second battle found more success than the first. But the war would be far from over, and the Emus would be a problem for the Western Australian farmers for years to come, they requested military aid in 1934, 1943, and 1948, but would fall on deaf ears for the farmers. But, other methods would be used such as the introduction of *"Exclusion-Barrier Fencing"* which became more popular at trying to keep Emus and other pests out of the farmlands for the farmers.

But, news of this war spread quickly. In Great Britain, the media would even describe the Emu War as a way to kill rare birds.

In 1950, Australian politician *Hugh Leslie* had appealed to the Australian Parliament to approve .303 ammunition for Western Australian farmers as they would get 500,000 rounds of ammunition.

So, in conclusion, the winner of this particular war was the Emus as they outwitted humans. Eventually, the Emus left, but that was because most of the wheat that was grown was eventually harvested.

That will do it for this wiki page. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis as well. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.