"The Great Emu War of 1932: When Australia Took on Its Feathered Foes"

The Great Emu War: Australia’s Unlikely Action Adjoin Birds

In 1932, in one of the added abnormal capacity of Australian history, the nation begin itself in a atrocious struggle—not adjoin an army of soldiers but adjoin bags of large, flightless birds accepted as emus.

The Great Emu War, as it came to be known, has back become allegorical for its anomaly and abrupt twists.

The After-effects of World War I and the Rise of Emu Trouble
After World War I, Australia encouraged abiding soldiers to booty up agriculture by acceding them acreage in the western arena of the country.

Many veterans, acquisitive for a new life, acclimatized into the asperous outback, acquisitive to about-face it into abundant farmland. However, as the Great Depression hit, these farmers faced ascent difficulties, and the aftermost affair they bare was addition enemy.

Enter the emus. Anniversary spring, bags of these large, flightless birds migrated civil from littoral regions. Emus are fast, intelligent, and acquire able legs, which makes them able of accoutrement all-inclusive distances quickly.

In 1932, as the emus swept into Western Australia, they wreaked havoc. Flocks of these birds trampled over fields, blaze crops, damaging fences, and abrogation the farmers’ already ambiguous livelihoods in ruins.

Calling in the Military

Desperate for a solution, the farmers petitioned the government, which, surprisingly, absitively to accelerate in the military. Led by Major G.P.W. Meredith, soldiers armed with two Lewis apparatus accoutrements and 10,000 circuit of armament arrived, absolutely able to allowance a action adjoin the birds.

A Action Like No Other

The aboriginal operation began in November 1932, with troops affective into position and advancing to ambuscade a army of emus abreast the boondocks of Campion. However, as the soldiers began firing, the emus scattered.

Far from actuality accessible targets, the emus angry out to be abundantly active and accomplished at abstention the gunfire. The birds breach into abate groups, anniversary army darting in altered directions, authoritative it about absurd to annihilate added than a few at a time.

Major Meredith, absorption on the battle, after declared the emus as accepting “bulletproof feathers.” Indeed, admitting again efforts, the soldiers begin it about absurd to accompany bottomward cogent numbers.



The emus seemed about impervious, able to balk and ambush the soldiers with ease. They were additionally decidedly resilient; some emus reportedly survived assorted gunshots afore assuredly collapsing.

A Humbling Defeat

After canicule of arresting attempts, the soldiers managed to annihilate alone a baby atom of the estimated 20,000 emus causing havoc. They alone the mission, regrouped, and attempted new strategies, but the emus connected to outsmart them. Major Meredith and his men fought hard, but the action was a askew one in favor of the birds. After about a month, the aggressive assuredly alleged off the campaign, acknowledging that the emus had, in effect, won the war.

The Legacy of the Great Emu War

Although amusing in hindsight, the Great Emu War appear the limitations of aggressive action in affairs of wildlife. In the aftermath, the Australian government approved added methods, including alms bounties for emu kills, which accepted somewhat added able in authoritative the population. However, the “war” charcoal one of the best abnormal aggressive campaigns in history.

Today, the Great Emu War is generally anecdotal as a account of perseverance, resilience, and the hasty ability of attributes to baffle animal intervention. For Australians, it has become a amusing but allegorical story, reminding them of the alternation of attributes and the accent of abasement in the face of acutely simple challenges.