The Great Emu War

Have you ever heard the story of The Great Emu War?

It is a part of Australian history that many think is a myth, however it did actually happen. In Western Australia 1932 many of the ex-soldiers were granted land to farm, to support themselves, and to boost productivity.

Attention Of The Emu

As these farms became more established and they expanded their crops it started to attract the attention of the emu, a large native flightless bird in the region that can grow up to six feet tall. These emus would migrate in search of better conditions for themselves (just like people do) so it was only a matter of time before they came across the farms and crops that had been planted. The farmers were not too happy to see these birds gobbling up their wheat fields so they asked for help from the Australian government who decided to deploy a military solution to combat the local bird population.

Too smart for you

Soldiers from the Royal Australian Artillery armed themselves with machine guns to cull the local emus in a bid to protect the farmlands (instead of simply improving fencing). The soldiers assumed it would be a straight forward operation and they were initially able to kill a number of emus. However, due to the birds speed and ability to function effectively in small groups as well as larger ones, it did not have the impact they had wanted.

The emus appeared to deploy lookouts that would then alert the others when soldiers were spotted and would scatter into smaller groups to evade the machine guns. They could cover large distances at speed, as emus have the ability to run at up to 50 km/h. And if that wasn't enough, the birds also had some luck on their side and avoided the soldiers ambush strategies, proceeding to stomp all over the farmers wheat fields.

Declare a ceasefire

The news coverage surrounding the event resulted in public astonishment. The war against these birds, even with the excessive deployment and tactics used, was deemed a failure. There were even reports of two farmers trying to pay their tax bills with emus.

In the end the military declared a ceasefire and withdrew. The emus remained and the farmers had to co-exist with the local wildlife population.

This story is a reminder that we need to co-exist with nature, and not alter it to be solely for human benefit. While many people have become more enlightened, we should be mindful of what is still going on in our communities.