The Australian ‘Emu War’: How It Started And Who Won?

In history, we get to read about many stories of battles. But have you ever seen or heard about the fight between humans and birds? You must be finding this a bit strange. Let us tell you that this interesting incident happened in the year 1932, about which whoever hears it cannot remain surprised. Let’s talk about the great Australian Emu War and know how it started and who won it.

What is Australian EMU War

The Australian government had given land to a large number of retired veterans after the First World War to take up farming. The land was in Western Australia that retired veterans received. Now the soldiers became farmers here and started farming. In 1929, with the onset of the Great Depression, these farmers were encouraged to grow wheat crops, with the government promising, and failing to deliver, assistance in the form of subsidies. 

Despite the promised subsidies and the recommendations, wheat prices continued to fall, and by October 1932 the situation intensified, with the farmers preparing to harvest the crop while simultaneously threatening to refuse to deliver the wheat. The farmers’ difficulties were worsened when the giant wild bird emu attacked their crops. The most surprising thing here was that the number of these birds was not 2-4 but around 20 thousand.

Heading to the coast

After their breeding season, Emus regularly migrate heading to the coast from the inland regions. With the additional water supplies and cleared land being available for livestock by the Western Australian farmers, the emus found that the cultivated lands were good habitat, and they began to foray into farm territory, in particular the marginal farming land around Walgoolan and Chandler. The emus consumed and spoiled the crops, leaving big gaps in fences where rabbits could enter and create further problems.

Farmers were very concerned about the birds destroying their crops, and a deputation of ex-soldiers was sent to meet with Sir George Pearce, the Minister of Defence. Having served in World War I, the soldier-settlers were well known for the effectiveness of machine guns, and they approached their deployment. 

Sir George agreed, although with conditions attached: troop transport was to be financed by the Western Australian government, the guns were to be used by military personnel, and the farmers would provide accommodation, food, and payment for the ammunition. He also supported the deployment because the Emus would make good target practice, while it has also been argued that some in the government may have viewed the operation as a way of being seen to be helping the farmers, as well as to stave off the secession movement that was brewing. 

The Emu War 

The day was November 2, 1932. The soldiers sent by the Australian government started the operation to kill the emus. They saw some 50 emus sighted, but when they aimed at them with the machine gun, the Emus realized that they were about to be attacked and ran away quickly, out of the range of the machine gun. A second round of gunfire was able to kill an Emu. Later the same day a small group of Emus was encountered, and “perhaps a dozen” Emus were killed.

Something similar happened on November 4, 1932. The soldiers saw a herd of about 1000 emus and were about to fire at them when the machine gun jammed. The gun jammed after only 12 birds were killed and other emus fled and they became very alert after this incident.

Now, the emus had divided themselves into small groups to stay safe from the attacks. It was noticed that in each group, an emu was engaged in the work of surveillance who was bigger than others emus, his work is to stay alert and keep his eyes all around. During this time, they kept destroying crops a lot, but as soon as they felt that they were going to be attacked, they would run away from there.

What happened in this operation

In this operation that lasted for six days, about 2500 rounds were fired by the soldiers. But, out of 20 thousand Emus, they were successful in killing only 50. Later, when these incidents came to the attention of the media, they started being discussed in the entire country and the government started being criticized. Eventually, the government withdrew the army. But when the attacks of emus on the farms became more intense. In such a situation, once again the army started the operation on 13 November. The military found some success over the first two days, with approximately 40 emus killed. 

On the 15th of November, the third day, proved to be not successful. But approximately 100 emus per week were killed by 2 December soldiers. Meredith, the charge of soldiers, was recalled on 10 December. In his report, he claimed 9860 rounds were fired and 986 Emus were killed. In addition, he claimed exactly 2,500 wounded emus had also died from their injuries.

On 23 August 1935, an article in the Coolgardie Miner reported assessing the success of the cull. That although the use of machine guns had been “criticized in many quarters. The method proved effective and saved the remaining wheat crop”. Ultimately, the emus were considered the winners of the emu war. Australian wild emus became formally protected in 1999 by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. 

Aftermath

Despite the situation encountered with the cull, the farmers once again requested military assistance in 1934, 1943, and 1948. It was only to be turned down by the government. Instead, the bounty system that had been instigated in 1923 was continued. This proved to be effective: over six months in 1934, 57,034 bounties were claimed. 

By December 1932, the title “Emu War” had spread, reaching the United Kingdom. Some conservationists there protested the cull as “extermination of the rare emu”. Hubert Whittell and Dominic Serventy, the eminent Australian ornithologists, described the “emu war” as “an attempt at the mass destruction of the emus”. 

Throughout 1930 and onward, exclusion barrier fencing proved an effective means of keeping emus out of fields. It was in addition to other vermin, such as rabbits and dingoes.

In the federal parliament, Hugh Leslie raised the issues of emus in November 1950. He urged Josiah Francis, an Army Minister, to release a quantity of .303 ammunition from the army. It was for the use of farmers. Josiah Francis approved the release of 500,000 rounds of ammunition.

The story has gained much popularity in recent years. An action-comedy film, titled The Emu War, premiered on 22 October 2023 at Monster Fest. Another action-comedy movie retelling of the events, written by John Cleese, Jim Jefferies, Monty Franklin, Camilla Cleese and Rob Schneifer, is aiming to begin production soon.

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