In 1932, Australian soldiers armed with Lewis guns were sent to deal with thousands of emus destroying crops. The birds proved considerably harder to defeat than expected.
Australia Had an Emu Problem
In 1932, farmers in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt were struggling.
Thousands of emus moved into farming areas, damaging wheat crops and fences.
Many of the affected farmers were former soldiers.
They asked the government for help.
And the government decided this problem required the military.
Send in the Machine Guns
Soldiers from the Royal Australian Artillery arrived with Lewis machine guns.
This probably looked extremely unfair.
Humans had machine guns.
The emus had legs.
Then the shooting started.
And the emus scattered.
Instead of remaining in convenient groups, the birds proved frustratingly difficult targets.
An attempted ambush encountered problems.
Even mounting a gun on a vehicle didn’t turn the operation into the easy victory officials had expected.
The Emus Were Still There
The military operation continued in stages during November and December 1932.
It killed birds—but failed to solve the larger problem.
The campaign eventually ended, while the emu population remained very much present.
The story has since acquired the irresistible shorthand that Australia lost a war to emus.
Technically, it was a wildlife-control operation rather than an actual declared war.
But when your military campaign against flightless birds becomes internationally famous nearly a century later…
the birds probably won the public-relations battle.
History can be ugly.
But this? This was ridiculous.
Key Facts
- Event: Great Emu War
- Date: 1932
- Location: Western Australia
- Target: Emus damaging crops
- Military: Royal Australian Artillery
- Weapons: Lewis machine guns
- Commander: Major G. P. W. Meredith
- Outcome: Military cull failed to solve the emu problem
