Remembering the Great Emu War

84 years ago on this day, the military forces of the Commonwealth of Australia were forced to concede defeat in a month-long siege against a most persistent and fearsome enemy: emus.

Yup. You read that right. A large number of soldiers armed with machine guns went up against, and ultimately lost to a bunch of flightless birds who look like this:

In the years following World War 1, large numbers of ex-soldiers from Australia, along with a number of British veterans, were forced to take up farming in the Western plains due to a lack of jobs. Around 5,030 ex-soldiers were given plots of land, which they were to convert into working farms to cultivate wheat and rear sheep, a task made more difficult than it already was due to lack of governmental assistance. The Great Depression of 1929 only added to their woes as the farmers were encouraged to multiply production of their wheat crops, with the government promising — and once again failing to deliver — assistance in the form of subsidies.

Then everything changed when the emu-nation attacked.

Okay, well. . . “attacked” might be too strong a term. But with 20,000 emus suddenly converging on their wheat fields, one couldn’t really blame the owners of these farms for assuming the worst.

It just so happens that emus regularly migrate after their breeding season, heading to the coast from the inland regions. With the cleared land and additional water supplies being made available for livestock by the West Australian farmers, the emus found that the cultivated lands were good habitat, and they began to move deeper into farm territory. Even the formidable efforts of trained war veterans did not deter these birds, since their sheer numbers made it impossible for a small number of rifles to cause any significant damage.

In desperation, the farmers called upon the Australian Army for help against these fearless flightless fowl; and amazingly, the Army responded. Under the command of Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery, a grand total of two soldiers armed with Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition set out to take on the entire emu population of Western Australia.

That’s right: 2 soldiers with 2 machine guns going up against 20,000 emus. The whole situation seemed like a set-up for a Hollywood action movie.

Unfortunately, it didn’t play out as well as everyone had hoped it would.

The operation, set to begin on October 31st, ended up being delayed due to a period of rainfall that caused the emus to scatter. Then on November 2nd, the troops, accompanied by the farmers, chose to Campione where around a 100 odd birds had been sighted. The soldiers drew first blood that day, killing about a dozen birds and wounding several more.

Things only got progressively worse from there.

On November 4th, the armed group located a gathering of 1000 emus near a dam. According to reports, the concealed gun waited until the birds were at point-blank range opening fire. They were able to kill only twelve birds before the guns jammed and the rest scattered.

The days that followed showed lesser sightings of the flightless birds, though the damage to the wheat crops went unabated. The troops found themselves growing increasingly frustrated due to the emus’ use of guerrilla tactics. Major Meredith even went as far as to mount a machine gun on a truck and chase the emus down, but quickly found that the birds’ maneuverability and the rocky terrain made it downright impossible to take a good shot at the enemy.

As one soldier was reported saying:

“The emus have proved that they are not so stupid as they are usually considered to be. Each mob has its leader, always an enormous black-plumed bird standing fully six-feet high, who keeps watch while his fellows busy themselves with the wheat. At the first suspicious sign, he gives the signal, and dozens of heads stretch up out of the crop. A few birds will take fright, starting a headlong stampede for the scrub, the leader always remaining until his followers have reached safety.”

By November 8th, Meredith’s team had used up 2500 rounds of ammunition, one-fourth of their allotted quota, to kill only about 200 emus. The whole situation was becoming a source of frustration and embarrassment for the Australian Government, which recommended the withdrawal of troops from the region.

The emus had won. For now.

However, the entire operation was far from over. As the emu attacks on the wheat farms continued and demands for assistance grew, Meredith was sent back to resume the operation on November 13th. By December, the troops were averaging a 100 emu kills a week. Meredith’s calculations put down the final tally at 986 dead emus at the cost of 9800 rounds of ammunition, i.e., it took the armed soldiers 10 rounds to bring down a single emu, though it has been speculated that at least 2500 birds had died due to injuries sustained via gunfire. However, that number was never confirmed.

On December 10th, Meredith and his troops were recalled, and the entire operation was suspended. Despite the complete lack of human causalities, the operation was widely deemed a failure.

As ornithologist Dominic Serventy succinctly summarized the series of events:

“The machine-gunners’ dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.”

Put simply: the emus had won the war.

Sadly, this victory was short-lived. With mounting pressure from the farmers to combat the emu threat, the government reinstated the bounty system on these birds, which had last been active in 1923. This strategy worked better than any military operation ever could have, with 57,034 emus killed over a six-month period in 1934. This culling went on intermittently until the 1960s, and was shut down when wild emus were granted formal protection under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999.

The current emu population of Australia ranges between 600,000–700,000 birds, which is considered “stable” by environmentalists. And while there is no immediate danger of another inevitable clash, we humans would be wise to remember not to underestimate these flightless fowl.

As Major Meredith himself has testified:

“If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world… They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks.”