The Time Australia Declared War on Birds (and Lost!)

Hey there, ever just stumble upon a bit of history that makes you go, ‘Wait, seriously?!’ Well, buckle up, because here’s one that often flies under the radar. Did you know that in 1932, the Australian military actually declared war on emus… and hilariously, kinda lost?

Yep, you heard that right! Picture this: it’s the midst of the Great Depression, and in a region of Western Australia, a bunch of World War I veterans had settled on farms, trying to make a living growing wheat. But they had an unexpected, feathered enemy: about 20,000 highly mobile, crop-devouring emus. These big birds, driven by a drought, were migrating and absolutely trampling and eating everything in their path. The farmers were desperate.

So, they appealed to the Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce, who, perhaps seeing it as a good public relations move and a chance for some target practice for soldiers, agreed to send in the military. And not just any military, mind you! They dispatched a small contingent led by Major G.P.W. Meredith, armed with two Lewis automatic machine guns and about 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The mission? Eradicate the emus!

Now, you might think, ‘Machine guns against birds? Easy win!’ But oh, how wrong they were. The emus, despite their size (they can be up to 6 feet tall!), are incredibly fast runners, reaching speeds of over 30 mph, and surprisingly agile. They’d scatter in small groups as soon as they sensed danger, making them incredibly difficult targets for the machine guns. The soldiers tried herding them, ambushing them, even mounting guns on trucks – but the emus often outsmarted them, outran them, or simply dispersed before they could get an effective shot.

After weeks of what can only be described as a rather comical and frustrating campaign, where thousands of rounds were fired for relatively few emu casualties, the operation was officially called off. Major Meredith reported that the emus were ‘invincible’ and that if we had an army with the ‘bullet-carrying capacity of these birds,’ it would ‘face any army in the world.’

It’s one of those wild, true stories that just makes you marvel at the unexpected challenges nature can throw at us, and how sometimes, even with modern technology, a bunch of determined birds can win the day against an actual army. Who knew, right?