About this episode Discover the bizarre true story of Australia's Great Emu War, where soldiers were deployed to combat a burgeoning emu invasion in the 1930s. With deadpan seriousness, this episode explores how a nation’s military effort was outmatched by flightless birds, revealing surprising truths behind this peculiar conflict. Listeners will gain insight into a strange chapter of history that challenges our expectations of warfare, nature, and human folly.
0:00 In late 1932, the Australian government deployed soldiers from the Royal Australian Artillery, armed with two Lewis machine guns and ten thousand rounds of ammunition.0:12 Their target was the emu.0:14 That's correct.0:15 A population of approximately twenty thousand emus.0:19 Last week, we discussed how a stray dog nearly triggered a war.0:23 It seems this week, the animals are one of the primary combatants.0:28 So, this was a formal declaration of war?0:31 Not formally, no.0:32 It was designated a military operation.0:35 But in the press, and in history, it's known as the Great Emu War.0:40 It began after ex-soldier farmers in Western Australia petitioned the Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce.0:48 They were struggling through the Great Depression, and their wheat crops were being decimated.0:55 Decimated by emus.0:57 Yes.0:57 The birds were migrating and found the new farmland to be, uh, an easy source of food.1:03 The farmers, many of them veterans, asked for military assistance.1:08 Minister Pearce agreed.1:10 And the assistance provided was machine guns.1:13 Two Lewis guns.1:14 The thinking was that professional soldiers could efficiently cull the population and protect the farms.1:22 It was also seen as a way to show government support for the struggling veterans.1:28 So the troops deploy.1:29 Major G.P.W.1:30 Meredith is in command.1:32 What were the initial engagements like?1:35 They were, uh, ineffective.1:37 The machine-gunners' plans for firing into dense masses of emus were quickly frustrated.1:43 The birds were exceptionally mobile.1:46 I would imagine so.1:48 When fired upon, they didn't panic in a predictable way.1:52 They scattered into innumerable small units.1:55 They were too fast for the trucks, and their erratic movements made them almost impossible targets for the machine guns.2:04 So the military hardware was a non-factor.2:07 Largely.2:07 One contemporary report stated, quote, "The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics." After the first attempt, the field force withdrew.2:18 The media began to take notice.2:21 It was becoming a public relations embarrassment.2:24 The army couldn't subdue a population of flightless birds.2:29 Exactly.2:29 Major Meredith reportedly compared the emus to tanks, noting their resilience.2:35 They could take multiple hits and keep running.2:38 But they didn't just give up after the first attempt.2:42 No, Major Meredith was redeployed.2:45 The second phase was slightly more successful, in terms of numbers.2:50 They achieved a kill rate of about one hundred emus per week.2:54 One hundred a week, out of a population of twenty thousand.2:59 Correct.2:59 It was an unsustainable operation.3:02 They were using a vast amount of ammunition for very few confirmed kills—the final official tally was nine hundred eighty-six emus.3:12 One commander was quoted as saying, "The emus have won every round so far." This feels less like a military campaign and more like a pest control problem being met with the wrong tools.3:25 That is the consensus analysis.3:28 This wasn't a failure of the soldiers, but a failure of the strategy.3:33 You cannot apply conventional military logic to an ecosystem.3:37 So the military eventually withdrew permanently.3:41 What happened to the farms?3:43 And the emus?3:44 The government turned to other methods.3:47 They instituted a bounty system, and more importantly, they provided assistance for the construction of pest-exclusion fencing.3:56 Which, I assume, was more effective than machine guns.4:00 Substantially.4:01 The fences actually addressed the root of the problem, which was emus getting into the crops.4:08 The military operation was quietly concluded in December 1932.4:12 And its legacy?4:14 It's a cautionary tale.4:15 It's often cited as an example of a government trying to provide a simple, forceful solution to a complex problem.4:24 The ambition was there, but as one analysis put it, they had to realize that ecosystems don't bend easily to military logic.4:33 It seems the emus never received that particular memo.4:37 They did not.4:38 They just kept running.
