The Great Emu War of 1932: When Australia Went to Battle with Birds (and Lost)

The War No One Expected

Wars are usually fought over land, power, or ideology. But in 1932, Australia fought a war against… birds. Not just any birds, but emus — the towering, flightless creatures that roam the Australian outback.

Armed with machine guns and led by military officers, soldiers were sent to Western Australia to deal with what farmers saw as an invasion. The enemy was not armed, did not strategize in human terms, and certainly did not sign a peace treaty. Yet somehow, the emus won.

The bizarre episode quickly became legend, remembered as the “Great Emu War,” one of history’s strangest military operations — equal parts comedy and tragedy, with a touch of absurdity.

The Setting: Australia in the Early 1930s

To understand why the government declared war on birds, you have to picture Australia in the early 1930s. The country was reeling from the Great Depression. Wheat farmers in Western Australia were struggling. Prices had collapsed, debts were piling up, and drought conditions made life even harder.

On top of economic woes, farmers faced a peculiar enemy: emus. These giant birds, standing up to two meters tall, lived in large numbers across the continent. Normally, they stayed inland. But after breeding season, emus migrated toward the coast, searching for food and water. In 1932, thousands of them arrived in the wheat-growing districts of Western Australia — just as the harvest was ripening.

To the farmers’ horror, the emus trampled fences, devoured crops, and left destruction in their wake. With livelihoods on the line, they turned to the government for help. And in a strange twist of history, the government answered… with guns.

The Call for Military Action

Farmers petitioned the Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce, for assistance. They argued that if soldiers were sent with machine guns, the problem could be solved quickly. At the time, the military was not exactly eager to deploy troops against birds. But Pearce saw an opportunity. Sending soldiers might help farmers, boost morale, and provide training for the army in the midst of economic crisis.

So the plan was approved. Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery was put in charge. He was given two soldiers, armed with two Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The “war” was on.

The First Engagements

In November 1932, the soldiers set out for the wheat fields. They expected an easy fight. After all, how could birds possibly stand up against trained men and automatic weapons?

The first skirmishes, however, proved otherwise. When the soldiers opened fire, the emus scattered into small groups, running in all directions. Despite their size, emus are incredibly fast, capable of sprinting up to 50 kilometers per hour. Their unpredictable movements made them difficult targets, even for machine gunners.

The first day ended with only a handful of birds downed. The soldiers were stunned. The emus seemed to anticipate their attacks, disappearing into the brush before the guns could be aimed.

The Emus Strike Back

Over the next weeks, the campaign grew increasingly farcical. Soldiers chased flocks across the countryside, firing bursts of ammunition, but the emus simply outran them. When troops set up ambushes, the birds avoided them. It seemed as if the emus were organized, with scouts and leaders directing their movements. Farmers swore the emus had “a military system of their own.”

At one point, Major Meredith reported that one flock of 1,000 emus had been spotted. The soldiers opened fire, only for the machine gun to jam after a few shots. The birds scattered and escaped. Another attempt involved mounting a gun on a truck, but the vehicle couldn’t keep up on rough terrain, and the bouncing made aiming impossible.

By December, after thousands of rounds fired, fewer than 1,000 emus had been killed. Considering the estimated population of 20,000, the campaign was a complete failure.

The Aftermath of the “War”

Word of the strange campaign spread quickly. Newspapers at home and abroad mocked Australia, painting the military as incompetent and the emus as brilliant tacticians. Cartoons depicted soldiers fleeing from giant birds, while journalists joked that the emus had “divided themselves into small guerrilla bands.”

Politically, the fiasco was embarrassing. Critics attacked the government for wasting resources during the Depression, while farmers remained furious that their crops were still being destroyed. By December, the operation was called off. The emus had won.

But the story didn’t quite end there. Farmers continued to struggle with emu invasions for years. The government eventually turned to other solutions, such as bounty hunting and building exclusion fences. These methods proved more effective, though the memory of the “war” never faded.

Legacy of the Great Emu War

The Great Emu War became part of Australian folklore. It has been remembered as both a tragedy — highlighting the desperation of farmers during the Depression — and a comedy, exposing the absurdity of using military force against wildlife.

Major Meredith himself later admitted admiration for the emus. He described them as having “remarkable powers of survival,” noting that they could withstand multiple bullets and keep running. “If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds,” he joked, “it would face any army in the world.”

Today, the Emu War is taught as a quirky episode in history, often alongside tales like the Boston Molasses Flood or the Cadaver Synod. It’s a reminder that history isn’t always about kings and battles — sometimes, it’s about the strange, the unexpected, and the deeply human moments when people find themselves at odds with nature.

A Battle Written in Feathers

The Great Emu War of 1932 was never really a war, but it was certainly a battle — between human pride and nature’s stubborn resilience. The soldiers had the guns, the training, and the authority of the state. The emus had nothing but speed, endurance, and sheer numbers.

In the end, the birds triumphed. Crops were destroyed, soldiers embarrassed, and a legend born. Nearly a century later, the Emu War is still remembered, retold, and laughed over — a story of the time when Australia went to war against its own wildlife, and the wildlife won.