The Emu War: When Australia Lost to Birds
In 1932, the Australian military deployed machine guns against 20,000 emus destroying farmland in Western Australia — and effectively lost. Behind the absurdity lies a story of desperate WWI veterans, broken government promises, and how a nation learned the limits of force against nature.
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Twenty thousand emus invaded Western Australian farms after veterans were settled on marginal, unproductive land.
The military deployed Lewis guns and ten thousand rounds of ammunition to combat the bird infestation.
Emus used instinctive guerrilla tactics and high speeds to evade organized military maneuvers.
The operation failed with a ratio of ten bullets expended for every single bird killed.
Soldier-settlement schemes collapsed due to high debt, drought, and the Great Depression wheat price crash.
The government eventually replaced military force with a bounty system and ammunition subsidies for farmers.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Call to Arms2 min
- 03The Broken Promise of the Land2 min
- 04Tactical Mismatch2 min
- 05The Aftermath and Folklore2 min
- 06Outro1 min
- Emu War - Wikipedia
- Emu War | Australia, Casualties, History, Summary, & Facts | Britannica
- The bizarre story of when Australia went to war with emus—and lost
- The Great Emu War: How Flightless Birds Beat the Australian Army
- Looking back: Australia's Emu Wars
- Soldier settlement
- On the Land: The Soldier Settlement Scheme
- Soldier settlement scheme - memorandum on status in Beerburrum, Queensland
- Soldier settlement - Wikipedia
- SOLDIER SETTLEMENT AFTER WORLD WAR ONE IN SOUTH
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