The Great Emu War RP

Emu War - an operation to exterminate emus carried out in November-December 1932 by the Australian Armed Forces. The reason for the operation was mass complaints from farmers about the huge (several tens of thousands) number of emus attacking wheat crops in Campion District, Western Australia. Several soldiers armed with machine guns were used to kill the birds, which gave the press the opportunity to call the incident the "War on Emu". After the First World War, a large number of former Australian servicemen - along with a number of British veterans who had migrated to the continent - began farming in Western Australia, often in remote areas, establishing farms and growing wheat. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, these farmers were encouraged by the Australian government to increase their wheat acreage and were given a promise from the government - ultimately never fulfilled - to help them with subsidies. Despite the advice and the promise of subsidies, wheat prices continued to fall, and by October 1932 the issue was particularly acute; farmers began to prepare for harvest, while threatening to withhold wheat supplies. The challenges facing farmers have been increased by the migration of some 20,000 emus to the region. Emus regularly migrate after the breeding season, travelling to the coast from inland Australia. Due to the availability of cleared land and the additional water supply created to supply livestock to Western Australian farmers, emus have recognised the cleared land as good habitat and have begun raiding farms - particularly farmland in remote areas near Campion and Walgoolan. The emus ate and damaged crops, also leaving large holes in the fences they broke through which rabbits could enter, adding to crop losses.

First attack On 2 November, the soldiers arrived at Campion, where about 50 emus were spotted. As the birds were out of machine gun range, local settlers attempted to lure the emu flock into an ambush, but the birds split into small groups and fled so it was difficult to aim at them. Nevertheless, while the first round of machine gun fire was ineffective due to the long range of the targets, the second round of shots killed "some number" of birds. Later in the day, a small flock of emus was found and perhaps dozens of birds were killed. The next major event was on 4 November. Meredith ambushed a local dam and over 1,000 emus were seen heading towards his position. This time the gunners waited for the birds to get close before opening fire. The machine gun, however, malfunctioned after killing only twelve birds and the rest scattered before they could be killed. No other birds were seen on this day. In the following days, Meredith decided to move further south, where the birds "seemed to be quite tame," but had only limited success despite his efforts. At one stage Meredith even went so far as to mount one of the machine guns on a lorry, a move that proved ineffective as the lorry was unable to keep up with the birds and the ride was so rough that the gunner could not fire a single shot. By 8 November, six days after the first "fight", 2,500 rounds of ammunition had been expended. The number of birds killed is unknown: one report gives only 50 birds, but other reports speak of numbers in the range of 200 to 500 - the latter figure was cited by settlers. Meredith's official report reported, among other things, that his men suffered no casualties. On 8 November, MPs in the Australian House of Representatives debated the operation. Following negative coverage in the local media, which also said that "only a few" emus had been killed, Pearse withdrew troops and machine guns from 8 November.

After the withdrawal, Major Meredith compared the Emu to the Zulus and commented

Second attack rule After the military left, emu attacks on wheat fields continued. Farmers again asked for help, citing the heat and drought that had caused thousands of emus to invade their farms. James Mitchell, Premier of Western Australia, organised strong support for the resumption of military aid. In addition, the report of the commander of the operation indicated that about 300 emus had been killed at the start of the operation. Acting on the farmers' requests and the report of the operation commander, on 12 November the Minister of Defence allocated an armed detachment to resume efforts to eradicate the emus. He defended the decision in the Senate, explaining why soldiers were needed to deal with the serious agricultural threat posed by large numbers of emus. Although the military agreed to provide arms to the Western Australian government in the hope that they would find the right men to use them, Meredith was sent back to the "battlefield" due to the apparent lack of experienced machine gunners in the state. Taking up the "battle" on 13 November 1932, the military had some success during the first two days, killing about 40 emus. The third day, 15 November, was much less successful, but by 2 December machine guns were killing about 100 emus a week. Meredith was recalled on 10 December, and in his report he claimed 986 kills with 9,860 bursts of shots, meaning it took more than 10 bullets to kill each emu (one burst is more than one shot). In addition, Meredith claimed that 2,500 birds died as a result of the wounds they sustained.