Amusing history: Why Australians went to war with birds during the Great Emu War of 1932 

Throughout the course of history, wars have been fought all over the world- from the Trojan War in 1300 BCE to World War II in 1939. Usually, wars are fought amongst countries, empires, dynasties, etc. However, a peculiar war took place in Australia back in 1932 which involved birds. Yes, you read that right! In a bizarre circumstance, the nation down under was left with no choice but to declare a war on one of its beloved flightless birds- the Emu. What’s even more shocking is that the country actually ended up losing the war! Read on to find out the amusing story behind the Great Emu War. 

Why did the Australian government declare a war on Emus? 
The Great Emu war of Western Australia was declared on December 10, 1932. However, the primary issue for this decision had start simmering back in 1915. The Australian Government had launched a soldier settlement programme for its World War I veterans. This is because most of them at the time were left unemployed. Moreover, this was also the era of the Great Depression in Australia, which made their situation even worse as the Government was in no position to offer them pensions. So, about 5,000, veterans were compensated with huge farmlands for cultivating wheat and rearing sheep. The only problem was that the part of Australia where these farmlands were located, referred to as Emu country, was also one of the most remote and inhospitable places in the country. As the name suggests, it was flooded with emus who went on to destroy and devastate the newly acquired farmlands. More than 20,000 emus were reported to have destroyed the crops. Once classified as a “protected species” these birds were now considered as vermin.   

How was this war fought? 
The war veterans, now farmers, barraged their government and sent complained incessantly about this situation. They even threatened to abandon the farmlands. As a consequence of the increasing pressure from farmers unions and other activists, a decision was made on November 2, 1939 for the Australian army to intervene and sort this out. It was reported that the soldiers were armed with as many as 10,000 rounds of ammunition and machine guns for an open attack. However, they failed in this mission as the nimble birds were too tough to kill. Post this, several new strategies were employed in this war- even guerrilla warfare. However, the emus adapted to every new tactic and escaped successfully. The war was called off after 38 days, with the government choosing to compensate the farmers through different means. Ammunition was provided to them free of cost and bounties were placed on the birds as incentives.  

Now, emus have been declared once again as a “protected species”. However, it is not illegal to kill them if they enter private properties.