Monday! Today we will learn about the Great Emu War, with bonus Emos =)
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BadKitties
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My son has inherited my love of trivia and nonsensical facts. Today he told me about the Great Emu War of 1932. I had never heard about it, so naturally further research was required.
Emus are large, flightless birds that are native to Australia. They should not be confused with "Emos," which are...uh...a form of teenager characterized by...uh...lank hair, I think.
Here is a handy guide to emus vs emos
So...on to the Great Emu War!
In the wake of World War I, over 5000 veterans had set up camp on the fringes of the emus’ habitats in Western Australia. It was part of a soldier settlement program to help the soldiers make a living farming the land. However, drought caused many of the crops to fail, and emus had a tendency to gobble up what was left.
--snip--
However, despite these killings, by 1932, an estimated 20,000 emus invaded the farmers’ fields and the bountiful food supply they provided. The farmers knew they had to do something. The usual way to lodge a complaint about farming conditions would have been to appeal to the Minister of Agriculture. The ex-soldier farmers didn’t trust the Minister of Agriculture, though, so they approached the Minister of Defence instead, who more or less declared war on the birds. He granted the farmers the use of two Lewis machine guns and 10,000 bullets, plus the expertise of two gunners and Major G.P.W. Meredith. Given these resources, this was sure to be an easy victory.
A quick recap: Two determined farmers/gunners, one Major, two machine guns, and 10,000 bullets vs 20,000 large flightless birds. What could possibly be the outcome?
Well...the humans underestimated the birds. Badly. The emus seemed to figure out how to stay out of range of the guns, and the guns themselves weren't infallible. An attempt to shoot 100 birds gathered together failed when the machine gun jammed, and the emus seized the opportunity to escape.
When Meredith and his Merry Men realized how fast the emus could run, they had the idea to attach a machine gun on the back of a moving vehicle and chase after them. Again, this tactic failed. The gunman was too busy attempting to hold on to shoot the gun. The emus raced to the relative safety of the trees, regrouped, and scattered. Even if the gunner had been able to shoot, the vehicle would only be able to chase after one bird at a time, making it impossible to kill off a large number of birds at once. Not a single bird was killed using this tactic.
Source
An emu
The emus proved to be formidable foes for the hapless ex-soldiers and the brave Major Meredith. As quoted in Australian media:
“The emus have proved that they are not so stupid as they are usually considered to be. Each mob has its leader, always an enormous black-plumed bird standing fully six-feet high, who keeps watch while his fellows busy themselves with the wheat. At the first suspicious sign, he gives the signal, and dozens of heads stretch up out of the crop. A few birds will take fright, starting a headlong stampede for the scrub, the leader always remaining until his followers have reached safety.”
Despite the best efforts of the veterans and their fearless leader, they were foiled by the intrepid feathered fiends:
“On 8 November, it was reported that Major Meredith’s party had used 2,500 rounds of ammunition – twenty-five per cent of the allotted total – to destroy 200 emus,” says Johnson. “When one New South Wales state Labor politician enquired whether ‘a medal was to be struck for those taking part in this war’, his federal counterpart in Western Australia, responded that they should rightly go to the emus who ‘have won every round so far’.”
A second campaign was mounted by Major Meredith on 13 November 1932, killing 40 emus. Two days later, barely any, but about a month later its was reported that 100 emus were being killed every week. Even so, Meredith did the maths and found that it took 10 bullets to bring down every one emu, which was a pretty dismal effort. He was recalled and – all praise our skittery warrior bird-giants – the Great Emu War had finally come to an end.
Source
All hail the victors!
And the defeat was defended....
A news report
Have a happy and hopefully un-emutional Monday! There is more information on the emu wars available through teh Google, should you be so inclined. Also, if anyone is an emo, please feel free to elucidate or explain further :)