All US Presidents
PRESIDENTIAL Pros & Cons – Part One
April 26, 2016
Civil War - Clash of the Ironclads
CIVIL WAR: Clash of the Ironclads!
May 10, 2016
Show all

The Great… Emu War?!

Emu War?

HEAR ALL ABOUT IT ON THE EPIK FAILS OF HISTORY PODCAST!

The Great Emu War of 1932

That one time the Australian Army faced off against a pack of wild Emus… and lost.

“If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world… They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks.” – The Sun Herald (1953)

So yeah, that happened.

The Australian Outback is a wild place fraught with hundreds of marsupials and various venomous creatures, most of which seem to be specifically engineered to kill humans. But only one particular species was formidable enough to take on the Australian army:

Emu soldier

Emus.

Yes, as in the Ostrich-like flightless bird.

I kid you not… %$#& Emus.

Australia, 1932 – Following the First World War, many Australian veterans took up farming wheat on the west coast. When the Great Depression struck, they were hit the hardest. To make matters worse, the Australian government wasn’t holding up their end of the bargain and skimping on their promised subsidies.

That’s when the first attack came: a formidable wave of 20,000 (!) Emus migrating to the sea, swarmed the farmlands and decimated their crops. They destroyed fences, ran amok and ate everything in sight.

'Crikey!' - The Crocodile Hunter

‘Crikey!’

These hardened WWI vets were hopelessly outnumbered and no match for the rampant stampeding Emus. The government quickly reclassified the protected species as ‘vermin’ and even put a bounty on their feathered heads to no avail! They needed backup.

Emu Army

‘We are legion’

The Minister of Agriculture was flabbergasted, so the Minister of Defense stepped in to take care of the rampant Emu problem. Re-dubbed the ‘Minister of the Emu War’, Sir George Pearce ordered the Australian army in to take out those pesky birds.

Emu - You thought the Dingo ate your baby...Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery led a pair of troops armed with Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition into battle against their fearsome foe: the dreaded Emu.

On November 2nd, they spotted a group of 50 emus but were out of range. With the help of local settlers, they attempted to heard the emus into an ambush, but the birds split off into two formations and outmaneuvered their flank. Then, on November 4th, the soldiers engaged the enemy (i.e. flightless birds) and managed to mow down 12 emus before their gun jammed giving the birds an opportunity to flee. The Major devised a plan to mount one of the guns to the back of a truck, but the cunning emu forces outran them on the rocky terrain.

Again and again, the emus seemed to out think them!

Emus in a row

An Emu platoon in formation.

“The machine-gunners’ dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.”

Despite not sustaining any casualties, the Australian troops retreated with very little to show for it.

The emus continued their assault on the veteran farmlands, like over-sized locusts. Wave after wave, in greater numbers than before. So once again the military launched a campaign in a desperate attempt to cull their numbers. Although they had greater success the second time around, the operation barely manage to dent the onslaught of emus.

WWI machine gun in action

These badass birds would not go down without a fight. One particularly hearty Emu took five bullets without slowing down! The report claimed 986 kills with 9,860 rounds, at a rate of exactly 10 rounds per confirmed kill… Think about that for a second: 10 bullets for every dead emu. For the record, that’s not very effective.

Farmers again called for help in 1934, 1943 and 1948, but this time the Army conceded defeat.

You win this round, Emus…

"Clever Girl" - Jurassic Park reference

                                               ERIK SLADER

Thanks for reading! If you’re a fan of the blog, be sure to listen to the Epik Fails of History podcast and check out my all new “EPIC FAILS” book series – available now wherever books are sold!

Patreon

Attack of the EmusThe War of Jenkin’s Ear?!

World War I – The Great War…

The “Battle” of Karánsebes

The Mongol Invasion(s) of Japan

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War

Emus vs. Humans: The Great Emu War of 1932

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/the-great-emu-war-in-which-some-large-flightless-birds-unwittingly-foiled-the-australian-army/

Erik Slader
Erik Slader
Erik Slader is the creator of “Epik Fails of History” a blog (and podcast) about the most epic fails… of history. With Ben Thompson, Erik is the co-author of the Epic Fails book series. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Media, once managed a comic book shop, has a weakness for fancy coffee and currently lives in Green Cove Springs, Florida with too many cats.

5 Comments

  1. Tawnya says:

    It’s verdy easy to find out any matterr on net aas compared to textbooks, as
    I found this post at this web page.

  2. filuda says:

    amazing

  3. […] *Also be sure to check out the original article on EpikFails.com! (2016) […]

  4. […] Radio Podcast #117 – God Bless the United Schates of Fail (*Explicit Language*)*Also be sure to check out the original Emu War article on EpikFails.com! (2016)“EPIC FAILS – The Race to Space: Countdown to Liftoff!” by Erik Slader and Ben Thompson […]

Leave a Reply to filuda Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.