The Emu War was an event that took place in Australia in late 1932, which gained notoriety for just how absurd a war between humans and emus sounds without context.
According to Wikipedia, the origins laid with the aftermath of World War I, when Australian veterans were encouraged to start their own farms. In the midst of The Great Depression, the farmers were expected to increase their wheat yield while waiting for government subsidies — which never arrived.
Making matters worse, around 20,000 emus arrived, devastating crops and leaving fences wide open for rabbits to cause additional damage — again, in the midst of the Great Depression, a time in which many lower-class people, such as farmers, were on the brink of starvation. Something had to be done, and following massive protest by the farmers, the Australian government, encouraged by Minister of Defence Sir George Pearce, decided to cull large numbers of the birds with military intervention. (The fact that they turned to the Ministry of Defence rather than, say, Agriculture probably has something to do with the fact that many farmers were ex-servicemen and were distrustful of a civilian government that had so far done nothing to help them.)
On November 2nd, 1932, members of the Royal Australian Artillery's 7th Heavy Artillery under the command of Major Gwynydd Purves Wynne-Aubrey Meredith set forth to Campion in response to the sighting of approximately 50 emus, armed with machine guns in a bid to get rid of the emu threat. However, the operation proved to be an embarrassing fiasco when the emus turned out to be unexpectedly difficult to kill, largely by virtue of scattering in all directions when confronted with the startling and unexpected sign of gunfire. The following days saw limited success and ridicule in local news, and the operation ceased a few days later.
Despite this, the emus continued to attack crops, and following approval from Premier of Western Australia James Mitchell, the war restarted on November 13th. The military initially managed to kill a respectable number of emus, killing 100 per week by December 2nd, but Meredith was recalled 8 days later, bringing an end to the Emu War. Approximately 986 emus were confirmed killed, with an additional 2,500 casualties according to Meredith, but the emu population was not significantly affected.
Following the fiasco, which had by then sparked criticism in other countries such as the United Kingdom, the Australian government instead put bounties on emus, which proved to be more effective at controlling the emu population: 57,034 being claimed over six months in 1934. Further requests from farmers for military assistance in 1934, 1943, and 1948 were denied, though the government did invest considerable resources in a series of pest-exclusion fences to deter emus (and other vermin) from migrating into the targeted regions — and while these have come with their own issues and controversies, they seem to be at least marginally more effective than machine gun patrols. For many decades, this event languished in relative obscurity, but then, the Internet came along and realized the meme potential of a "war" in which Australians lost to emus.
Depictions:
- The OverSimplified video "Emu War"
- The Extra Credits videos "Great Emu War"
- The Nation Being Thing strip '"Emu war"
- The Sam O'Nella Academy video "The Great Emu War"
- The Puppet History video "The Great Emu War"
