Have you ever heard about the Great Emu War of 1932?

🔊 Listen to Post

There once was a historic event so bizarre yet hilarious, some could go “down under” from emotional damage after hearing about it. Or rather, emu-tional damage in this case. 

Some time after World War I ended, Australian soldiers returned to their homeland with no plans of what to do thereon after. So, the government at the time sent the veterans to the western side of Australia to settle further down in the land. The plan was to turn this land into farming areas, known as the Campion district, to grow wheat, improve the economy, and help the veterans settle back into regular life. 

However, the Great Depression came by and, like many other parts of the world, threw Australia into chaos. This led to a drop in wheat prices and a rise in frustration. To top this all off, a surprise third party entered the picture, or rather, ran into the picture in 1932. 

The emus, a flightless bird native to Australia, became menaces to the soldiers-turned-farmers, devastating wheat farms in western Australia for weeks on end. The Australian government then sent three members of the Royal Australian Artillery to proclaim a war on the enemy — the emus. 

The government gave these members two Lewis automatic machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. They were assigned to cull around 20,000 emus. While these emus were ruining wheat crops during a time of economic turmoil, this is probably overcompensating those emus. 

Believe it or not, a film crew was also sent with the three members to record them “taking care” of the emus. This was all to show the government cares about what’s happening to those affected by the economic crisis — attempting to kill animals who don’t even know a government declared war on them. 

Yet somehow, the funny birds more than held their own on the battlefield. Even though dozens of emus were taken down, more refused to go down, to the shock and dismay of the ones firing the weapons. Long story short, emus are more difficult to take down than you’d think because of their feathers. 

There was even a hilarious event of someone clinging on for dear life on the back of a truck instead of shooting at an emu as a plan of attack. 

After two months, less than 1,000 emus were taken down. What seemed to be a canon event for the country, the Great Emu War came to an end, and the emus came out victorious over Australia — an event that was mocked nationally and internationally, and continues to be mocked almost 100 years later. 

After securing such an overwhelming victory over the country, all those emus should’ve been  honoured by Australia. Granted, the emu is already recognized as one of Australia’s national animals, alongside the kangaroo, and is also on their coat of arms. 

Australia should hold a national emu day to honour this surprisingly interesting animal. Or, if we were to get a Pokémon game based on Australia, an emu should be a legendary Pokémon on the cover of one of the games. That would be one standout way to immortalize the emu. 

It’s crazy to think how Australia has a ton of chaotic and nightmarish wildlife, like large snakes and animals that look like they’re from another world. Yet somehow, it’s a funny bird that’s the most intimidating.