23: The Great Emu War!

An Old Timey Podcast

Picture it! 1932. Western Australia. Emus were taking over. They were gobbling up and trampling farmers’ wheat, and in turn, destroying their livelihoods. Something had to be done. So, the Australian government came up with a *novel* solution. They’d arm three members of the Royal Australian Artillery with machine guns. They figured those tall, flightless birds would be easy prey. They were wrong.
Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Brisbane Telegraph. “Emu Butchery - Machine Gun Offensive.” November 1, 1932.
Brisbane Telegraph. “Emu Offensive - Birds More Than Hold Their Own - Setback for Gunners.” November 4, 1932.
Brisbane Telegraph. “Emu Slaughter - Machine Guns and Drive.” October 17, 1932.
Chisholm, A.H. “This Cruel Slaughter | Other Ways To Deal With Emus | Better Fences.” The Daily Telegraph, November 9, 1932.
Cook, Richard, and Srdan Jovanovic. “The Emu Strikes Back: An Inquiry into Australia’s Peculiar Military Action of 1932.” Romanian Journal of Historical Studies II, no. 1 (2019).
Crew, Bec. “The Great Emu War: In Which Some Large, Flightless Birds Unwittingly Foiled the Australian Army.” Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/running-ponies/the-great-emu-war-in-which-some-large-flightless-birds-unwittingly-foiled-the-australian-army/.
Daily Commercial News. “Charge of the First Australian Emuliers!” November 16, 1932.
Daily News. “Emu Chasers Must Outstrip Peter Pan.” November 9, 1932.
Daily News. “Gunners on Wild Emu Chase.” November 4, 1932.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate. “Death to Emus | Campaign in West | Inspector To See Birds Do Not Suffer.” November 9, 1932.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate. “Destruction of Emus.” December 3, 1932.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate. “Wary Emus | Evade Machine-Guns | 1000 Rounds Fired.” November 5, 1932.
Recorder. “‘Brass Hats’ Assailed | Campion Settlers Complain of Retreat.” November 11, 1932.
Robin, Libby, Robert Heinsohn, and Leo Joseph, eds. Boom & Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country. CSIRO Publishing, 2009.
Singleton Argus. “Shooting of Emus | Thousands of Pounds Saved.” November 18, 1932. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/83438322.
Stockton, Richard. “Why The Australian Army Waged The Great Emu War Of 1932 — And Lost.” All That’s Interesting, October 3, 2021. https://allthatsinteresting.com/great-emu-war.
The Canberra Times. “Emu War Again | 300 Killed in First Duel | Machine Guns Re-Issued.” November 12, 1932. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2317086.
The Daily Telegraph. “Emu Armistice Resented | Withdrawal of Machine Guns.” November 10, 1932.
The Daily Telegraph. “Lewis Guns Against Emus.” October 14, 1932.
The Daily Telegraph. “Not Easy to Kill Emus | A Thousand Rounds Fired, 12 Dead.” November 5, 1932.
The Daily Telegraph. “The Emu Is a Wily Bird - Gunners Get Only Dozen Victims - Ambush Fails.” November 4, 1932.
“The Emu Wars - Only a Little Hilarious | Australia Explained,” December 6, 2021. https://www.australia-explained.com.au/history-shorts/the-emu-wars-only-a-little-hilarious/.
The Evening News. “Emu War Still On | Birds Becoming Wary of Lewis Gunners.” November 22, 1932.
The Examiner. “The Emu War.” November 8, 1932.
The Kyogle Examiner. “Use Aeroplane | Fighting Emu Pest.” November 18, 1932.
The News. “Emu War Opens - Gunners Replace Boys on Cycles - Had Long Poles.” November 3, 1932.
The News. “Emu War Still On.” November 9, 1932.
The News. “Farmers Want Machine Guns to Stamp Out Emus.” October 10, 1932.
The News. “More Emus On Way | Big Flocks in Wake of Dead | Killers Busy.” November 8, 1932.
The Northern Miner. “The Emu Pest | Queensland Control.” November 23, 1932.
The Sun. “First Shot Fired in War on Emu.” November 2, 1932.
The Sun. “Herded for the Slaughter - Machine-Gunners Await Emu Flock.” October 16, 1932.
The Sun. “Honors With The Emus | Novel ‘War’ In The West.” November 6, 1932.
The Sun. “Kaiser Emu II. Wins.” November 11, 1932.
The Sun. “On ‘Spot’ - Chicago Methods - War on Emus - Machine Gunners.” October 12, 1932.
The Sun. “The Emu War | Pest Being Driven Away.” November 5, 1932.
The Sun. “Two Days’ Vigil Brings Heavy Toll of Emus.” November 7, 1932.
The Sunday Herald. “New Strategy In a War On The Emu.” July 5, 1953. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18516559.
The Sydney Morning Herald. “Attack on Emus - Lewis-Gunners at Work - Fleeing Mob Struck.” November 3, 1932.
The Sydney Morning Herald. “Attack on Emus - With Lewis Guns - Relatively Few Killed.” November 5, 1932.
The Sydney Morning Herald. “Timely Rainfall Ends Emu Pest.” October 18, 1932.
The West Australian. “Another Phase of the Emu Pest.” November 8, 1932. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/32565197.
Western Australia Makes War On Emus, 1933. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1wA0PKeJqc.
Western Mail. “Settlers Astonished.” November 17, 1932. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37767343.
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