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The Great Emu War

Ian Lee Technology

" This really happened. Australia. 1932. The government. The military. The birds. And chaos.In 1932, the Australian government found itself fighting a new kind of enemy - fast, feathered, and entirely unbothered by bullets. "

 After World War I, thousands of veterans were resettled as farmers in Western Australia. Nice idea. Terrible execution. The land was dry, the government support nonexistent, and then came the emus —  30,000 of them.

Nature Declares War

The emus arrived during harvest like they’d booked a group holiday.  They trampled crops, knocked over fences, and outcompeted livestock for water.Farmers begged for help. The government’s response?  Send the army.

The Birds Are Winning

In November 1932, soldiers rolled in with Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammo.  They set up ambushes. Fired into flocks. Chased them with trucks.  And failed — spectacularly.Emus can run 30 miles per hour, scatter unpredictably, and somehow soak up bullets like they were wearing Kevlar feathers.  The army killed only a few hundred before giving up.  The Minister of Defence reported that the birds had “won.”

Public Reaction: Mixed, Mostly Hysterical

The press dubbed it *The Great Emu War*.  Cartoonists had a field day. Politicians dodged questions about “avian occupation forces.”  And the emus? They just kept on strutting through wheat fields.

So What Was the Lesson?

The Emu War became shorthand for bureaucratic overreach, military overreaction, and how modern systems panic in the face of old-fashioned chaos.You can’t solve everything with firepower.  And you definitely can’t fight a bird like it’s the Western Front.

What It Means Now

Every time a government rolls out a £500m digital platform to send one email, or a corporation buys tanks to solve a bird problem (metaphorically), the spirit of the Emu War lives on.We still think complex problems can be machine-gunned into submission.  But maybe — just maybe — they need humility instead.

And Now What? How Not to Lose to Emus

Understand the terrain before responding.  
Solutions should fit the problem — not the budget line.  
Sometimes, low-tech beats high-spec. A scarecrow may beat a squad.  
And when absurdity arrives in flocks — laugh first, then act smarter.

The birds aren’t always the problem. Sometimes it’s the people holding the guns.

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