The Emu Wars: Australians face the fierce feathered warriors
FUNNY WARS 5/5. In 1932, more than ten years after the First World War, the government deployed the army on its own territory to fight a formidable enemy: the emus. To round off our summer series on the funniest wars, we offer this article on the Emu War, published in 2015.
[This article was first published on our site on February 12, 2015 and republished on July 31, 2025]
In the years following the First World War, the Australian government scrambled to find employment for returning veterans. Beginning in 1915, a “soldier settlement program” was gradually implemented in all states. In total, nearly 5,000 veterans were allocated plots of land, which they converted into farms for growing wheat and raising sheep.
Five years later, the government had purchased 90,000 hectares for the veterans, but needed more land, so it began settling veterans in parts of Western Australia. Life for these veterans would be no picnic: it was difficult enough, without any experience, to manage a farm in a fertile area, but it was even worse in an area where the land was barely usable. The situation for these new farmers was further aggravated when the Great Depression of 1929 caused the price of wheat to plummet. As if that weren't enough, there were the emus.
Tens of thousands of them in Western Australia wanted their land back.
Courrier International
