The gathering storm of feathered giants
Soldiers, machine guns, and tactical retreats
The aftermath and the ultimate victors
What specific crop were the invading emus eating and destroying in Western Australia?
What secondary damage did the emus cause that allowed rabbits to invade the wheat fields?
misslily Over twenty thousand migrating emus invaded the newly established farmlands in search of water.
What global economic crisis in the early 1930s made the Australian farmers' situation even more desperate?
Why did the Australian Minister of Defence agree to send the military to fight emus?
misslily The Great Emu War
Outrun the guns! Outrun the guns! The emus won in thirty-two!
misslily Desperate farmers bypassed the agricultural department and petitioned the military for machine guns.
Why did the Australian government give land to World War I veterans in Western Australia in 1919?
Which government official did the desperate farmers petition for military assistance in 1932?
Emu speed: Emus can run at speeds up to 50 kilometers per hour, easily outrunning early 20th-century military vehicles over rough terrain.
Approximately how many emus migrated into the farming region of Campion, Western Australia, in 1932?
What specific military weapon did the veteran farmers request to use against the emus?
A large, flightless, fast-running bird native to Australia. In late 1932, approximately 20,000 of these birds migrated into Western Australian wheat farms, prompting military intervention.