Military involvement was due to begin in October 1932.

5 The "war" was conducted

under the command of Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Seventh Heavy Battery of the R
oyal Australian Artillery,26 with Meredith commanding a pair of soldiers armed w
ith two Lewis Automatic Machine Guns8 and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.6 The oper
ation was delayed, however, by a period of rainfall which caused the emus to sca
tter over a wider area.5 The rain had ceased by 2 November 1932,25 at which poin
t the troops were deployed with orders to assist the farmers and, according to a
newspaper account, to collect 100 emu skins so that their feathers could be use
d to make hats for light horsemen.9
The first attempt
On 2 November the men traveled to Campion, where some 50 emus were sighted.2 As
the birds were out of range of the guns, the local settlers attempted to herd th
e emus into an ambush, but the birds split into small groups and ran so that the
y were difficult to target.6 Nevertheless, while the first fusillade from the ma
chine guns was ineffective due to the range, a second round of gunfire was able
to kill "a number" of birds. Later the same day a small flock was encountered, a
nd "perhaps a dozen" birds were killed.2
The next significant event was on 4 November. Meredith had established an ambush
near a local dam, and over 1,000 emus were spotted heading towards their positi
on. This time the gunners waited until the birds were at point blank range befor
e opening fire. The gun jammed after only twelve birds were killed, however, and
the remainder scattered before more could be killed. No more birds were sighted
that day.2
In the days that followed Meredith chose to move further south where the birds w
ere "reported to be fairly tame",10 but there was only limited success in spite
of his efforts.2 At one stage Meredith even went so far as to mount one of the g
uns on a truck: a move that proved to be ineffective, as the truck was both unab
le to gain on the birds and the ride was so rough that the gunner was unable to
fire any shots.2 By 8 November, six days after the first engagement, 2,500 round
s of ammunition had been fired.6 The number of birds killed is uncertain: one ac
count claims just 50 birds,6 but other accounts range from 200 to 500the latter f
igure being provided by the settlers. Meredith's official report noted that his
men had suffered no casualties.2
Summarizing the culls, ornithologist Dominic Serventy commented:
The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were
soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and i
ts unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the
military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew fro
m the combat area after about a month.11
On 8 November, representatives in the Australian House of Representatives discus
sed the operation.6 Following the negative coverage of the events in the local m
edia,12 which included claims that "only a few" emus had died,4 Pearce withdrew
the military personnel and the guns on 8 November.461314
After the withdrawal, Major Meredith compared the emus to Zulus, and commented o
n the striking maneuverability of the emus, even while badly wounded.
If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds i
t would face any army in the world...They can face machine guns with the invulne
rability of tanks. They are like Zulus whom even dum-dum bullets could not stop.
15
The second attempt
After the withdrawal of the military, the emu attacks on crops continued. Farmer
s again asked for support, citing the hot weather and drought that brought emus
invading farms in the thousands. James Mitchell, the Premier of Western Australi
a lent his strong support to renewal of the military assistance. Additionally, a
report from the Base Commander indicated that 300 emus had been killed in the i
nitial operation.14
Acting on the requests and the Base Commander's report, by 12 November the Minis
ter of Defence approved the military party to resume their efforts.14 He defende
d the decision in the senate, explaining why the soldiers were necessary to comb
at the serious agricultural threat of the large emu population.4 Although the mi
litary had agreed to loan the guns to Western Australian government on the expec
tation that they would provide the necessary people, Meredith was once again pla
ced in the field due to an apparent lack of experienced machine gunners in the s
tate.2
Taking to the field on 13 November 1932, the military found a degree of success
over the first two days, with approximately 40 emus killed. The third day, 15 No
vember, proved to be far less successful, but by 2 December the guns were accoun
ting for approximately 100 emus per week. Meredith was recalled on 10 December,
and in his report he claimed 986 kills with 9,860 rounds, at a rate of exactly 1
0 rounds per confirmed kill. In addition, Meredith claimed 2,500 wounded birds h
ad died as a result of the injuries that they had sustained.2