Bizarre events have always been an essential part of human history. As a person who is a history enthusiast, I have read about several wars that have happened in history and the violent bloodshed that was a part of such events. But never in my life did I ever think that a weird event could be a part of a war. I mean I have heard weird instances happening during wars such as soldiers seeing demons coming at them during the Vietnam war, for example. But that is not a verified chapter of history and might be nothing but rumours instead. Despite this, I came across details about a very weird instance in human history that is funny and tragic at the same time. I am talking about none other than the Emu War that had happened in Australia during the early 1900s. The Emu War is a significant event in the history of Australia. When I looked into the incident, I was amazed and also could not decide how I should feel about this event in the first place.

What was the Emu War and what is its significance?

As I have said earlier, the Emu War is a significant event in the history of Australia. It is a rare example of an event that is not just significant but also hilariously shameful at the same time. The Emu War lasted from 2^nd November to 10^th December 1932 and was a result of the constant invasion of the emu birds into farmlands. From what I learned, the war might not even be a ‘war’ and instead can be called a battle of survival between humanity and nature itself. The fight happened after the Australian government had decided to provide areas of land to World War I veterans who had retired due to grave physical injuries. The purpose of this step was to ensure that these former soldiers had some form of income since they were unfit for war. However, their dreams of a peaceful life soon became sour when a flock of emus started invading the farmlands. Although the landowners tried to fend them off, the emus were relentless and adamant about their ‘mission’ and continued to come back and eat crops and damage the fences. This caused the Australian government to finally take some steps regarding this matter, declaring the siege of farmlands by the emu birds as a ‘war’ between the two species of humans and nature.

The ex-soldiers wanted military action to kill off the emus for good. Since they already had some knowledge of using weapons, the people started using machine guns against the ‘invaders’. They also took help from local villagers who were able to capture some emus. However, the birds were able to outsmart everyone by using tactics that even took the humans by surprise. I found it hilarious how the government mentioned at that time that the emus were using ‘guerilla warfare’. I mean seriously!! This made me realize that the Emus might not be that dumb as we humans like to think of them after all, at least not as dumb as us to declare the emu invasion as a ‘guerilla warfare’ strategy. Although the government did provide some assistance to the veterans at first, the leaders soon found that all efforts were futile since the emus would learn quickly how they could deal with the counter-attacks from humans. With every other emu chasing effort in vain, The Royal Australian Artillery led by Major Gwynydd Purves Wynne-Aubrey Meredith stepped in at that time and continued their struggle till 1948 only to be refused by the government when it came to getting assistance.

Although the war did end on 10^th December 1932, soldiers continued actively hunting emus thinking that this would lead to their extinction. Unfortunately, however, this did not happen. By the time of the 1990s, many conservationists and animal lovers declared that Australian soldiers should stop killing emus and that the government should try to conserve them while also making sure that they do not invade human territories like earlier. This led to the Australian government declaring emus to be an endangered species in 1999 and today these birds can be seen in wildlife sanctuaries in the country.

What I think of this event

Honestly, I feel that this event is tragic. This is because the invasion by emus of human farmlands happened because of droughts and less rainfall happening at that time which caused food scarcity in Australia. Even after the war, the damage done to crops and farmlands was irreversible and the losses regarding food supplies equally affected both the humans and emus. At the same time, I also feel that the event shows us the raw power of nature. I believe that this event is evidence which shows how small we humans are in comparison to nature and we could go extinct if Mother Nature wants that to happen, unlike the reverse that we love to think of. The ‘Emu War’ has already shown how the mere creatures of Mother Nature were able to effectively fight back against humans so much that the soldiers could not do anything against them even with guns. The only thing that they were able to do was kill off some emus while the rest continued their fight. I also understand that animals are not that unintelligent at all as is seen from this event and they can also fight back against any danger that comes their way if they want. I mean if nature wants to destroy us then not even our worst weapons will be able to save us.

Therefore, I would like to advise all fellow humans to be humble and keep the superiority complex aside. This is because ‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not every man’s greed’ as was said by Mahatma Gandhi.