The Emu War was the idea of World War I veterans.

1932

Ex-soldiers turned farmers knew what machine guns could do and asked the defence minister to send some against the birds. The minister readily agreed.

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The event

• The Emu War1932 · Campion, Western Australia. In November 1932 Western Australian farmers asked the army to rid their fields of emus. Soldiers with two Lewis guns and 10,000 rounds fired 2,500 of them in six days, but the birds scattered in small groups. The commander compared emus to tanks, and the operation was dropped amid newspaper ridicule.

20th century

More amazing facts

• 1931 · 1973 The Empire State Building went up in 13.5 months; the Sydney Opera House opened 16 years after its design contest.
• 1932 LEGO means 'play well' in Danish.
• 1932 The commander of the Emu War admired the enemy.
• 1932 · 1969 Claims that the Great Wall is visible from the Moon were printed in 1932, 37 years before anyone got there.
• 1933 · 1983 Earth's lowest temperature was measured at a Soviet Antarctic station: −89.2 °C at Vostok on 21 July 1983.
• 1933 · 1938 The chain reaction was conceived to spite Rutherford.

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