27 May 2026

In 1932, the Australian military deployed soldiers with Lewis guns to the Western Australian outback to cull roughly 20,000 emus damaging wheat crops. The emus scattered into small groups, absorbed fire, and refused to be cornered. The operation was abandoned within weeks. The commanding major reportedly remarked the birds could face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks.

The Emu War, Australia, 1932