Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Saturday 12 November 1932, page 1


EMU WAR AGAIN

300 KILLED IN FIRST DUEL

Machine Guns Re-Issued

The Minister for Defence (Sir George Pearce) said to-day that acting on the information which appeared in the Eastern press in regard to the use of personnel of the Military Forces with machine guns, which had been provid-

ed at the request of the State Govern-ment of Western Australia, and farm-

ers whose crops were being spoilt by

the incursion of large numbers of emus into the outer fringe of the wheat belt

of that State, he had withdrawn the

personnel with the guns.

He had since received a report from the Base Commandant, Perth, which

indicated that upwards of 300 emus were disposed of, and strong represen-

tations had been made by the Premier of Western Australia and also by the farmers that owing to the hot wea-ther and the absence of water in the interior, the emus were appearing in thousands, and pressed for a return of the military party. Knowing as he did the tremendous damage that these birds could cause in a standing crop, and with a desire to save the loss to the farmers the Minister had approved of the party returning to the wheat belt.