This is a guest post by my partner, Dave.
The Australian war of 1932
It was November 2, 1932. The soldiers were equipped with machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The small contingent of the Royal Australian Artillery’s 7th Heavy Artillery took position on Australian soil, watching for an invading enemy that greatly outnumbered them.
Scouts spotted the enemy—about 50 of them, just out of range of the machine guns. Working with local civilians, the soldiers set up an ambush, but the enemy caught on and scattered in small groups. Machine-gun fire filled the air without a single hit. By the end of the first day of battle, after several regroups, the soldiers killed perhaps a dozen.
The enemy? They were about 20,000 migrating emu birds. It was just after breeding season, and the emus were on their way to fertile coastal areas. But when they passed through rich wheat farms, they paused their migratory journey and set about demolishing the wheat fields.
Farmers sounded the alarm to the government, which authorized the use of military resources to get rid of the invading emus.
The Emu War didn’t go well. The birds were fast. They divided into small groups that scattered in all directions at 30 miles per hour. The soldiers couldn’t get clean shots. After several concentrated attacks over a six-week period, the emus lost 1,000 of their 20,000 members and the Australian contingent ran out of ammo.
Here’s where it gets interesting. After the embarrassing military defeat, the government did something radically different. They offered bounties to local farmers for emu kills. Armed with basic rifles and local knowledge, farmers killed tens of thousands of emus over the next few years.
It’s a ridiculous story, until you realize how often we repeat the same pattern. We reach for complex solutions before understanding simple problems. We hire consultants before listening to the people on the ground. We grab the biggest tool instead of the right one. Sometimes a small, local solution is more cost-effective and more responsible than a heavy-handed response.
Moral of the story: Don’t bring machine guns to an emu fight. Start with the farmers. The emus are faster than you think.