Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 10:17
Doug....they built the emu proof fence as
well..........
Emus and humans
In the wild, brooding males on the nest or with
young chicks to protect are dangerous to approach too closely: they have powerful leg muscles, ferocious talons and are perfectly capable of disembowelling a predator of human size. In general, however, emus are harmless: shy creatures that prefer to simply use their long legs to go somewhere else if disturbed. They also have a great sense of curiosity. Someone with bush skills can easily persuade a wild emu to come close and investigate by, for example, hiding in long grass and waving a coloured handkerchief on the end of a stick.
The emu has long been a central part of Aboriginal cultural and economic systems. Europeans too quickly learned to value emu meat and emu oil, and how to
cook with emu eggs (they should be broken and allowed to stand overnight so that the oil can be skimmed off). But until recent times, the emu was primarily thought of as a pest to be destroyed rather than as a resource to be harvested.
Europeans wiped out two species and a sub-species of emu on the smaller islands early in the 19th Century, and considerable effort was put into exterminating the last remaining species as
well, but the emu's ability to disappear into the vast semi-arid mainland plains meant that it was never seriously threatened. Graziers regarded the emu as a competitor for food and water - a charge with some foundation, but which ignored the beneficial effect emu grazing has for soil, and their capacity to eat enormous quantities of plague insects like locusts or caterpillars.
Wheatgrowers had much more serious concerns: emus like to eat both soft
young wheat shoots and ripe seed. Worse, they are difficult to fence out and the passage of a large number of emus through a paddock of ripe, stiff-stalked wheat tramples it flat, even if they do not stop to eat it. In 1901, Western Australian farmers built a tall, emu-proof fence 1,100 kilometres long. This protects the crops, but disrupts migration patterns. In the worst years, over 50,000 emus die, crushed up against the fence and starving.
In 1932, the anti-emu campaign briefly took on a bizarre flavour worthy of the Keystone Cops[?]—particularly when one bears in mind that, along with the kangaroo, the emu is one of the two native animals making up the Australian coat of arms.
At the end of a dry summer at the height of the Great Depression, Western Australian farmers called in the army to fight an "Emu War" - with machine guns mounted on trucks. For several days, Lewis gunners tried to engage the enemy: farcical scenes resulted, with the birds taking few casualties and teaching the soldiers a thing or two about rapid battlefield manoeuvres. The artillery commander, a Major Meredith, later said, "If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world." The experiment was quickly abandoned, amid debate as to who should pay for the wasted ammunition.
In 1988, long after emus had been protected by law, Western Australia took the lead again, but in a different direction and with a great deal more success. The WA Government issued a permit to the Aboriginal people of Willuna Station, allowing them to sell emu chicks to the public.
Aboriginal and European landowners in all states rapidly began learning how to
farm emus, and the market for emu products grew explosively. The initial boom quickly faded, but there are about 250 emu farms in Australia today, and many more overseas.
Emus have a high bodyfat content, and emu oil is used for many purposes, particularly treatment of muscle aches and sprains. Emu skin makes excellent leather, and emu meat has very low fat and is rich in protein. The flavour is similar to beef and said to be delicious, if rather gamey. Emu eggs, because they have such thick shells, are popular for carving, and emu feathers are readily marketable.
Emus are particularly suitable for degraded, overgrazed properties: unlike cattle and (especially) sheep, they do not cause soil compaction or destroy grass roots, and emu dung gradually helps native vegetation recover.
AnswerID:
367727
Follow Up By: Member - Redbakk (WA) - Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 10:33
Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 10:33
some more........
Vermin Proof Fence
The
vermin proof fence bisects the Shire from east to west and marks the south boundary of the Karroun
Hill Nature Reserve (300,000 ha). The fence was constructed in the late 1950’s. This fence is important in keeping both emus, goats and wild dogs out of farming areas.
FollowupID:
635353